Well, we didn’t get the tracker until day 2 of the 3 days they were tracking, so I was fine getting credit for extra steps since I didn’t get credit for my 1st day of steps. I did log nearly 20k in steps on the day I got the tracker–walking around the conference, exhibit hall and receptions. Got over 10k the next day looking at posters, exhibits and attending conference and dinner. Did A LOT of walking, but not as much as the tracker totaled, according to my iPhone apps.
The cheap tracker I was given logged me at over 15 miles in 2 days while my phone apps logged me at over 10 miles in the same time period.
Oh well, a free new toy to add to my motivational tools. 
in happy that the toy was responsible for a $100 donation to a good charity for my logging the over 30,000 steps by the evening of the 2nd day I had the device.
Phone apps, like the ones that ONLY use the phone. I imagine those are the worst…unless you always have your phone in your pocket.
It’s all about trends. Like someone mentioned above, if it gets you moving and trying to increase your number, that exact number doesn’t matter.
So just as a reminder the article for the start of this thread was about Fitbit trackers in particular and the inaccurate measure/tracking of heart rate, not steps. I know we veered off on steps for a bit, but the content of the article is heart rate.
Secondary to that, the article is focussed on the Fitbit brand, not other trackers. So any faults with other brand trackers are an article/research piece of their own!!!
So my BIL got my MIL a fitbit for mom’s day, and my role as tech support for the family included setting it up on her phone and laptop. The first thing I said to her was “the only thing this is supposed to do is get you out there walking-don’t worry about the details.”
The Aria scale from Fitbit thinks I’m 31% fat. I’m 5’9", 134 lbs and pretty dang fit. One of my close friends who is 50 and is as lean as jerky gets 28% fat from the Aria. Tech isn’t 100% there yet-it’s the un-assing yourself from the couch-that’s what matters.
Well, the 3 winners are all from the US and all tracked more than 300K steps apiece in 3 days by whatever tracker they chose, including their phones or FitBit or the freebie I got or whatever. I don’t know how they got that many steps and still were in the conference that I was attending. The top person won a Surface Pro!
I have a Fitbit Charge HR – and a pacemaker! At my most recent “interrogtion” where they download the pacemaker data I questioned what my Fitbit was reporting and was told not to believe the heart data. I think it’s not bad until I start to sweat and then the heart rate is abnormally high. The FitBit shows that I am at peak heart rate when I am walking when it’s very hot. Probably not accurate. Steps seem pretty much right on though.
http://www.today.com/health/fitness-band-frustration-users-complain-weight-gain-trackers-t66146
Trackers are tools. Like any tools, they have to be used wisely.
I did a walk myself, then did the same loop with my 90 year old mother, I had twice as many steps walking with her than alone. I have a very long stride, but took tiny steps with her, I think the step counter can be accurate and yet different for two people on the same walk. I wear a chest version not wrist version and I can watch the app on my phone registering each step, so it’s pretty accurate for me. If I recall, you can calibrate the fitbit when you first set it up, something about walking on a track, etc., so that it knows your step length.
My replacement (fitbit #3) should arrive tomorrow.
Well I just got an email post form the fitbit weekly stats and its way off. Must not have synced after Tues as I recall it saying I walked 22K steps Friday (which is entirely possible) but it claims the whole week was only 8K steps. Baloney.
My wife wears a Fitbit around – she got it for her birthday last fall, so it’s a relatively recent model. My son wears a Garmin Fenix (I think). I don’t wear anything, but my Samsung S6 insists on telling me how many steps I walked anyway. We were recently on vacation together, and walking a lot, but pretty much all together at the same time. The three devices differed in how much we had walked by thousands of steps. Of course, we would not all necessarily have taken exactly the same number of steps, because after all we have different leg lengths, but my wife’s count was usually the lowest, and she has the shortest legs.
This raises another question, and that is what is being measured on a fitbit, whether accurate or not, actually improving someone’s fitness? The idea that, for example, the more steps you take in a day means you are more fit may not hold up under scrutiny, and what I worry about with fitbits and whatnot is people are using them, saying “oh, I am in such great shape, I am doing X steps a day”, when those steps may not really be doing much. Studies around fitness have shown that while it is better to move than not at all, something like a long walk at a moderate pace is not going to do much, that intensity is much more an indication of fitness value, and while I know they also measure heart rate, I hear a lot of people talking saying things like “oh, on a given day I am doing X steps, that is great” and the other people nodding how great that is…when the actual value may be moderate. I know a woman who is always complaining she isn’t losing weight, that she does X miles on her treadmill each day, but she does it at a very slow rate, what most people would consider warmup, and in effect isn’t doing all that much (I told her to try doing a lot shorter distance, but doing intervals, tailored for what she can do, and she was happy to find she started losing weight/getting fit, doing 1/2 the distance she had been:). Personally I think this stuff is going to prove out to be a fad of sorts, where people are going to realize that in of itself it isn’t that valuable, that it is great to be walking more, to try and increase the number of steps, but it also isn’t the replacement for regular more vigorous exercise.
You are right to a great extent, musicprnt. The 100 steps to the copier and back at work are not creating a fitness gain- even when they add up throughout the day. Walking has to be done pretty briskly to help with fitness and health gains. It will burn calories, and I guess if you translate steps into miles (approx. 2000 steps per mile), you can pat yourself on the back for burning calories.
I use my FitBit to get myself up out of the office chair or the couch and walk. The benefit to me is not as much the steps as the fact that I am up and moving when I am logging steps. I believe that even with my daily running miles (which are done at a training level and definitely get my HR up), sitting a lot can undo a lot of the benefits of being an athlete. I have a job where I can be at the computer, on the phone or in meetings for WAY too much of the day. The FitBit alerts me to get up and walk to someone’s office instead of calling them- or to go outside and take a nice walk around the buildings. Yes- I’m guilty of walking up and down the hall at night to achieve a certain level of steps, but that’s harmless. People who rely on their daily step total without making a conscious effort to do an actual brisk fitness walk aren’t going to see much benefit other than the fact that they aren’t sitting.
It is important to distinguish between fitness and health. There was an interesting report from the ADA a little while ago. Exercising for fitness in what is otherwise a sedentary lifestyle does not provide the protection from diseases of aging as was thought. Some recent studies are indicating that regular movement during the day is necessary.
Here’s a link to a 2009 study that was part of starting the discussion:
https://www.acefitness.org/certifiednewsarticle/878/research-alert-daily-exercise-may-not-be-enough-to/
Here’s another earlier report:
http://community.diabetes.org/t5/Adults-Living-with-Type-2/STAND-UP-exercise-is-not-enough/td-p/595231
I can’t find the ADA’s 2015 report but here’s a chart they are using to promote regular movement throughout the day:
http://main.diabetes.org/WellnessLivesHere/GetFit/resources/2016-gfds-infographic-too-much-sitting.pdf
It may be that for all their shortcomings as exercise tools, Fitbits and other similar devices may serve a very real beneficial purpose by cuing people to get up and move throughout the day.
My new Fitbit replacement came today. Charged it and have them both on my arm. The HR measurements are 14 beats apart. Will measure them against equipment and a sphygmomanometer.
I’ll stick to my Polar V800 with H7 heartrate monitor. It struggles at times on bike rides in colder weather or wind because it depends on moisture, primarily from sweat, to maintain good contact with the skin but otherwise I think it’s accurate. It’s quite helpful as monitoring fitness where I can see lower HR’s for a given pace over a 3 mile run. You can keep the non GPS and wrist HR monitors. I had friends say the V800 isn’t worth the money. I say you get what you pay for.