Fitbit disappointed - inaccurate

[Ilovefffffffridays]

Anyone else have a problem with their Fitbit?
Wanted one for ages and got one for Christmas but finding the step counter is so inaccurate. It is clocking up steps when I am not moving. Is this a common complaint

How many steps is it wrong by? It's not supposed to be dead accurate, just an indicator of steps. So if it's clocking up 10 or 20 while you are moving your hand sat down it shouldn't make much difference to your daily total of around 10,000. However if it's counting thousands while you are sat down it's clearly broke!

1. Wear it on your non dominant hand and change settings to non dominant.

1. Make sure you have measured and inputted your stride width (this helps make the distance covered more accurate.

Then you will have a better idea of the steps you take.

It will never be 100% accurate but it gives you an idea of how active you are on an average day and you try and beat your previous number.

I'm disappointed too, it adds 400 while I'm brushing my teeth.
Perhaps I need to change which hand it's on.
I must admit I was sceptical about accuracy as my aunt was doing 25000 steps a day in a very sedentary job with a train commute and no extra walks!

Put it on your none dominant hand.

They're not supposed to be accurate. I always try to go around 4000 steps over my target to make sure I've done the 10. They're just a guide to get you moving.

I got 1500 steps once grating cheese

To be fair, it's never going to be able to tell the difference between you cleaning your teeth and vigorous jogging.

Take it off if you're about to do something you know is likely to confuse it.

Although, I can say graduation ceremonies are great for picking up some 'steps'. It's all that applause

We were given one & found it useless.. Nothing I did could make it come up with plausible numbers (sorry). I tried everything people say is supposed to make it more accurate. I would go for a Garmin Forerunner if you want a toy that yields realistic numbers.

I think Wrist counter things best used in a kind of relative way. So today was avg but yesterday I did 120% of my avg, etc.

I've had my iPhone in pocket all day and compared the steps on that to my Fitbit - Fitbit has extra 1810 steps!

What makes you think your iPhone is more accurate?

I wear mine on my non dominant hand and it gives a good idea!

I find the sleep monitor inaccurate also. Which is frustrating as I can't prove my impoverished sleep and win in the competitive tiredness stakes. Said I'd enjoyed 9 hours sleep last night when I was actually up every two hours feeding newborn and would cheerfully pay good money to get more than four hours straight...

My fitbit said I woke up 46 times one night. Actually I wasn't sleeping, lying still with occasional roll-over that registered as "waking up".

Just setting mine up, currently on charge. Can you change the weight to kg?

I wear mine in my non-dominant hand but have it set as though I am wearing it on my dominant hand to counteract the fact I am a bit of a hand waver (I am constantly moving my hands when talking etc!) It is less sensitive this way so reckon I get a reasonably accurate read, though it doesn't count floors well if I hold the bannister on my way up or if I climb quickly!

They're not meant to be absolutely accurate. They're meant to show relative trends of activity. So you can compare and track you activity levels over time. Notional "steps" is just a way of quantifying it.

The idea being you that you can see the difference between a day where you've been sat behind a desk on on the sofa, and a day where you've been active, say walking around all day.

Wear it for a few weeks to get a baseline (ie, what's your typical weekly average, whether that includes counting your arm brushing your teeth or not, just be consistent), and then aim to increase that weekly average - which will require you to be generally more active.

I find burping DS is an excellent way to get more steps
I think the thing is, is that so long as it is consistently inconsistent then you can still track how well you are doing and measure any improvements. I am trying to remember to use my other hand or take it off for things that'll confuse it.

I am also getting annoyed that it's telling me I've had sleep when I have actually been dicking around on Mumsnet up with DS. I need to see how hard done by I am.

Calorie burn was way too high on mine. It's a bit of fun, competing with your friends, adds a bit of motivation to your activity but it is not a serious accurate piece of equipment. I was disappointed with mine.

It's not accurate particularly if you wear it on your dominant arm. I use mine to give me an indication of activity and to spur me into moving. You can set up challenges with friends or just with yourself which I enjoy doing. I have also used mine to help me lose weight by tracking calories and setting a weight goal, nearly a stone down so far. The sleep function is pants - if I lie in bed reading it thinks I'm asleep!
Use it to monitor trends.

I think it's widly known and reported that they are inaccurate - sorry you are disappointed but some simple team search would have told you this.

Mine will recognise doing a fitness DVD as exercise one time and not another, and yet it counts hoovering as exercise 🤔