To be sceptical about my FitBit

[CallieOMalley]

I got a Fitbit for Christmas. Health kick, took up running and walking you know the usual.

Shamefully I have only just started using it every day. But I don’t see how it can possibly be in any way accurate. I mean it basically measures any arm movement as a step and that’s ridiculous

It recorded 57 steps before I even got out of bed this morning 🤷🏻‍♀️

Why are people obsessed with these? They seem so unlikely to be anywhere near accurate.

I got a huawei fitness tracker a month ago I love it the reviews were better than fit bit but it cost a fraction of them.

but equally have my doubts about it e.g the sleep measuring function is supposed to be really in-depth yet I can get up and go to the loo and it doesn't recognise at all that I've woken up let alone the steps that I've done. Also I have a low resting heart rate so the minute I'm laid down it seems to think I've gone to sleep or where I can be awake listening to the radio for half an hour after its reporting I have already gone to sleep

I think you just have to use it as a general tool and it gives you something to aim for making you more accountable etc. Yes you take a ton of step whilst sat in a theatre because you are clapping etc but overall in an average week you will start to see patterns in your activity.

Mine doesnt count every arm movement though, are you wearing it on your non dominant wrist?

I get about 400 steps just blow drying my hair

I agree it's good for general motivation but you should walk the miles you want/need to, and not rely on step count as an indicator of your activity.

I have a Fitbit (and a garmin for running) and I find them both accurate. Like the PP said are you wearing on non dominant wrist?

I find it useful in noticing when I've done outdoor walks, cycling, runs. Can time the runs. The sleep data has improved a lot, too, compared to a few yrs ago, I find the sleep data believable. Heart rate: can see the actual rest HR rather than rely on what it states is the HR.
Not steps, though. Don't trust those counts at all!

You can test it. Walk 100 steps repeatedly & see what count the fitbit says. I find it 5-30% over estimates.

Might make more sense to tie the thing to my ankle.

Actually...that’s a great idea

I take mine off when drying my hair and when I'm driving. It gives me a good indication of my steps and I usually take 1000 off for error. It helps me move more anyway and I enjoy it

I did 2000 steps in a job interview from my enthusiastic hand gestures 😂😂

It's amazing how far I walk when ironing.
(I do most things with my right hand but iron with my left.)

I do like mine and it's good as an average guide to what you've been doing. But also it's pretty accurate if you are out for a walk my oh and I check my Fitbit and his Garmin at the start and they both agree with each other at the end.

Although one time I was off roading with the buggy in the park and it recorded me as out mountain biking ha!

I hated mine and took it back (use my phone now).
It was a fitbit hr.
Each day it said I had done between 100 to 300 steps in my sleep whilst it was on my side cupboard!
And I did thousands in my car driving!

I’m a teacher and do quite expressive hand gestures to make my points. The final lessons I had with Y11 before the exams, I must have really got enthusiastic because my FitBit recorded them both as a swim!

I used to have a basic Fitbit that I could clip to a bra strap - it seemed to me much more sensible than a wrist one precisely because I wouldn't trust it to interpret arm movements properly, and I really don't see the need for a machine to tell me how I've slept: I can work that out all by myself. For a time I was keen because it did incentivise me to walk more than I would otherwise in order to try to hit my target.

However, I then left it in a hotel room and the hotel ignored all my messages inquiring about it (thanks, Holiday Inn). I thought about replacing it and then discovered that my phone could perform precisely the same function, so saved myself the money.

My friend boasted about doing 25k steps ....... she'd been painting all day.
I like my Fitbit as a general guideline.

I've got both a fitbit and huawei fitness tracker. The latter seems to be more accurate in terms of number of steps but is crap for the rest. Im quite amazed how the fitbit will pick up that I'm roller bladdimg or on the elliptic machine rather than running, same with cycling.

Most amazing is the accuracy of the heart rate monitor and sleep analysis. I was fitted with a heart monitor from the cardiologist which I had for 5 days and the fitbit measurements were exactly the same.

The sleep pattern is also spot on. It picks up exactly when I wake up even for 2 minutes laying in bed and when I dream (and checked the time when I wake up from it). The Huawei won't even pick up that I'm awake going to the toilet and records it as deep sleep!

You might need an extension to tie it to your ankle.

One of them I had needed one and the other didn't.

They are notoriously inaccurate in my experience.
I used to put the bit in my bra when I was on the wards.

I have a series 4 Apple Watch and if say it's relatively accurate. Doesn't record arm movements or anything like that. I've had fitbits in the past and it's a recognised problem

Mine suggested I burned too many calories - good job I didn't try to eat those calories!

Serious question - does it matter if you are doing arm or leg movements because it is still exercise? Otherwise, say, wheelchair athletes would record 0 steps.

@CaptainMyCaptain if it can read your heartbeat it works out how many "active" minutes you've done, although I'm not sure I was actually burning calories when being stressed enough to be "active" writing a complaint or public speaking!!

I love my Fitbit. It’s solely responsible for the fact that I have gone from someone who couldn’t run for a minute without stopping to someone who runs regular 5ks.

There was a long and rather heated thread about this recently. It was a shock to many Fitbit users that they weren’t actually doing 2000 steps getting dressed . I think at best they are a very rough indicator of steps. I use my phone, much better.

I'm amazed by this - my fitbit (an alta HR) doesn't record any steps when I dry my hair or clap or do anything like that. If anything it under records as if I've been sitting for awhile it doesn't record any steps for about 10 yds. I may pick up 50 steps on a 4hr drive but that isn't significant.

If painting is recording steps then the artist hasn't set it up properly

I've set mine to 'dominant wrist' even though it's on my non-dominant hand so it's a bit less sensitive. Just set your target steps higher if you think it's over counting.

I have a Fitbit ionic. It does record extra steps when I dry my hair or do very exaggerated arm movements (like when power walking), but it doesn’t record clapping or other big hand movements as steps.

I’ve also tested it against my garmin and other devices and it seems pretty accurate.

The ionic is quite expensive though.....