Calories and steps seem off

g2red89

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I took many steps today at work, and my band 2 didn't recognize a majority of them. I don't know if it was because I had boxes in my hands and was walking slowly, but even when I sped up and swong my arms the steps still didn't register. And I just got through working out and my heart rate was in the 130s. My calories I burned while in the workout were fine, but after I ended the session with my hear rate still in the 120s and 130s my calories seem to slowly increment as if I didn't just finish an intense workout. I strongly believe that if you sit on your butt and press the workout button and don't move that it will say your heart rate is 120 and that you're burning many calories. Is anyone else experiencing anything like this? Is this piece of equipment really this flawed? I mean I noticed misteps on my band one but I figured it was because I wasn't doing real walking like say in a mall or amusement park. But with my band 2 even today while walking at work and in the mall, my steps just don't seem to match the amount I feel I have really taken. Do I need to do a gps run to better calibrate this thing or what?
 

poit57

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It sounds like the sensors on your Band might not be working properly and you may need to contact support for assistance troubleshooting the device or starting a warranty claim. My first Band had a faulty HR monitor that consistently tracked about 20 bpm too high. One day, I met my calorie goal at 3:00 PM after sitting idle at my desk for about 6 hours. I did a warranty exchange after only 10 days and the 2 units of the original Band and my Band 2 that I've had since have not had any HR monitor issues.

As for the step counter, it also sounds like it could be a bad sensor. My steps are counted even while carrying things and not moving my arms. My understanding is that the GPS calibration helps to more accurately estimate the distance based on the number of steps taken, but the step count should be reasonably accurate independent of any whether GPS tracking ever takes place.
 

g2red89

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I guess it is possible I have a faulty sensor, but I thought the steps inaccuracy held true for a lot of people. The calorie burn inaccuracy could possibly be because of a faulty sensor, but it also could be that the band itself is inaccurate and incapable of showing burned calories unless you are in the workout setting, I'll give it a few more days and see, but I'm starting to think I should just get an apple watch......when it goes on sale.
 

DroidUser42

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I took many steps today at work, and my band 2 didn't recognize a majority of them. I don't know if it was because I had boxes in my hands and was walking slowly
Boxes could do it. I did a lot of walking around Saturday with my Band 1 taking photos. I normally hold by DSLR clasped between my arm and my body (rather than let it hang down). My arm is at a 90 degree angle. When I do that, no steps register. If I let my arm dangle naturally, it's fine. I'd have to double check, but I believe carrying bags (arm not swinging, but the arm is straight up/down) my steps register.

Inaccurate calorie would be due to inaccurate heart rate measurements or possibly inaccurate profile information (gender, height, weight).
 

g2red89

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I'm of the assumption that if you do a workout and get your heart rate up without going in to an actual workout on the band that it won't register your caloric burn like it would if you did go into a workout. That makes sense to a certain degree because you would have to keep checking to make sure it's reading your heart rate. It's not designed to always read your heart rate unless you're in a workout, that I get. I just don't get how my caloric burn dropped after I ended a workout yet it was still reading my high heart rate.
 

blur510

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I am also having difficulty trying to figure out how accurate my band 2 is. It told me that I burn about 80 calories an hour in my sleep and when I am awake at work about the same. it seems to count the step and distance just fine. But lately I have been walking a lot 10 miles (about 20k steps) yesterday and the band told me that I burned about 2100 calories for the day, versus about 1700 when I am just working and walks about 4000 steps. There are also days that I didn't wear the band, and when I checked my history, that it still registered about 1700 calories burned for that day. Should I return/exchange it? I am still within the return period. Thanks
 

Nate Silver

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I'd say the approx 1700 figure when you weren't wearing the Band represents a 'baseline' figure, irrespective of whether there was any activity or not. Its pretty typical for trackers that do 24 hour hr tracking to assign such a baseline, and then tack on additional calorie burn for activities. Your sleeping calories seem a bit higher than mine (about 60 calories per hour), but that's governed by HR as well, and my resting hr runs around 46 ish. On days when I have no exercise, 1700 calories for a fairly inactive day is about what I'm showing, with 18 to 1900 for a day with no exercise but 10,000 steps or better. Days that I'm on the trainer for two hours (mind numbing), it runs around 25 to 2900 calories. Average burn for a couple of hours on the trainer runs about 1200 calories, which I believe to be on the high side, probably should be closer to 8 or 900, possibly a grand.

Probably the best way for you to tell how accurate the calorie burn is, would be to do a comparison of heart rate, which is what governs calorie burn on these trackers. There seems to be some consensus that the Band (Band 2 at any rate) is overshooting hr somewhat. I've had mixed results, but in general I think that's what I'm seeing with mine. You could try exchanging it, but I doubt there's anything radically out of the 'norm' with yours. More likely the only thing that will change it will be a firmware update, should MS decide that one is called for.

Its not bothering me too much at this point, since I always track my activities two ways anyhow, and I can mentally adjust for 'windage' on the Band until (or if) they decide to attempt to fix it with firmware.
 

luke31

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I decided to test the step tracker while running on a treadmill, and I'm pretty surprised at the accuracy. And the calorie count is different because the treadmill did not know my weight and HR. Here are the results:

IMG_20151121_130244504.jpg

Screenshot_2015-11-22-10-28-02.jpg
 

haydenjr

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Read on the MS support forum that the December update should have some fixes for the step counter. mine seems off too.
 

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