Surge Elevation Calculations : Cycling vs Hiking

[cyclingjon]

I just came back from Colorado and spotted a Surge anomaly that I don't understand.  

On Wednesday, I rented a mountain bike in Breckenridge and pedaled up to the top of Boreas Pass.  The bike rental place is at roughly 9,544 feet.  The top of Boreas Pass is around 11,488 feet depending upon the source.  My surge reported an elevation gain of only 230 feet.  However, the elevation chart appeared to display the correct elevation gain with me starting below 10,000 and rising toward the 12,000 mark.

On Thursday, I hiked up to the top of Ptarmigam Peak.  My guide book shows the trail head at 9,090 feet and the peak at 12,498 feet.  There's also a hill of a few hundred feet that must be hiked before ascending the mountain.  Therefore, the total elevation gain to the top should be around 3600 to 3700 feet in my estimation.  My surge ran out of power on the way down but it still reported an elevation gain of 3,330 feet which to me is in the ballpark of the "true" elevation.

My question is :  Why did the surge calculate hiking elevation well but the cycling elevation poorly?  

[Hilary55]

I don't have an answer for you, but I did want to say I'm hugely impressed by your fitness!

[Chris1963]

Where in the cycling mode does it show elevation? I must admit I've never taken any notice of climb since I live in the Norfolk Broads and anything above 50ft is a mountain.

But I just looked and I see no climb/elevation feature - however if the elevation chart in the app was correct does that not mean it is recording correctly?

Sorry I'm not trying to be clever but the only elevation I see on the Surge is the "floors" reading - which actually when you do go for a cycle makes a nonsense of it..

[RobertoME]

Hello @cyclingjon, welcome aboard to our Community and as @Hilary55 mentioned, I'm impressed too.

Now back to your question, these different elevations may vary based to the type of exercise. Meanwhile with Hiking you are walking, there is a motion pattern more constant that combine with the altimeter of your Surge and the GPS will read the elevation more accurately.

With biking in order to have elevation is require the GPS feature and in combination with this, it should give you the correct elevation, but you already know that. Although the environment you are can affect the signal strength of GPS due to the threes or tall buildings. It does not happen to often, but it is a possibility.

If the issue still happen, please try with a restart, for the steps take a look at this other post in case you need it. Also make sure the altimeter of the Surge is not obstructed. For this refer to our page of Wear and care tips.

Let me know how it goes and see you around.

[cyclingjon]

Thank you but I'm not really that fit.  It actually took me longer to hike down than to hike up.  My legs were jelly by the time I finished.

You should have seen the bow hunter hiking up the mountain with a full backpack with camping gear. Now, that was impressive.

[cyclingjon]

If you look at your exercise at www.fitbit.com, you'll see the elevation graph with the elevation gain value above it.  The graph is not displayed on either the device or the app, only at the website.

[cyclingjon]

Roberto, But why is the elevation chart so different from the elevation gain value?  Here is a screenshot from my bicycle ride.  The graph sure does look like greater than a 230 foot gain.

[Chris1963]

Good point. I have the same on mine. 50ft or so showing on the graph and 0ft showing in elevation.  

* that was on a walk not a cycle.

[cyclingjon]

This is a follow-up post to a Hiking vs Cycling Elevation Calculation post I created.

I created a Strava account, exported the Fitbit Surge data to a tcx file, and then imported the Fitbit data into Strava.  The profiles graphs for Fitbit and Strava both look similar. But, why does Fitbit show an elevation gain of 230 feet while Strava shows a correct elevation gain of 1,957 feet? Strava is using data from the Fitbit Surge.

[MariamV]

@cyclingjon thanks for the update and for the screenshot! Hey, I agree with @RobertoME on this: "...with Hiking you are walking, there is a motion pattern more constant that combine with the altimeter of your Surge and the GPS will read the elevation more accurately. With biking in order to have elevation is require the GPS feature and in combination with this, it should give you the correct elevation". That could be one of the reasons why your tracker isn't registering the elevation for the cycling trail. Have you tried the restart just like @RobertoME suggested? Do let me know! If after the restart you still feel like the Surge isn't showing accurate readings then I suggest contacting our Support Team as they have the proper tools to take a deeper look into your tracker's behavior. Catch you later! 

@Chris1963 thanks for joining us! What activity were you performing when your graph didn't display the elevation? Do let me know. I suggest restarting your tracker by doing the following:

1. Press and hold the Home and Select buttons (left and bottom right) on your Fitbit Surge for 10 to 15 seconds, until you see the screen flash or start to dim.
2. Let go of the buttons.
3. After your screen turns completely off, wait 10 seconds and press the Home button to turn your Surge back on.

After doing that, please keep an eye to your tracker's behavior and post back with the outcome! 

[Chris1963]

Hi Mariam, as my post mentioned, it was on a walk. I'm always restarting the Surge as it has huge problems synching so that doesn't make any difference to this particular issue.

[RobertoME]

Hello @cyclingjon, good to see you around. I have merged your posts regarding the information exported to Strava with your previous posts to maintain sorted our Community and the topic on the same thread. I wonder how it goes so far, is the issue still persisting with the elevation? In other words this elevation inaccuracy still is presenting on other exercises?

I was investigating your case, and on the screenshots you shared before it seem the elevation is correct. For some reason the 230ft. is not. THis explain why the TCX file you exported, is reflecting the correct elevation on Strava.

@Chris1963, Let me know if you can share some screenshots too, so we can review more in depth your case. This graph and the elevation data is only displayed if the exercise is tracked using the GPS feature of your Surge or MobileRun with your app as you know. Now If the tracker is presenting issues to sync, I would recommend to take a look at this posts either if you are using the mobile app on Android or iOS.

I'll be around, so keep me posted how it goes so I can assist you further.

[Chris1963]

Here you go Roberto, this was a walk the other week, not much climb as I'm below sea level at some points in the Norfolk Broads but you can see a similar result to cyclingjon, a gain of more than 50ft at one point but 0 shown as gain....

[Chris1963]

Is it possible it is showing a net figure? Climb x feet but then return by a similar route to the starting point so it subtracts it ?  

[cyclingjon]

Roberto,  As far as I know, this has always been a problem for the Surge.  The only reason I posted the issue was that (1)  The bicycle ride up Boreas Pass was a continual uphill with no level sections and (2) the difference between Surge's elevation and the actual elevation was so great.

For example, back in April, I was in Monterey.  I rented a bicycle and the Surge reported a gain of 160 feet while Strava, using the Fitbit data, reported a gain of 572 feet.  The next day I went hiking down in Big Sur on the Tanbark and Tin House trail.  The Surge reported a gain of 2420 feet and the Strava reported a gain of 2481 feet, nearly identical.  

In July, I rented a bike in Minneapolis.  The Surge reported a gain of 170 feet while Strava, using the Fitbit data, reported a gain of 842 feet.

I guess I was hoping that someone at Fitbit HQ in San Francisco could pedal up two or three of those steep hills wearing a Surge and then see what they get.

[Chris1963]

They would jon but the straps have broken on their Surge's....  

[SunsetRunner]

I agree that the elevation gain feature on the summary is horrible.  For the past few weeks I have been biking 10 to 20 miles every few days.  The area I live in is hilly for the northeast.  I ride roads that go up 400 to 500 feet.  And I never thought anything of the elevation gain feature until today.  I biked a 1300' mountain and expected my elevation gain stat to blow my previous high 400' out of the water.  Despite riding to the top of Bear Mountain (elevation 1283') my elevation gain today was 120'.

Fitbit you can do better.  A flaw like that makes one question all the data.