Improve calculation for calories burned and active minutes when swimming

[ToddKS]

Since the charge 3 cannot monitor thr HR while swimming, but it DOES track laps swam, then it should be able to calculate the calories burned by taking the laps, time, & BMI... like this site does:

https://caloriesburnedhq.com/calories-burned-swimming/

Moderator Edit: Clarified subject and updated label

[jwbeswick]

Agreed. I swim for 60 consecutive minutes (with 15 seconds between reps and a 3 minute rest halfway) and the charge 3 records only about 25-40 active minutes. Calories burned is also extremely low on charge 3. Normal sites and my charge 2 indicated about 720 calories for my hour swim, but charge 3 reports only about half of that figure

[AlexandraFitbit]

Nice suggestion, thanks for sharing @ToddKS! We look forward to hearing what other community members think.

[LeeCC]

Agree, calories burned is way off when swimming. 

Some people are buying this new model specifically for swimming support, but it does not track swimming well at all. 

[SunsetRunner]

For 725m swim over 30 minutes the calorie estimate was 95 calories burnt.  Based on other online calculators (and comparing the level of exertion to a run of similar duration) this is most likely less than half the actual calories burned.  Please improve the algorithm.

[YojanaFitbit]

Hi @SunsetRunner, thanks for explaining why you would like to have this option. I've moved it into a similar suggestion which has a lot of votes. As the more votes and comments an idea has the more visibility and momentum it gains. You can learn more about how Fitbit decides what suggestions get released in our FAQs.

[LisbethOL]

I bought the Fitbit Charge 3 because of its swimming feature. Therefore, it is very disappointing that it cannot count the calories correctly. Today, I swam 1.025 m; 41 lengths in 30 minutes - but I only burned 66 cals. On a 34 minute walk with my small dog who stops all the time, I burned 162 cals. Furthermore, my swimming doesn´t count as active minutes. Please fix this error soon!

[ajmrockfarm]

So disappointed that it does not count swimming heart rate or track calories when swimming.......this is meant to be a fitness tracker.....!

looking at returning it and getting something that does a proper job. 

[OmuGuy]

Today, for the second time, I remembered to manually record a swim. I swam continually with, for the first kilometer, intervals every 7th and 8th 25 m length for 36 mins. My Suunto recorded 1500 m and a HR average 129 bpm / max 152 bom.  The app graph shows HR starting at 93 bpm and declining to 70 bpm. 
It also purports to show calories burned per minute.
This is all pointless, since HR is not recorded during Swimming mode.
If the accelerometers record pushes off the wall and arm strokes,
that data would be far more useful than the "stats" that are currently shown.

The Charge 3 also recorded a swim of 1250 m, but the Suunto "lengths/pace" graph correctly showed 1500 m.
The only reliable data in Swimming mode is duration, and that is manually entered with touches.
The Charge 3 must be getting its distance data from somewhere, probably by filtering detected strong accelerations as kicks of the wall at each length and perhaps by also factoring in arm rotations. If we could get time graphs of these data it would be far more useful than some guesstimate of HR and calories burned. Given the functions available on the Charge 3 when immersed, it's hard to believe that any person with a half a brain could have come up graphing spurious swimming HR and calories burned!

[YojanaFitbit]

Hi @OmuGuy! Thanks for sharing your suggestion.  I've moved it into a similar suggestion. Hopefully we will have support from other users since more votes and comments an idea has the more visibility and momentum it gains.

[sarahstoloff]

My calorie count when swimming does not seem correct. What is going on? I see from internet searches that this a common issue with the Fitbit Versa. What is being done to resolve this?

[anna_hn]

It would be useful to have an option to change calories burned during the exercise.
Example: I log my lap swimming (Fitbit Sense) and because HR is not monitored the energy spent after each session is always based on time only. Although if I use a different app and external HR the amount of energy spent will be up to 3 times more.

[LizzyFitbit]

Hi @anna_hn. Thanks for sharing this suggestion about improving the calculating for calories burned when swimming with us. This idea was already requested in the Feature Suggestions board, so I’ve moved your post here. This will help us to keep the forums organized and make sure the suggestions don't get confused, or split a popular vote. Click on the thumbs-up to show your support.