Step count: does anyone have a good method?

SkorpionUK

Well-known member
Sorceress from Germany
Posts: 308
"Building good habits"
I need to have a little rant, but there will be a question at the end I promise. So. I used to have a Garmin vivofit: bought second-hand, first one died somehow and was replaced under warranty, the replacement worked fine for a while and then died too. Apparently this happens, but I decided I didn't want to keep getting new ones every few months. Fast forward a while, I decide: hey let's count steps again, that helped last time - but let's get a pedometer, that's enough. Again, second-hand, although this was still in its blister pack and the battery plastic in place. And it seemed to do the job, except... yesterday I was out for quite a while, going slowly and stopping lots, and it counted 600 steps. SIX HUNDRED. Today - armed with Pokémon GO and my pedometer app, I thought I'd figure out what the hell it's doing... but just over halfway round my walk, my phone suddenly shut down. The count at that point: ~550 on the pedometer (861 total), 1648 on the app, PokeGO has 4 km for the last two days. Implausible, no? This thing is definitely not working, or not working for me.

I don't know whether to
  • troubleshoot this device some more,
  • get a different one (it's the kind that clicks on each step, but others are available locally),
  • get a fitness tracker again (which kind though? do they all break after a while? my fitness coach friend says they do and it's the sweat?!),
  • stick with the pedometer app (do any of them work well? The one I have is called "Step Counter - Pedometer Free", and it's a bit annoying to switch it on each time I leave the house but I guess I can manage - but see above re phone suddenly dying. it is old.)
  • ??? try Google Fit or Huawei Health maybe? anyone have experience with them? (or Samsung, I guess, if I get a new phone soon...), or
  • give step counters up for a bad idea and just record the time I'm out walking.
I know that no step counter is perfect, and that's okay - it just needs to be consistent so I know when I'm walking more (or less!) than before. It's okay if it doesn't count every step all day long, and okay if it does.
I do kinda have a little Walk to Mordor spreadsheet that I've been using for a while and it would be kinda nice to complete it... you know?

So I hope someone has a good method for tracking steps and can share their wisdom with me 😁
 

lofivelcro

Well-known member
Hunter from the sticks
Posts: 593
"Tomorrow do thy worst, for I have lived today"
Maybe it's not about the steps, but the friends we made along the way....

Why even count steps in the first place? Isn't time and speed more interesting? I feel like you can assess your progress and your level of activity more by those measures. A bit along the lines of "I walked this distance of 4km in 40 minutes last month, and I managed to whittle it down to 30 minutes after steadily walking the same distance twice a week...." in comparison, "20.000 steps" seems more arbitrary to me.
But I'm also tech-averse in every part of life you don't necessarily need it, so what do I know :LOL:

On the other side, I wouldn't want to use anything that actually tracks my steps and stores them somewhere online, because, you know, I don't want Google or whatever tracking and recording my every move.
 

lofivelcro

Well-known member
Hunter from the sticks
Posts: 593
"Tomorrow do thy worst, for I have lived today"
I understand the need to complete something, I really do.
I know, sort of, that step counters mostly go by movement, and depending on how sensitive they are, they track everything that's slightly emulating a small bump, or only the highest eruptions on the Richter scale. So I reckon it's a bit of a gamble to find one that resonates with your kind of movement.
You could do a bit of measuring and using maths, getting a bit of all worlds. You measure out a not-too-long distance, walk it a couple of times to get a good number in. Count your steps in your head while doing so. See how many steps you walk in that distance, get the average time and distance, and the next time you go for a walk, you can just take the time, measure out the distance on a map later on, and calculate your average step count.
Is that a lot of hassle? Probably. Is it kind of cool? I think so. I might be alone with this opinion, however.
 

TopNotch

Well-known member
Ranger from Australia
Posts: 1,610
"Motivation is temporary. Discipline is forever."
I've found pedometers aren't very sensitive and if you don't walk briskly and have them positioned exactly they simply won't record. I've got a Fitbit. I won't recommend a Fitbit because I know a lot of people have problems with them, and my first one died (fortunately, was covered by warranty) and the next one lasted about three years, and now I'm on my third and this one is actually sensitive enough to count the steps I'm taking even if I'm pushing a shopping trolley! The Fitbit is what I use for Strava and the Conqueror Challenges.
I also use a couple of apps on my phone - generally the Zombies, Run! app. There is always a discrepancy between the app and Fitbit but unless it's really major, I discount it.
With your walk, do you need the actual step count or the distance? I took 10 steps down my hall and measured it and then easily divided to calculate my average walking step length.
 

