Step Counter, during activities, Totally Inaccurate! Help PLEASE

Some background:

I have three current Garmin devices:

Fenix 5 Plus Sapphire

Vivosport HR

Vivomove HR

The F5+ is the second I have had of this model.

I do the same activity routes, time and time again; therefore, I know (roughly) what the steps and distance (miles) should be.

What I have noticed with the new Fenix 5 Plus Sapphire is that it under-counts steps massively.

Example One: a regular outdoor (gps on) walk I do of 3.2 miles, only shows as circa 1,000 steps (normally this would register as 5,400 - 6,000 on my old F5+ or Vivosport HR)

Example Two: 2 miles on the treadmill, inside, no gps, only registers circa 1,000 steps when it should be 3600 - 4000.

Garmin online chat weren't very helpful and kept coming back to GPS questions and stride distance (neither of which are an issue!), hence coming to ask on here.

I'd really appreciate any insight people may have. After a 3.2 mile quick paced walk (12-min miles), it is frustrating to add less than 1,000 steps to your count.

Top Replies

Former Member over 5 years ago in reply to NowOrNeverNow +1

Because this is happening on only one device, it's clear the problem isn't with you. You've already checked all the troubleshooting boxes including a factory reset, so it seems the problem is hardware…

All Replies

0 NowOrNeverNow over 5 years ago

PS - for reference, Vivosport HR with GPS on, logs the 3.2 mile walk correctly in terms of steps. It also logs the indoor treadmill walk. Also my previous Fenix 5+ also logged it very closely to the Vivosport HR (and Strava running on an iPhone).

0 Former Member over 5 years ago

What f/w are you on? Are you on the newest?

There's a definite undercount there.

0 NowOrNeverNow over 5 years ago in reply to Former Member

Yes, newest software - checked all of that yesterday. Also, to add, watch is less than 2-weeks old.

0 Former Member over 5 years ago

Im interested to hear about how you're walking. Do you swing your arms when walking or are you holding onto a stick or backpack/handbag strap?

0 NowOrNeverNow over 5 years ago in reply to Former Member

Arms swing, nothing in either hands Nothing in pockets. Watch on dominant wrist.

Never have an issue with step counting on any other Garmin device and I always walk the same.

0 jim_m_58 over 5 years ago

Are you holding on to anything? Such as hiking polls, a dog leash, or pushing a stroller or cart?

Steps are based on what your wrist sees and the above (or similar) can impact that

0 NowOrNeverNow over 5 years ago in reply to jim_m_58

NowOrNeverNow said:
rms swing, nothing in either hands Nothing in pockets. Watch on dominant wrist.

Never have an issue with step counting on any other Garmin device and I always walk the same.

Jim, as per the post above yours - nothing in hands, nothing to stop arms swinging.

Having done all the trouble shooting, I believe it to be a hardware issue.

0 jim_m_58 over 5 years ago in reply to NowOrNeverNow

Yes, it sounds like it. Contact support.

Have you done a full reset? (back to factory settings)

0 NowOrNeverNow over 5 years ago in reply to jim_m_58

Yes and have done; that was my first step, contacting support my second.

I have found that Garmin support don't bother to read the points you are making but simply direct you to the FaQ or Trouble Shooting guides, even when you say that you've already done those steps.

0 twolpert over 5 years ago

To me, this suggests a possible problem with the accelerometer on the device. You may get a better response from tech support if you call rather than email. (I'm assuming you emailed because of the reference to "reading the points".)