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Surge measure floors climb incorrectly

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My Surge counts I have climbed more than 30 stories a day. Which is not correct.

I know that Fitbit products can make this error when I drive or traveling by bus, but I didn't.

I just run on the outside, it already calculates more than 20 stories.

Is there anything that may affect this? This just happens recently.

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Hi, @EdwinP, the weather can have a big effect on the floor counting (altimeter) built into the Surge and other Fitbits.  If it is windy, or the air pressure is dropping due to a storm coming in, this can cause extra floors to be counted -- sometimes quite a few.

 

On calm days it is very accurate -- I think it is kind of amazing that it is sensitive enough to detect a difference in air pressure from a rise of only 10 feet.  But that sensitivity does mean it can be affected by other factors -- sometimes even a suddenly slamming door can cause a floor to count.  

Sense, Charge 5, Inspire 2; iOS and Android

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Hi, @EdwinP, the weather can have a big effect on the floor counting (altimeter) built into the Surge and other Fitbits.  If it is windy, or the air pressure is dropping due to a storm coming in, this can cause extra floors to be counted -- sometimes quite a few.

 

On calm days it is very accurate -- I think it is kind of amazing that it is sensitive enough to detect a difference in air pressure from a rise of only 10 feet.  But that sensitivity does mean it can be affected by other factors -- sometimes even a suddenly slamming door can cause a floor to count.  

Sense, Charge 5, Inspire 2; iOS and Android

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Thank you, Julia.

I think you are right; it can cause the incorrect measurement. Is there anything that I can do to prevent this from happening, though?

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@EdwinP, unfortunately there really isn't anything you can do.  I just accept that when the floor count works it is pretty clever, and when it goes wrong, I ignore it. 

 

As you may be aware, floors aren't included in calorie calculation, so if you are keeping an eye on that at least it won't be adding any extra inaccuracy.

Sense, Charge 5, Inspire 2; iOS and Android

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@EdwinP Hope you're doing well, and enjoying some healthy activities! Cat Wink

 

I noticed that @Julia_G has offered a few comments in regards the different amount of stairs in your Dashboard. If this was of help to solve your inquiry, I invite you to mark this post as the solution. Marking posts as solutions is a great way of thanking another community member, while also highlighting their solution; so that it may be discovered more easily by other community member's facing the same questions or issues as you. You can read more about Accepted Solutions


If you have more questions, feel free to come back with your inquiries.

 

Have a goon one! Woman Happy

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Is Julia correct about the surge and the fitbit app on my tablet and computer not counting calories when doing floors? In other words, if I do 100 floors (which it did add one day for no good reason), it does not affect calories burned up at all?

Thanks

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Hi @PollloHope you’re having an amazing time on the Forums, I’m really glad that you’ve joined us. Woman Very Happy 

 

In regards to your inquiry. Yes, she is right. The calorie burn estimate that Fitbit provides takes into account your BMR, the activity recorded by your tracker, and any activities you log manually. Your BMR usually accounts for at least half of the calories you burn in a day and is estimated based on the physical data you entered when you set up your account: gender, age, height, and weight.

BMR is the reason your tracker starts the day with calories already burned, since you've still burned calories even if you haven't gotten out of bed yet (vital body functions like breathing, heartbeat, and brain activity). Cat Very Happy

 

The trackers that count floors use an altimeter to sense changes in atmospheric pressure to count floors (increases in elevation of 10 feet or more).  The altimeter is not utilized in measuring caloric burn. Only the trackers with Heart Rate monitors would be able to know the difference as they have heart rate sensors that can note the intensity of your efforts, but this effort will always generate calories burned based on your based step activities not floors.

 

Hope this answers your question. Woman Wink

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Today was windy, and during a 45 minute walk with the dog - all at sea level (I live a few blocks from the beach), the fitbit measured 37 flights.  Which is 37 flights more than I did.

 

Many days - even calm ones, the fitbit is wildly inaccurate for counting flights.

 

Fitbit's use of an altimeter to measuring flights is a bad engineering decision.  My iPhone, which uses the accelerometer and perhaps other sensors, does a much more accurate job at flight counting - in all situations.  Fitbit needs to redesign this subsystem - the altimeter is so bad it's unacceptable.

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Hi @SunsetRunner! Please receive a warm welcome to the Fitbit Family! It's great to see you participating in our Community! Smiley Happy

 

We're building ourselves every day to be better and satisfy as many users we can, and this type of comments help us to grow. I recommend to post this information in our Feature Suggestions board where our developers can check what our Fitbitters need and take this in consideration for the next updates. If you want to read more information about how Fitbit trackers track floors check this post.

 

Thanks for the feedback, it's very important to us to have your thoughts in regards our product.

 

Thanks for your understanding. Woman Happy

Want to get more active? ᕙ(˘◡˘)ᕗ Visit Get Moving in the Health & Wellness Forums.

Comparte tus sugerencias e ideas para nuevos dispositivos Fitbit ✍ Sugerencias para Fitbit.

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