Fremen

Well-known member
Shaman from Italy
Posts: 3,179
"“Keep an eye on the staircases. They like to change.” Percy Weasley, Harry Potter and the Sorcerer’s Stone."
I gave my partner Xiaomi Smart Band 6, it is reasonably priced and works very well, even as a pedometer.
For how my partner found it, I would recommend it :)
 

SkorpionUK

Well-known member
Sorceress from Germany
Posts: 308
"Building good habits"
Thanks for your comments @lofivelcro @TopNotch @Fremen !

measure out the distance on a map later on
ah, what's your favourite way of doing this? I know I can get Google Maps to show me a route to someplace, even several places, but what if I meander? Is there an option for basically hand-drawing your route and getting it to calculate?
I've found pedometers aren't very sensitive and if you don't walk briskly and have them positioned exactly they simply won't record.
That does seem to be the problem, hey. This one was okay when I walked someplace in one go, but with PokeGO, I stop a bit more than usual, even when I try not to.
Three years out of a fitness tracker is acceptable! I didn't even get one year and that's what put me off replacing the last one (and I wasn't going to be using it for a bit). I just don't really need a whole sportswatch, and besides, I'm actually wearing an analogue watch these days. I might see if anyone's selling a nice-looking fitness tracker around here....

With your walk, do you need the actual step count or the distance?
For the Walk to Mordor? My spreadsheet is set up to convert steps into miles, which is what the route is recorded in... 20thC Brits ISTG 🙄
I think I could probably reverse engineer if I had distances, sure: after all, it calculates using a particular step length, which you can change, it's not like there's a hidden calculation.

I gave my partner Xiaomi Smart Band 6, it is reasonably priced and works very well, even as a pedometer.
Ah cool, I will see what's available here. The company makes phones (as well), right?

For today's walk, I will test Google Fit.
I also found a pedometer app by a German company/guy, which claims not to use location data or store anything (we're sensitive about data privacy around here), so that's maybe for tomorrow.
I guess I can keep wearing the pedometer just to see if it ever spits out useful data again.
PokeGO claims to upload data to GFit, but I'm not confident that's working?
Testing testing testing...
 

Ratio Tile

Active member
Jedi from Poland
Posts: 30
Fast forward a while, I decide: hey let's count steps again, that helped last time - but let's get a pedometer, that's enough.
What kind of pedometer was that? Was it one of those you wear on your ankle? Because they'd probably be the most accurate.

Smartwatches and fitness trackers can only detect arm movements/bumps, and if the motion is regular they register it as a step. This may lead to many false positives, though the discrepancy you noticed seems to be way off.

If you need only a general estimation, but consistent, simple fitness trackers are perfectly OK. You can get a new one for a very reasonable price. And I really advise a NEW one. This will surely extend its longevity and performance for you.

And a side note:

(we're sensitive about data privacy around here)
Internet privacy is a myth ;)
 

lofivelcro

Well-known member
Hunter from the sticks
Posts: 593
"Tomorrow do thy worst, for I have lived today"
ah, what's your favourite way of doing this? I know I can get Google Maps to show me a route to someplace, even several places, but what if I meander? Is there an option for basically hand-drawing your route and getting it to calculate?
I have a map, and I mark point A and point B, and then I use an opisometer on the map to measure out the distance.
Pic related:
image_proxy.jpg
Oldschool! :LOL:
 

SkorpionUK

Well-known member
Sorceress from Germany
Posts: 308
"Building good habits"
What kind of pedometer was that? Was it one of those you wear on your ankle? Because they'd probably be the most accurate.
It isn't - you wear it on your waist, vertically. It's a clip with a basic display and you can hear it click as you walk.
That said, I have seen a model that you can clip "anywhere" (bag / arm / waist), so that could go on my ankle if I get it.

Smartwatches and fitness trackers can only detect arm movements/bumps, and if the motion is regular they register it as a step. This may lead to many false positives, though the discrepancy you noticed seems to be way off.
That's true, and most of them also use location tracking to estimate whether the motion sensor picked up actual lateral movement or just... dish-washing.

Internet privacy is a myth
Absolutely, but Germans in particular seem to be wary of giving personal tracking data to Google or Apple if it can be avoided - so the software I found makes a point of saying they don't track users' locations, only the motion of the phone, which is stored locally rather than uploaded anywhere.
 
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