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Stair Stepper

I just got my new VA3 this weekend (upgrading from the VAHR, was debating between VA3 and Fenix5, and chose this because of stair stepper and elliptical, which I now found out are coming to the fenix5 and gets far better support and bug fixes than the vivo series but that's not the point).

So far I think the device is a huge upgrade to the VAHR in general functionality and stability. Not to mention the apps and even the touch screen just work better. Other than the random things saying a phone connection is required (had the same issue on my VAHR and it is better on the VA3 but only slightly).

I went to the gym for the first time sync I got the device today and figured I would try the stair stepper activity as I only had a limited time and wanted to see how the new features work. Needless to say I am more than a little disappointed. I didn't realize the other two data screens were off by default (need to try it again when they and the hr zone screen are on to try them all). I figured fine, not a lot displayed other than HR and time, I figured I would just look at the activity afterwards. I sync the activity and there really isn't any additional information. No steps, no floors, no anything. Just generic time and HR which I could have gotten from choosing the strength or cardio app on the VA3 or VAHR. I really dont know what makes this app specific to a Stair Stepper, other than it naming the activity differently.

I plan to try the elliptical later this week but after this I dont have a lot of faith the app is actually worth anything other than for marketing purposes.

Has anyone else tried this?

0 F3b Software (Brian) over 7 years ago

If your looking for an application to measure distance and more features for the elliptical, stepper and yoga there are IQ apps that does provide these metrics.
https://apps.garmin.com/en-US/develo...7972a7526/apps

0 BlackScarab over 7 years ago

Thanks for the self promotion. I tried those apps before. They weren't worth paying for and the workouts showed up very oddly in Garmin Connect. I upgraded from a VAHR to a VA3 specifically for these two features (was debating for a fenix 5, which I found out later will be adding these as well). When it is a feature of your device it should work properly and provide more than a generic workout with its own specific app.

0 thefoodjunky over 7 years ago

I agree, my Fenix 5 just got updated to include Stair-Stepper. I assumed it would make an assumption the number of floor climbed based on my cadence from the footpod or the watch. But you are correct it doesn't even have a field for floors climbed. Which is odd because my old way of doing it was to start a custom workout that I created for floor's climbed (too bad you can't have it select the type of activity automatically) and then change it to floor climbed and that has a field you can manually enter.

I certainly hope that Garmin is working on this for a future update.

0 Former Member over 7 years ago

The fenix 5 series uses the barometric altimeter to track floors climbed. An increase of ten feet counts as one floor. So since there is no altimeter change on the stair stepper, it doesn't have an algorithm to use the number of steps climbed to count floors climbed. If you'd like to suggest something like that, please do so at this link: http://www8.garmin.com/contactUs/ideas/

0 Former Member over 7 years ago

I noticed that the "settings" page for the stair stepper activity on my VA3 does have a data field for "floors climbed," which is odd if it can't be worked out. I haven't tried it (yet) so I don't know what it actually displays, if anything.

The stair stepper in my gym has a hand-rail and, frankly, it's high enough off the ground that I tend to use the rail. But if I do use the rail, my hands aren't moving enough to register steps. So the watch couldn't work out the floors, even if it were prepared to take a wild guess at the height of the stair treads.

Completely off-topic, I've noticed the same problem with the inclined treadmill. The incline is steep enough that I want to hang onto the grab-rail. But if I do, the watch doesn't record steps, and therefore doesn't record distance. It's no biggie, because the treadmill itself records the distance. Just an observation.