Rowing/Stationary Rowing Machine Exercise Shortcut

[Donnaj415]

Considering most of the important cardio equipment is represented in the Exercise list, I think it's more than justifiable to add a stationary rowing machine to the list. Almost every gym in America contains at least one or more Concept 2 rower as it is a total body and low impact method of Cardio. It's one of my favorites and I'm sure I am not the only user that is a bit disappointed that is not represented.

Moderator edit: Edited title for clarity and added labels.

[masters-rower]

I'm also a rower (and cyclist), and would like to see some attention paid to adding some capability to support rowing to the Charge S2.  I row on the water as well as with a Concept 2 rowing ergometer.  

From the limited poking around I've done in the forums, the fact that "the Charge S2 is a step-oriented device" is a problem for supporting activities other than walking and running. 

1)  It would be useful if that fact was explained better (well, even mentioned) in your marketing literature

2)   What about just having a mode that turns off the step sensor during a workout - I'm sure that there are lots of workouts one can do - cycling, for example - that don't involve step sensing.  Maybe it already has this and I just don't know about it yet (I only took delivery of the device a couple of days ago).

This morning, for example, I was rowing a 2x for about 8 Km;  the device recorded just under 3000 steps on my behalf.

Sure, tracking rating (strokes/ minute) and measuring speed/distance travelled would be great - but at this point, what I'd settle for is something that

a) recognizes when I'm working (presumably heart rate), or is manually controlled.

b) Doesn't record steps during the workout

c) Keeps track of heart rate during the workout.

Looks like I'm en route from a Samsung Gear S2 (has a rowing mode, but terrible heart rate sensor) through the Gear S2, (and hoping to avoid) the Apple Watch.

[Niko_84]

Rowing is essential to my workouts please add

[Phillippa10]

Pretty please add rowing as an activity 🙂

[capsmet]

Maybe we should start using reverse psychology.

Fitbit. Whatever you do don't add rowing? Seriously, why make this group
of fanatical athletes who are obviously using a device not made for rowing
yet still big and use Their Fitbit's happy?

If you add rowing it would only encourage them to tell their also fanatical
rowing friends and they might buy more Fitbit's!? Then where would we
be? Surrounded by fanatical indoor and outdoor rowing crazies and with all
their many Fitbit's.

Let's avoid that pandemonium. Ok?
--
Chris -- Sent from Gmail Mobile (Typos may represent a higher proportion of
email than normal).

[capsmet]

Maybe we should start using reverse psychology.

Fitbit. Whatever you do don't add rowing? Seriously, why make this group
of fanatical athletes who are obviously using a device not made for rowing
yet still big and use Their Fitbit's happy?

If you add rowing it would only encourage them to tell their also fanatical
rowing friends and they might buy more Fitbit's!? Then where would we
be? Surrounded by fanatical indoor and outdoor rowing crazies and with all
their many Fitbit's.

Let's avoid that pandemonium. Ok?
--
Chris -- Sent from Gmail Mobile (Typos may represent a higher proportion of
email than normal).

[capsmet]

Maybe we should start using reverse psychology....

Fitbit. Whatever you do don't add rowing? Seriously, why make this group of fanatical athletes who are obviously using a device not made for their sport (and yet continued to buy your products)  happy?!!

If you add rowing it would only encourage them to tell their also fanatical rowing friends and they might buy more Fitbit's!

Then where would we be? I'll tell you where... Surrounded by fanatical indoor and outdoor rowing crazies all with their Fitbit's!  

Let's avoid that pandemonium. Ok?

[Manudom]

Rowing is a must to make fitbit a total hit!

[SunsetRunner]

Really, Fitbit. It is disappointing that we are being completely ignored here. This level of support and service (or lack of it) can hardly guarantee customers' loyalty, you must be aware of that?

Is there a technical problem to implement rowing into Charge 2? Tell us. Still much better than this silly silence, I'd say.

[NineToTheSky]

@SunsetRunner You might want to try emailing Fitbit's CEO James Park (jpark@fitbit.com) to express your - and our - concerns about this issue. I have done it once but I didn't receive any acknowledgement. (There may be a pattern here.)

[NineToTheSky]

Actually, I have taken my own advice (!) and sent the following email to him:

I am a long time and very happy user of various Fitbit trackers. I currently use the Charge 2, and it fulfils virtually all my activity tracking needs.

I don't know if you are aware of it, but there is a Fitbit user forum which includes a Feature Suggestions sub forum. There is currently a very long thread asking for a rowing activity shortcut to be added to the Charge 2.

