Gear Fit 2 Shortcomings

[stereoflab]

I had the Microsoft Band 2 and it also needed to have a certain number of steps before it gave you credit. This sparked a lot of debate on their forum with people moaning that it was well short of fitbit etc. However, the conclusion seemed to be that the odd steps to and fro are not of any particular fitness "value" and therefore were ignored, which was a better strategy.

 

[billykac]

I had the Microsoft Band 2 and it also needed to have a certain number of steps before it gave you credit. This sparked a lot of debate on their forum with people moaning that it was well short of fitbit etc. However, the conclusion seemed to be that the odd steps to and fro are not of any particular fitness "value" and therefore were ignored, which was a better strategy.

Good points.

I did a little digging last night after my post above yours.

I went to forums for other fitness bands/smart watches and guess what? They all have endless posts about inaccuracies of their respective pedometer apps. Some record too many steps, others, not enough.

Interestingly, early posts on a couple of different Fit 2 forums show owners complaining of far too many steps recorded.

So, apparently, there's no silver bullet here.

For me, I don't care if a few dozen steps don't get recorded when I putter around the kitchen for a few minutes. What I want to know is did I get over 10k steps in a given day? Even a few hundred plus/minus really don't matter to me. Further, since I will not be switching out between different fitness bands on a daily basis, as long as the Fit 2 is roughly consistent with itself, things like trends will be reasonable accurate.

I'd extend this same thinking to the stair counter. Plus/minus some is not really a deal breaker for me.

 

[stereoflab]

Good points.

I did a little digging last night after my post above yours.

I went to forums for other fitness bands/smart watches and guess what? They all have endless posts about inaccuracies of their respective pedometer apps. Some record too many steps, others, not enough.

Interestingly, early posts on a couple of different Fit 2 forums show owners complaining of far too many steps recorded.

So, apparently, there's no silver bullet here.

For me, I don't care if a few dozen steps don't get recorded when I putter around the kitchen for a few minutes. What I want to know is did I get over 10k steps in a given day? Even a few hundred plus/minus really don't matter to me. Further, since I will not be switching out between different fitness bands on a daily basis, as long as the Fit 2 is roughly consistent with itself, things like trends will be reasonable accurate.

I'd extend this same thinking to the stair counter. Plus/minus some is not really a deal breaker for me.

I think that is key. I use the device to benchmark my daily activity, but I suppose if you were challenging Fitbit owners then that wouldn't be so good . Interestingly, I've noticed pretty similar results to what I was getting on the Msft Band (which I had for 6 months) so I think they must use similar algorithms.

 

[armadasaxon]

hi,after waking up from a night sleep without wearing my gear,my kcal screen show 590kcal..is it normal?..as i was sleeping and not wearing it..how did it record that?

 

[billykac]

It may be the case (I am a newbie here to Fit 2, so I am not sure) that based on your profile, the Fit 2 determines a default number of calories that you burn during sleep. It may also be the case that when it is worn, that value may change based on your activity during sleep. Again, just a guess.

 

[toenail_flicker]

How does it handle something like mowing? For my Misfit I have to switch to ankle position and then sync. Change it back when finished and sync again or it doesn't count the steps because my hand is stationary. Hard move your arm much when you're pushing.

So, apparently, there's no silver bullet here.

For me, I don't care if a few dozen steps don't get recorded when I putter around the kitchen for a few minutes. What I want to know is did I get over 10k steps in a given day? Even a few hundred plus/minus really don't matter to me. Further, since I will not be switching out between different fitness bands on a daily basis, as long as the Fit 2 is roughly consistent with itself, things like trends will be reasonable accurate.

I'd extend this same thinking to the stair counter. Plus/minus some is not really a deal breaker for me.

 

[billykac]

Can't say.
I have acres that I mow on a tractor, and I take my Fit 2 off for that task as I sometimes have to wrestle with branches and bushes, and I don't want it ripped off my wrist.

I can say that if I hold my arm up so it's stationary while I am walking to check step counts, it continues to count even when my arm is still.
Some kinda magic going on in there.

 

[Adaboy]

Got this free with a Note 7. Its worth it as a freebie ,but I wouldnt pay for it. The step counter counts higher and calorie count is off. My favorite is the music control dont have to pick up phone to change music. Has anyone connected the GF2 with a Bose Bluetooth speaker etc?

 

[jcsmith75]

Just got my Fit2 yesterday. This morning set a distance goal of 4 miles and ran. It notified me when I reached the goal (it was pretty close as its a normal route of mine). When I hit finish it logged it at 7.83 miles. Any ideas as to why this happened? I only ran 4 miles.

