Floors climbed inaccurate - smartwatch mode vs activity mode

Not really surprising, since in activity mode the watch uses the GPS (assuming it is an outdoor walk), hence it can use both the barometric and GPS elevation for correction. 

Otherwise, when you climb true floors with staircase indoors, there are some tips for the improvement of the reading in this thread: What's the secret to tracking stairs accurately?

Some of the same tips are included also in the official document: My Floors Climbed credit is not accurate. What can I do?

I have used the watch with GPS turned off as well (to save battery) and it’s the same issue, so use of GPS makes no difference. 

There is some sort of software issue as I don’t understand why just being in activity mode gets floors recorded (GPS or no GPS). It’s like going into the mode “wakes up” the altimeter / barometer. 

This will of course lead to inaccurate activity tracking unless you are in activity mode

Yes, the sampling rate is much faster during a recorded Activity - either every second, or at any significant change, the sensors are practically permanently on during an activity. In contrary, when in watch mode, the gap between recordings may be up to two minutes. That helps saving power. So yes, when you want accurate recording, start an activity.

Floors are based on the baro altimeter.  That's why watches like the venu sq and fr245 don't have floors - they don't have a baro.

A floor is the change in pressure for 10'/3m, which can be greater that a flight of stars in many homes.  Also, since it's related to air pressure, things like wind or even walking through the air coming out of a vent can impact things.

I've even gotten floors when cleaning the fridge.  Going from the cold inside to the warm outside, the watch can see different pressure.

Time is also involved.  A walking bridge near me has both a ramp and well as stairs on both end, and the bridge is maybe 20' above the ground.  If I take the stairs, I get floors, but not with the ramp (the ramps are a switchback, so it takes far longer to walk than the stairs)

Pressure samples are taken basically in real time,  A sample is only saved to history every few minutes and when you see a graph, that uses history.

With my Hike2 app, in app settings you can enable a floors notification and you can tell exactly when you get a floor and it will show on the map or breadcrumb trail

https://apps.garmin.com/en-US/apps/116a5b59-29ae-4397-a70e-907d7e5f8e44

If you were to climb the ramp on that walking bridge with the watch in an activity mode you would get the credit for the floors climbed!

Still seems strange to me that this is the case. I get the requirements for getting a floor climbed but this doesn’t seem to be the rule whilst in activity mode

I am in activity mode when I take the stairs or the ramp.  It has to do with time.  On the other end, if the pressure changes too fast (you are in an elevator) it won't count floors, even if you simulate walking.  The vivoactive-Hr was the first device with "floors" (back in 2016), and I had one. Things work the same as far as floors as they did back then.

There really should be no difference as far as floors when it comes to watch face mode or activity mode. What can differ is when screens update.  A watch face may only show a change in floors every minute, while the screen update can happen faster in an activity.

The other thing that can differ is the weather.  Things like a strong wind can result in "interesting" data.

I live in a one story house, and every once in a while I'll get a floor for no apparent reason, and it's been that way for years with different watches.

I guarantee you there is a difference between normal smartwatch mode and activity mode as I have tried and tested both modes and there is a stark difference.

And the number of floors has minimal impact (if any) on your stats.  If 0 floors are counted or 10, it doesn't really make a difference when it comes to kcals, etc.