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I'm looking for a completely waterproof tracker with all of the features (sleep, heart rate, steps, stairs, miles, calories, reminder to move, phone alerts, clock with date, etc) all in one. When?? Please make this your next release!!!!!
Come on...if garmin can do it with the vivoactive, you guys should be able to do the same. Their device calls it elevation gain. We want waterproofing.
As far as I can tell, the Fitbit devices use an altimeter based on small changes in atmospheric pressure. That kind of sensor needs a small air hole to work. I have suggested that they process the vertical accelerometer data (used for tracking steps and motion) to extract an estimate of vertical distance travelled. (Integrate/add the acceleration to get a velocity proxy, then integrate/add the velocities to get distances. Physics 101 stuff).
When I go driving I see many tens of floors added to my Fitbit because the altimeter is tracking incremental gains in altitude which it interprets as floors. I have never heard what height they use for a "floor". I suspect 10 feet, so they don't strain in their calculations. When I drive up a hill, it sees the pressure change as floors climbed. When I drive down the hill, it sees an increasing pressure, and ignores it.
I have to guess what they are doing, since they really don't share what they are doing or trying to do. Sad state if you want to make constant improvements to anything.
Long rant later: Fitbit can use data from another sensor and drop the altimeter, get rid of the hole, and make everything waterproof.
I hope they also get off the stick and get a better grade of plastic for the band and watch face. Really cheap material used now. Part of the reason it probably leaks too under water, even if there was no altimeter hole.
I think you need to make bigger sizes. Obesity is a big problem in the states and Canada. It seems ridiculous that one needs to lose weight in order to buy a product that helps someone to lose weight. lol
I am 338, far from the largest woman in the world... and it says XL fits 19-22 cm wrists... i measured myself and im like a 23 or so. I was so looking foward to buying one. 😞
I would love a charge hr that has a battery that never has to be charged (comes with a lifelong battery) or can charge wirelessly and does not have to be taken off to be charged because I can never find the right time to charge it and I am always so busy and don't want to miss out on my steps 🙂 And it is just so inconvenient to take it off to charge it. I would also love it to be fully waterproof so I can shower/swim/canoe with it and not worry about it! Thanks 🙂 Hope to see one of these in the near future!
I agree, improved waterproofing is needed. It would be great if it worked for swimming, counting strokes / turns / or even stroke identification. Really though, I don't even really care if it wasn't that accurate for swimming. I would just be happy if I could safely swim with it so I don't have to deal with remembering to take it off everytime I go for a swim. As I do triathlons, it is nice to log the activity, but annoying that I have to take it on and off for different portions of the training.
I love my fitbit. I didn't think that I would love it as much as I do. However, I am finding that this summer there are many instances where I have to take my fitbit off. If I take the family to the pool or beach; I obviously need to take my fitbit off for that time period. Has there been any thought to allowing people to enter this time manually through the App or webpage?
I imagine that your development team could come with steps, calories, etc . . . from an average time spent on the beach or at the pool. People could also select options for the input; beach - 30 minute walk; etc . . .
I'm not sure if any thought has been put into this but I thought it might be a cool feature to add.
They say that you can wear a few Fitbits in the shower and pool. But they say you should not swimming with them. I would love a Fitbit that I can do everything like swimming.
Why did I just spend twice the money fofr the Charge HR so that I could exercise in my pool? It sounds like I can't really do that. What good is water resistant?
So I put the Zip into a Ziplock bag, and put the Ziplock bag into the waterproof pouch on the sweatband. the device stayed dry, and it did record my movement in the pool. When I recorded the swim on the Fitbit app, my data seemed fairly accurate. I would have liked to have been able to see the display while swimming, though.
No, you cannot submerge it. I do not know if it is internally waterproof and the altimeter would quit working, but the rest of if work OK. If that were the consequence of submerging, it might still work, without the altimeter. There might be leaks around the pushbutton.
I might superglue the hole for the altimeter and forget about the altimeter altogether. I don't climb stairs (I don't have access to any), so no loss. I would gladly trade altimeter for swimming.
You can always return it. But I would try superglue first and go over the entire body of it, looking for holes and cracks. Do you think that would work?
Plan for making it Waterproof
Seal off the altimeter
Seal off around the pushbutton and make it a membrane button, totally sealed.
Seal around the crack in the back where the device is screwed into the watch body with four screws.
If you just bought it, thinking it was waterproof and you intended it for swimming, then found it was not -- send it back with a thank you, no thanks. And get your money back.
If it was only bought for swimming, and you cannot return it, and it is useless to you without waterproofing, buy some sealant and try it. You can't use it anyway, and you can't get your money back. What do you have to lose?
I suggest using a blister bandage. They are waterproof and will come off again. Tape over the switch and seal that. I think the altimeter hole is that one on the opposite side of the switch. Seal that. Dunk it in water and see if it still works.
Or, if it is worthless, dunk it in water as it is and see if the only thing that dies is the altimeter, or if the whole thing fries. (tongue in cheek 🙂
I might buy one just to see what happens if I waterproof it with super glue or something else and dunk it. What's $150 in the interest of science? I am surprised Fitbit hasn't done that.
Who needs an altimeter anyway?
Why didn't they usea membrane switch from the beginning?
I go paddleboarding, surfing and swimming in the ocean a lot. All it takes is one time forgetting to take the Fitbit One out of my pocket and it's ruined. I can't buy another One until you come out with a waterproof model. I would also like it to be compatible with my Withings scale I bought from Apple.
I think my "charge" released November 2014 bought for me by my wife at end of May 2015 used for 1 Month not used for 2 months or so since beginning of June charged last week beginning of August and strap falling apart from hard plastic and rubber peeling from front and both sides, should be made to not do this. Forum shows this has happened since December 2014 what quality is that. A month after release. Surly needs to be recalled and everyone refunded. So once again a "charge" that does not fall apart after a month.
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