 

[billthem00se]

​Just got a Fit2 as a free offer for buying the S7 Edge. Still trying to figure it out and haven't actually put it on yet, Steps/Floors counts show "0", but I notice it's got a count of 1539 calories burned already, right out of the box, and I cannot find a way to reset that count. I've read the user manual, which I had to search for online and download because it isn't supplied with the unit and was of no help, and did the "light reset" but the calorie count came back again. Another thing I notice is they give you a cool magnetic charging cradle with nothing to plug it into. Really? I've been reading a lot of posts where this gadget is pretty inaccurate and they're being returned - I guess that's not an option for me, so I got what I paid for, lol. I guess it's going in the nightstand drawer.

 

[wynand32]

So, my initial thoughts vs. the Band 2 that died and that the Fit2 is an attempt to replace:

1. Step counter seems to be radically off. I walked to the bathroom and it said I'd taken 300 steps. My bedroom isn't nearly so large. For the day, I'm at 3658 steps and I work from home as a writer. That seems like an unreasonably high number of steps. Ultimately, I don't care how precise it is, I really just want to know if I'm maintaining a decent amount of activity from day to day. But I wouldn't mind a little more accuracy.

2. The Band 2 had a nice feature where you could tell it when you were going to sleep and it would put itself into a nice sleep mode. It would turn everything off, including the twist-to-wake function, and just monitor what was necessary to track sleep. Then, in the morning when an alarm turned off or when sleep was manually ended, it would turn back on. I really miss that on the Fit2--I have to turn off the twist-to-wake function or the thing is incredibly bright every time I move wrong. My wife wasn't happy.

3. Otherwise, I think the two devices are comporable. The Fit2 has a better screen by far, and so far battery life seems similar--I'll probably charge the Fit2 while I take a shower like I did the Band 2 and I'll be fine.

If I had my druthers, I'd choose for Microsoft to not abandon the Band line and come out with a Band 3 that fixed the materials issue with bands splitting and with the battery losing its internal connection. And, I liked that the Band 2 supported my iPhone when I decided to carry that around. I might keep the Fit2, I might decide to give Android Wear a chance; I have about three weeks to decide before my return period is up.

 

[stereoflab]

Re. point 2: just put it in do not disturb mode (although I agree the Band was better at this)

 

[wynand32]

Re. point 2: just put it in do not disturb mode (although I agree the Band was better at this)

Yes, thanks, I realized that last night. Doh! I think it's a good enough solution, just put it in DND mode and then it seems to be tracking sleep well enough automatically.

 

[ThorOTR]

Android N user on Nexus 6p. Upgraded to DP4 and then got my Fit2 out the box 30 min ago. It's not connecting via Gear app. Yes I have the right app and yes I have BT on. I suppose I need to roll back to 6.0.1?


Update: fixed. Had to disable another Samsung related app.

Which app? I am having the same issue. Thanks

 

[heatheraleigh78]

Yes, thanks, I realized that last night. Doh! I think it's a good enough solution, just put it in DND mode and then it seems to be tracking sleep well enough automatically.

How do I put it in DND mode?

 

[wynand32]

How do I put it in DND mode?

Swipe down from the top. You'll see a button for brightness settings on the left, and one one the right. Select the one on the right, and hit the check mark. That will both turn off notifications, except for alarms, and turn off the twist-to-wake. You can still turn the screen on with the button.

 

[wynand32]

Re. point 2: just put it in do not disturb mode (although I agree the Band was better at this)

By the way, I've decided I actually like the Fit 2's method better. With the Band 2, the device is stuck in sleep mode. If you do want to use it during the night, for some reason, then you have to interrupt the sleep monitoring. With the Fit 2, you can still use it by hitting the button.

 

[max3175]

hi, I was wondering if you can manually log exercise and calories burned on the watch. I am thinking of buying the gear fit 2 for all day tracking, but for exercising i use polar h7 heart rate monitor, so I would like to log my results

 

[wynand32]

hi, I was wondering if you can manually log exercise and calories burned on the watch. I am thinking of buying the gear fit 2 for all day tracking, but for exercising i use polar h7 heart rate monitor, so I would like to log my results

Unless I'm missing something, you can't do either on the Fit2 itself. You can manually track food in the Samsung S Health app. If I'm wrong, someone please correct.

I'm thinking of switching from the Fit2 to the ASUS Zenwatch 3 when it comes out in November. I like the FIt2 generally, but I carry an iPhone on occasion and of course there's no iOS support whatsoever.

 

[max3175]

Thank you. Maybe I will log it in the app, but then I don't think I will have total calories since the app doesn't include BMR calories, or I should probably get the fitbit charge 2, but I really like the quick reply option on the gear fit.