There is a fair amount of frustration that there has been no acknowledgement by Fitbit about this request. If someone could either state that it is not possible, or is being considered, or it will be implemented, I am sure that it would keep your customers satisfied.

[Madwife007]

Hope you dont mind - have cut and pasted same message to Facebook Fitbit
page - fingers crossed

[NineToTheSky]

@Madwife007 - Yes, that's a good idea. Actually, I have just realised I don't follow Fitbit on Facebook. I will correct that immediately!

[Madwife007]

they actually respond quite quickly there, normally, if you have an issue
with the watch...

[SunsetRunner]

There, thinking out of the box! Living in this era of digital/social communications and it frankly never crossed my mind that Fitbit probably is on Facebook! Well thought of, @Madwife007 🙂

@NineToTheSky, thanks for email address. I'll give it a go, too. Maybe others will follow.

[Madwife007]

Quick but poor response -

Hi Jane! We're constantly striving to improve Fitbit products and services, and we very much appreciate all of the input we receive from our customers. Our product development teams consult the Ideas board regularly to ensure we're delivering on what our customers need and want. Thank you so much for your feedback and for participating in our community!

Jane
Sent from my iPhone

[Madwife007]

Quick but poor response -

Hi Jane! We're constantly striving to improve Fitbit products and services, and we very much appreciate all of the input we receive from our customers. Our product development teams consult the Ideas board regularly to ensure we're delivering on what our customers need and want. Thank you so much for your feedback and for participating in our community!

Jane
Sent from my iPhone

[Homebrw]

Awful customer service and lack of response from Fitbit.  

Fitbit was my introduction to wearables/tracking, but have proven to me they more want to mass market to Betty housewife getting her daily walking in, not athletes.  Oh well, there are other companies who have proven their commitment to the athlete.  

As others have said, snubs like this will bite you in terms of customer loyalty. 

[UKdragoness]

I contacted Fitbit via their Facebook page about adding Rowing Machine - here is their reply

Apologies for the inconvenience, Pat. We're constantly striving to improve Fitbit products and services, and we very much appreciate all of the input we receive from our customers. Our developers are reviewing every idea that our customers is posting before implementing it. If an idea gets strong support from users and our team agrees, it's possible that it could be implemented as a Fitbit feature.

Looks like a pretty standard reply with no real info. 

[derentis]

Rowing machine and exercycle tracking would be amazing.

Just some thoughts, don't know if any of this is viable but from a users perspective these are essential exercises to track especially for those of us who rely mostly on indoors exercise.

For the rowing machine, perhaps the FitBit R&D team could record raw data produced by the 3-axis accelerometer on the Charge 2 during rowing and find commonalities to identify strokes, and then track stroke count, stroke speed and heart rate which in combination could be used to calculate calories burnt and perhaps how many steps (calculated from users own stats based on fitness level) would produce the same caloric burn and give users the option to add rowing as 'pseudosteps' ;-).

For the exercycle, I'm not sure how accurate it would be for measuring heart rate but perhaps a user could strap it to their ankle and also using the 3-axis accelerometer in the Charge 2, record raw data produced during cycling on exercise bike to identify and track rotation count, rotation speed and heart rate which in combination could be used to calculate calories burnt and perhaps how many steps (calculated from users own stats based on fitness level) would produce the same caloric burn and give users the option to add rowing as 'pseudosteps' as previously suggested for indoor rowing.

[mrbungalowtwc]

Hi

I think it would be great if you could add a rowing machine option in the exercises for the Fitbit Surge, as I am always doing that for my warm up when I am at the gym.

Would be really great if you could add it.

Thanks

[daisy_k_c]

Would love to have rowing - I have a Water Rower.

[JTMasters]

Yep, I want an indoor rowing facility in the Fitbit app as well. Essential for me.

[RichardGladwell]

Please add a rowing function - many thanks

[AxelStevens]

Hi there,

I've been a loyal fitbit owner for 2 years now! I have just upgraded from a charge HR to a Charge 2 and I'm loving it!

There is just one thing though... I would love to see indoor rowing  being added as an auto recognisable exercise. 

I imagine it shouldn't be too hard to be able to count the number of trokes done. Add a feature to manually enter the resistance level and the fitbit app should be able to calculate the distance covered and the estimated number of calories burned.

[SantiR]

Excellent idea! You can currently manually log both "Rowing" and "Rowing Machine", which I would recommend doing if you do not use a heart rate tracker, but it would be cool to have an exercise shortcut for that activity. 

Thanks for posting on the Feature Request Board!