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My SURGE does not always track my activities

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‎07-31-2016 08:36

‎07-31-2016 08:36

Hi,

 

I purchased my Surge in May and on June I noticed when I went to the club and attended a Zumba class - my tracker showed AEROBIC activity in the SUMMARY on my iphone or laptop.

 

When I just go on the stairmaster or the walking machice - it shows nothing in the SUMMARY.

 

I just thought the thing was broken until today. Today I had to park my car and walk a long way to a building. When I came home on SUMMARY, suddenly it shows a WALKING activity of 24 minutes!

 

The only thing I think is happening is that when I am on the walkimg machine in the Healthclub. The machine says my heart rate is 125 which is a good pace for a 61 year old woman but my fitbit will say something like 108!

 

I've checked this several times throughout the month of July and fitbit records a low heartrate, though I am workimg hard and sweating like crazy and the walking machine says at least 125.

 

So now that today on a real walk it records my heartrate properly ... I am thinking maybe the walking machine is interferring with the fitbit.

 

Anyone have any idea on what's going on? 🙂

 

Becky

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1 BEST ANSWER

Accepted Solutions

‎08-04-2016 06:21 - edited ‎08-12-2016 13:04

‎08-04-2016 06:21 - edited ‎08-12-2016 13:04

It's nice to see you around the Community @becky89, hope you're doing great! 

 

If you hold onto a bar, handle, shopping trolley and carry shopping in the hand your Fitbit is attached, you will get little or no exercise registered. Also the Stairmaster will not give you the 10' elevation the Surge needs for 1 x Floor.

 

As to the floors, the only way it can possibly know is by using the altimeter and that just won't work on a Stairmaster. You might power all the way through with each step while others might only partially complete a step. In addition, different brands of stairclimbers my have different stroke lengths which are supposed to correspond to the number of stairs climbed. It would be nice, but I just don't think it is doable.

 

Fitbit trackers have a finely tuned algorithm for step counting. The algorithm is designed to look for intensity and motion patterns that are most indicative of people walking and running.  When working at a desk, cooking, or doing other arm movements, the tracker can pick up some extra steps if it thinks you are walking. Many of these situations—such as working or cooking—do include a few steps in-between stationary periods so the tracker tries to give you credit for those steps. For the vast majority of customers, the amount of stray steps accumulated is negligible when compared to the entire day.

 

For wrist-based trackers, its important to specify whether you wear the tracker on your dominant or non-dominant wrist:

  • The dominant wrist setting decreases the sensitivity of step counting and should reduce any over counting of steps when your body is not moving.
  • The non-dominant wrist setting increases the sensitivity of step counting and should reduce any under counting of steps. Non-dominant is the default.

To change your settings, in the Fitbit app go to Account tab and choose your tracker at the top of the screen.

 

If you feel that your step count and distance are inaccurate, first make sure the wrist placement settings are correct. You may also want to manually adjust the stride length that we calculated automatically based on your height and gender. For more information, see How do I measure and adjust my stride length?

 

If after taking these factors into account you still think your tracker is significantly undercounting or overcounting steps, please try a step test:

1. Put your wrist-based tracker on your wrist or put your clip-on tracker on your hip or torso.
2. Walk 100 steps, making sure to count a step each time one of your feet hits the ground.
3. Pause, then check your tracker to see your step count.

 

Let me know how it goes!

Maria | Community Moderator, Fitbit


Was my post helpful? Give it a thumbs up to show your appreciation! Of course, if this was the answer you were looking for, don't forget to make it the Best Answer! Als...

View best answer in original post

Best Answer
2 REPLIES 2

‎08-04-2016 06:21 - edited ‎08-12-2016 13:04

‎08-04-2016 06:21 - edited ‎08-12-2016 13:04

It's nice to see you around the Community @becky89, hope you're doing great! 

 

If you hold onto a bar, handle, shopping trolley and carry shopping in the hand your Fitbit is attached, you will get little or no exercise registered. Also the Stairmaster will not give you the 10' elevation the Surge needs for 1 x Floor.

 

As to the floors, the only way it can possibly know is by using the altimeter and that just won't work on a Stairmaster. You might power all the way through with each step while others might only partially complete a step. In addition, different brands of stairclimbers my have different stroke lengths which are supposed to correspond to the number of stairs climbed. It would be nice, but I just don't think it is doable.

 

Fitbit trackers have a finely tuned algorithm for step counting. The algorithm is designed to look for intensity and motion patterns that are most indicative of people walking and running.  When working at a desk, cooking, or doing other arm movements, the tracker can pick up some extra steps if it thinks you are walking. Many of these situations—such as working or cooking—do include a few steps in-between stationary periods so the tracker tries to give you credit for those steps. For the vast majority of customers, the amount of stray steps accumulated is negligible when compared to the entire day.

 

For wrist-based trackers, its important to specify whether you wear the tracker on your dominant or non-dominant wrist:

  • The dominant wrist setting decreases the sensitivity of step counting and should reduce any over counting of steps when your body is not moving.
  • The non-dominant wrist setting increases the sensitivity of step counting and should reduce any under counting of steps. Non-dominant is the default.

To change your settings, in the Fitbit app go to Account tab and choose your tracker at the top of the screen.

 

If you feel that your step count and distance are inaccurate, first make sure the wrist placement settings are correct. You may also want to manually adjust the stride length that we calculated automatically based on your height and gender. For more information, see How do I measure and adjust my stride length?

 

If after taking these factors into account you still think your tracker is significantly undercounting or overcounting steps, please try a step test:

1. Put your wrist-based tracker on your wrist or put your clip-on tracker on your hip or torso.
2. Walk 100 steps, making sure to count a step each time one of your feet hits the ground.
3. Pause, then check your tracker to see your step count.

 

Let me know how it goes!

Maria | Community Moderator, Fitbit


Was my post helpful? Give it a thumbs up to show your appreciation! Of course, if this was the answer you were looking for, don't forget to make it the Best Answer! Als...
Best Answer

‎08-12-2016 07:07

In response to MarreFitbit

‎08-12-2016 07:07

Wow!

 

Well thanks! I think that is the problem!

 

I always hold on to the handle bars when I walk on the walking machine or I bike on the bike machine.

 

I do use fitbit on my non-domminant hand so it should record my number of steps accurately.

 

I already figured out that is does not record my steps if I use the Cross trainer or the bike - that's okay.

 

My main thing was to make sure that it records an accurate heart rate - so I can see it recording when I workout. 🙂

 

Thank you very much!

Rebecca

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