What purpose does the step length serve?

[mjohn4244]

I am sure I am missing something.  I walk verified 1 mile loop every day  ( 5 times )at a 3.5 to 3.8 average.  I have counted the steps, its always between 1995 and 2010 steps per mile.   I use to count them before fitbit.  I know my step length is 31.5  +/- .2.  I have calculated it many times. My surge only shows 14250 to 1680 steps in that mile.  Just for grins, I changed my step length to 20.5 for one walk, then 40.5 for the next. My Surge still showed the same basic 1500 +/- with both settings.   I expect the GPS to have a varinace which it does, but why does changing the step length have 0 effect?  Is my watch defective? My wife who, we both walks the same speed step for step, has a 31.3 step length, ends up with 10000 steps +/_ after 5 miles while I end up with 7K to 7.5K  

Thoughts?

[Chris1963]

I thought the stride length was just for roughly measuring distance when the GPS wasn't on. eg 10,000 steps x 36 inches = 5.68 miles? 

[mjohn4244]

Can you even turn the GPS off on the surge?  The GPS is ususlay fairly close,  4.90 to 5.10 miles on a known 5 mile walk. I am still loosing 500 +/- steps per mile, I thought changeing the step length would have some effect

[Chris1963]

GPS is off until you manually start an exercise in which case stride length is irrelevent as the GPS tracks your distance and the tech (likely gyros or accelerometers if they're not the same thing) counts your steps. 

I've found the step counter very accurate and also the GPS for distance. My only issues have been the sluggish HR and straps falling apart.

[Chris1963]

Only thing I can suggest other than a reset is manually count steps and then check the Surge after. If it is consistently out by more than 2 or 3% I'd say it were faulty.

[MikeF]

Yes, GPS is off for most of the time. Your daily distance is mostly step count multiplied by stride length. Only when running exercises that specifically use GPS will that capability be enabled and that will be indicated on screen with a little satellite dish icon.

[RobertoME]

Hi there @MikeF and @Chris1963. Welcome aboard to our community @mjohn4244.

@MikeF and @Chris1963 are correct on both explanations, What I can suggest too, is to review your Dominant/Non-Dominant settings of your tracker. These options are not only limited to specify where you wear your tracker but also to increase the sensitivity of your tracker at the moment to count your steps.

• 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.

The stride length will determine your distance but also will have an impact on the accuracy of your steps.

Let us know how it goes, I'll be around if you need more help.