Fitbit overcounting?

[InimitableJeeves]

This morning I was somewhat amazed at 9 a.m. to get a message saying I'd done 12000 steps already. As it happened, I had done quite a lot of walking but it's a route I've done before and it can't have been more than 7500 steps at most. So either I went into a trance and walked much further than I thought, or something's gone wrong. I'm wondering whether it could have reset itself to a different step length? Has anyone encountered anything like this, and/or do you know how to check and put it right?

what is fitbit? i was thinking of getting this for DP for christmas but thne i notice he has an app already on his phone which i assume is a free app?

sorry, that isn't mucch help is it

is the time set on it correctly? ie could it be counting midnight to midnight in the wrong place so you're getting some of yesterday's steps in today's? The only time mine overcounted significantly was when I wore it horseriding - counted all the horse's steps!

I think the time's OK. However, I see that it is now showing 13,000 steps as being 2.22 miles, whereas normally it says 10000 steps are around 4.5 miles. So I wonder if it thinks I've suddenly shrunk or started taking teeny tiny steps?

They are notoriously unreliable. Mine wouldn't count steps if I was pushing the buggy but would count them if I was standing still rocking the baby. Have a Google and you'll find a dozen press articles about how they overestimate calories burned resulting in people actually gaining weight. Anyway, I'm not remotely surprised. I'd reset it for the day and see if it starts making more sense.

Theoriginal, there's some information about Fitbits on their website here.

Not sure about the iPhone app - I have one for my iPhone which syncs in with the fitbit, so it picks up from the Fitbit how many steps I've done (or not done, today!) and keeps all sorts of data. Are you sure your DP hasn't already bought a Fitbit for himself if he's downloaded the app?

lol not if he is attached to his bits!! but seriously no. he hasnt.

not sure ill bother if they aren't accurate.

Generally I like it, simply because it incentivises me to take exercise where nothing else works. But only if it's accurate! And I don't bother with calorie counting on it.

I just had to go out for what would normally be around 2000 steps, and on checking the Fitbit on my return it's put me back to 7321, which is around 2000 less than what I have actually done today. Not fair! I dunno, maybe it's reset itself or something.

My friends add steps whenever he writes or types.

If you record a walk as a separate exercise, sometimes it crashes as it syncs and double counts the steps.
Could that have happened?

Fitbits are very unreliable. It clocked me doing 25000 steps one day when I was on a training course where I sat on my arse all day. I think it counted when I was fidgeting, which is the only explanation.

I ditched it in the end and got a Garmin Vivofit which I believe to be quite accurate

I've been given a jawbone up2. It's great. Much slimmer than Fitbit.

I think it might have crashed at some point, though I wasn't recording anything as a separate exercise. There's something on the help boards about checking the battery connection, which I'll have a go at.

It's now frustrating me that the little graph thing it produces is showing a number of walking distances which add up to the approximate distance I have walked, but still insists the total is at least 2000 steps fewer. I need a button that says "Just add the steps up properly, you fool!"

Mine is pretty reliable as long as I'm walking not too fast, or running. If I walk fast it undercounts and if I walk slowly it thinks I've walked miles more than I actually have.

It's far from perfect but it's alright for the money. The first one I had massively undercounted and I took it back. Good old Argos changed it without a second thought.

I've got a One which I've found to be fairly accurate at measuring distance. I clip it to my pocket or bra - I didn't go for a wrist one because it won't pick up steps when I'm pushing a pushchair.