Thank you!! I had been traveling for a week and had not reinstalled my dongle in over a week, so once I reinstalled that, and sunk everything to the dashboard, the time was correct!
Mine is still on UK time and I’ve been back over a week. Maybe tomorrow…
@teriwtt – do you remove the dongle from the back of your computer when you travel? I just leave it there permanently and didn’t know it would have any use if removed from my computer.
I removed it from my computer because I only have two USB ports, and when I travel and am taking pictures with my camera, I have to use one of those USB ports… and I always have the other one in use to charge my phone. If I’m sitting next to my laptop, my phone is almost always plugged in. But once I got home, I did notice that the little FitBit icon at the top of my computer had an apostrophe/warning icon across the FitBit icon, meaning the devices hadn’t been sunk in a while, but it never crossed my mind that that’s why the clock on the device wasn’t correct. Then when swimcatsmom asked about the settings in my dashboard, it made sense to me. It actually took a couple of minutes to synch everything because it’s been 10+days since I did it last. Now I will leave it in until the next time we travel and I start uploading a bunch of pictures from my camera again.
@teriwtt – got it! Thanks for the explanation. I have a desktop so the dongle remains in the back of the computer 24/7, including the time I sent it out for repair and forgot to remove. The nice people at FitBit sent me a free dongle even though it was clearly my fault for leaving it in the back of the computer!
I looked back to your previous post to see what FitBit style you were using and saw this. I’m assuming you meant running through the airports and not dumping a duffle bag with incriminating clothes, right?
What is the advantage of using the dongle? I just sync to my iphone. I always wondered what that little thing was for.
I’ll never tell!
I also had my first experience this weekend with clapping my hands as counting steps. We were at a concert Saturday night of a cover band I like, so I was clapping away to the music. I figure the claps it registered as steps are all the steps I took when I wasn’t wearing the thing, such as when it’s charging, or after I get out of the shower and forget to put it back on right away.
@Sally22 – my FitBit account on my computer compiles different information and very interesting graphics: pie chart, bar chart, etc. I am not a huge app person, so I don’t know if the app has been around since I first started with the FitBit more than three years ago, but the dashboard version has been there the entire time. I think the dongle picks up the info from the device and transmits it to the dashboard, but as you can tell from my explanation, I am not the one to obtain technical advice from!
I now use both the phone and the dashboard, but use the phone much more often.
I’m a new Fitbit user. I went shopping yesterday for a couple of hours, pushing a cart. I found that my Fitbit Charge only counted about 600 steps. That’s 400 steps less than what I get from a ten minutes walk with the dog. This leads me to believe that Fitbit will only count my steps if I’m swinging my arms. Has anyone else noticed this? I’m mowing the lawn today and I’m strapping the Fitbit around my ankle to get credit for all my steps as my arms will be pushing a lawn mower.
evermom, that’s my hesitation in getting one of the wrist models. I now wear one clipped on my bra. In the winter, when I often walk with my hands in my pockets, will those steps get registered?
I get credit mowing – not maybe as much as I deserve, but it does still count body motion. I figure it evens out, since it sometimes counts combing my hair or typing…
My fitbit HR Charge does not count my steps when I go on the Arc trainer at the gym because I hold onto the handles. :(( So arm movement is critical. Bummer
So how will clipping it on your bra help? Are you swinging the girls around when you walk?!!
Today is my first full day with my new Charge HR. While I will have a goal, I will also take the steps with a grain of salt - either to be low or high. I’d say if you’re aiming for 10,000 steps then really go for 11,000 - 10% above your target.
Maybe try not to get too caught up on steps the days you have other exercise. If you are on the arc trainer can’t you at least log in your exercise time by starting the exercise tracker??
To make sure I get my steps with my Fitbit HR I hold the dog’s leash in my other hand, push the cart at the market with one hand, etc… But, that being said, I look at it as a tool, not necessarily super super accurate. I live at sea level, in a flat area, in a one story house. So generally I get zero to two flights of stairs a day. But boy did I get a lot of flights when I was in the mountains!
Strapping Fitbit to my ankle worked out okay. I’ll have to remember to do the same for shopping. Nearly met my 10,000 steps goal just by mowing my half acre lawn . I have to say that I live in a two-story house and usually come down in the morning and back up in the evening. With Fitbit, I’m climbing those things about 12 times a day. Fitbit is a great motivator. :">
Also noticed that my resting heart rate was about 10 bpm higher in the altitude.
abasket, the Fitbit I use is not the wrist one. It’s the clip on one. It has a totally different calibration method. The wrist ones measure steps by your arm motion. I don’t really know how the clip-on ones measure steps, I just know it’s different than the wrist ones (and has nothing to do with how my girls bounce).
I am planning on getting the Charge, partly for the heart rate info. You can have more than one Fitbit to an account, so I’ll probably keep the one I have now and use it when I know there will be no arm movement.
On our recent vacation, my highest ‘flights of stairs’ day was 100! 60% of my steps that day were above 5,000’ elevation, too.