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Do Fitbits count more steps than Garmins?
We’re having a friendly steps-per-day battle in our house at the moment which I am losing quite convincingly.
I do have a long gait compared to my rivals but that can’t be the only thing accounting for the difference.
Garmin Instinct (2018) vs Fitbit Ionic (I think)
Any insights from STW?
They're all inaccurate guestimates for 'other' activities. My garmin records painting my terrace as steps, but ignores similar activities
I have seen steps battles get silly, so beware....
Swap watches for the day and find out
I have a Garmin Vivoactive 3 and my wife a Fitbit Charge 4, if we go out for a walk together she'll clock up sometimes 10% more steps for me. Hard to tell if the Garmin is under or the Fitbit over, I seem to remember seeing things about Fitbits being slightly over.
If I swing my hand back and forth, I can do amazing amounts of steps while sat on my arse in front of the telly. Garmin
Which wrist are you wearing it on?
I find the attaching to the dog collar is always a good assist
Check the number of steps before you go out on a walk together and see what you've got when you get back. I did a step challenge using Samsung health a few years back and it seems my colleagues S7 Edge was happy to consider a hundred miles driving each way along the A12 as walking.
My phone (in my trouser pocket) is much more accurate than my Garmin watch, which overcounts by around 1000-1500 a day IME
My instinct seems to work accurately on a walk, as does the OH's fitbit Charge4, although she has short legs so there's about 20% difference.
The difference seems to be that:
a) I commute by bike and go for a ride at lunch some days, so on those days the garmin pauses itself for ~2 hours even though I'm being active.
b) The fitbit seems to count shuffling round the house much more actively. The garmin will go up a few hundred in an hours hosuework, hers did 10,000 steps doing DIY.
Meh, does it really matter?
It's only a 'ballpark' type metric, intended to indicate general levels of activity over the course of a day, 11k rather than 10k steps counted a day will not make you into an athlete.
My Missus/eldest both have fitbits I have a Garmin, when we've compared them for fun, when out together, they always seem to be within a couple of hundred steps or so of each other.
People often get caught up in measurement "accuracy" when accuracy isn't really required for everything...
Swap watches for the day?
You'll soon find out if its equipment or activity related.
As long as the person is recording the number of steps on the same device then it shouldn't really matter. If it bothers you that much, argue the fact you have a longer stride than they do so they'll do more steps.
Thanks all. I agree with many comments, it’s not that important, just nice to know.
I concur with @thisisnotaspoon re: Instincts ignoring pottering about steps.
I’m gonna do a 2 watch comparison.