Step count, mileage and badges? (Surge)

[SimonH0407]

Hello everyone, this is my attempt to make the watch more accurate so I'm putting it out there for the opinions of you all.

I noticed on two seperate occasions that my step count as registered on the watch (30,000 then 40,00) were not rewarded by the 'badges' as listed. I genuinely don't care about those badges but I do care about accuracy. These instances were what made me look into the reasons behind this discrepancy and based on the experience of others it is the mapping registering differently than the step count it seems.

My profile has been set to a walking stride length of 27.95" (71cm) per step as per the 'take 10 steps, measure the distance and divide by 10' method.

I'm 5'10 (177cm) tall with an inside leg of 31 1/2" (800mm) for reference.

For clarity I have not used the GPS / Mapping on the watch ever as of yet, I use Strava on my phone out of habit which gave me the opportunity to check out the differences.

I have manually adjusted the watches readings that follow to remove the steps and distance registered in my home prior to walking.

On my return the watch registered a step count of approximately 19,500 and a distance of 8.6 miles (13.84km).

Strava (using GPS not step counting) registered a distance of 10.3 miles (16.58km). Personally I feel more inclined to believe a GPS measured distance than that of a wrist mounted step counting fitness tracker / watch.

That Strava app doesn't count steps but is linked to my Fitbit account so once I hit the 'Finish \ Log Excercise" button it sends the information to the Fitbit app on my phone. 

Once I did this the Fitbit app automatically increased its registered steps and distance to 24,400 and 10.7 miles (17.22km). Those figures have also been manually adjusted inline with the initial ones quoted.

My thought that maybe I could amend my stride length to more acuurately reflect the overall distance covered has been thrown into question by these figures though.

The difference between the registered distance is 1.7 miles (2.74km) which would need to be spread across the step count increase of 4,900 meaning an increase in my stride length in my profile of 22.05"(56cm) which would be pretty silly.

There is no doubting the possibility that my maths is faulty as it is not my strong point so feel free to highlight any errors there, I won't be offended.

Any thoughts anyone??????????

[MarreFitbit]

It's nice to see you around the Community @SimonH0407! 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.

In addition to dominance (right or left), Fitbit Alta™ also needs to know which wrist you prefer to wear the tracker on. Tracker location helps orient the screen correctly in addition to adjusting the sensitivity of step detection.

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?

At least two dozen GPS satellites are constantly in orbit around the Earth and broadcasting data. All GPS devices, whether your phone or a Fitbit Surge, require a direct path to these satellites in order to receive their radio transmissions. If the signal is being blocked—either because you're underground, near many tall buildings, or as a result of atmospheric effects—GPS will not work. Thus, whereas GPS gives you a more accurate measure of distance than step counting alone, the actual accuracy depends on both your environment and the weather.

If you're running with your Surge and the GPS signal is lost, rest assured Surge will continually search for a GPS signal as long as the exercise is in progress.

Your Fitbit activities will now appear on Strava, and your runs and rides tracked by Strava will contribute to your Fitbit all-day stats. If you're interested in exporting your GPS data from your Fitbit Surge to Strava, see Can I export my fitness data to my computer?

Keep in mind that the following types of activities won't sync to Strava:

• Non-GPS activities 
• Previously completed activities
• Duplicate activities—that is, if you already recorded an activity with Strava, a Fitbit activity that occurs at the same time won't sync.

Note that after linking your accounts you may see some differences in the way data is calculated for your exercises on each site. For more information, refer to Strava'sCalorie Calculation article.

Hope this helps!