Accidental Fitbit cheating

Pi1otguy

Pi1otguy

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Fox McCloud
IDK if it's just me, but my Fitbit treats my flight time as steps. A few hundred erroneous steps is expected but I'm getting 2k-4k steps per hour in a C172.

Does this happen to you guys? Any advice?

I'm ending flights with it thinking I walked 4+ miles. If I'm putting a 5 mile jog level of effort into a 172, then are DC-3s a marathon and 737s an Iron man?
 
Is your Fitbit making a statement about your flying skills?:eek::D
 
Same thing happens with my fitbit if there's turbulence. Not many bumps -> not many steps. Lots of bumps -> lots of steps. Teking it off my wrist while in the air seems to fix the issue.
 
You should try running a tractor all day. 25k steps easy. It doesn't make sense because mowing the lawn doesn't trigger it. Flying only does sometimes; like Jim said mostly when it's bumpy. Riding in a car doesn't though.

Mine is a garmin. The setting to turn off logging is like 3 menus deep, so I just ignore it. You'd think they'd make it easier to disable.
 
We noticed the apple watch fitness rings records a lot on our flights. It does so a little bit on commercial flights as well though not as bad.
 
I got a pedometer and found that I did several hundred steps while driving to our cabin.
 
Well if you think of the algorithm that must go into a pedometer, it makes sense.

- It would have to detect a rhythmic shaking movement, primarily back-and forth, but also up and down.
- But it would have to be at least a certain number of shakes to establish that you're actually walking (and not just picking something up).
- There would probably be a low limit to the frequency of the shaking - meaning, one shake a minute shouldn't register as walking, but one a second could register as a slow walk.
- Probably an upper limit too, because shaking at 300 per minute probably isn't running either, so rule that out.

I also don't get many steps when I mow the lawn, because my hand is on the mower handle and is mostly moving horizontally - not a lot of up-and-down movement unless I'm hitting bumps. Take that hand off the handle, though, and it reads normally.
A flight in smooth air will usually not register anything. But bumpy air sure will.

I use a Garmin Forerunner, so I'm not familiar with the Fit Bit settings, might there be a sensitivity setting somewhere?
 
My fitbit days didn't last long; never took to it. But when I would play my cello, the vibrato would give me tons of steps. :)
 
I gave up on Fitbits after the second one died. I actually had a third, but when I found out they lied about the spo2 sensor on it, I sent it back. My wife finally gave up on hers after the fourth one I think. Fitbit's only answer to the fact their stuff is unreliable is to offer you a discount on a list price replacement that's MORE EXPENSIVE than buying it from a retailer that offers it at a better price every day.
 
My FitBit logs steps when I fly, but not when I spend an hour pushing a cart around Costco (or wherever) and intermittently when mowing the yard. I've been tempted to get an Apple Watch for the extra functions, but honestly I'm afraid it would just be another toy that gets left on the dresser or in a drawer.
 
I don't do Fitbit, but I do Strava. There have been a couple times when I've had a total blowout bike ride setting world records - all from forgetting to end the activity prior to driving home.

Some people do that intentionally. Some people use Strava to draw penises. Those are called Strava Wankers.
 
My Apple Watch makes a big show of announcing that I closed the “Move ring,” which is intended to indicate physical activity. That happens often, on cross country trips. Especially over the badlands of western Nebraska.

But usually the the “Exercise ring” doesn’t close, or even advance much at all — maybe because my pulse rate isn’t elevated?
 
My wife gave me an Apple Watch for xmas. The thing is always telling me to close my rings, to move more, to stand, etc. I swear that it nags me more than she does. One cool thing is that when we take a hike or just do our evening dog walk, after about 10 - 15 minutes it will recognize that I am possibly on an activity rather than just walking around the house or something and will alert me to ask if I want to record the activity. The cool thing is that it was already running the timer and pedometer in the background so it shows the time and distance that I have already gone.
 
I've had my fitbit for four years now and haven't had any problems. It's never picked up flying but does pick up riding the lawnmower as biking.
 
I have the Garmin Forerunner so I get the best of both worlds: I get steps when I fly, and if I walk near a runway it will automatically log approaches with the plane's Garmin avionics.
 
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