Steps counting and swimming - Feedback to Garmin

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Good idea!
Done!

thanks

Yes, it does count swim strokes as steps. There was a heated discussion on the forum a while about whether it should just count steps or be a count of the day's "activity". But if the latter, it does not pick up cycling for obvious reasons. Right now it is not purely either. I am not sure if there is an easy way around this other than software to disable step counting during other activity (but how do you count running?).

Thanks Andy, without being willing to reopen the debate, I would say that a step is a step, for which a step counter is useful. A arm stroke is something different. Let's see what the Garmin folks decide (if ever they do anything with it...) :-)

I wouldn't hold your breath. This has been an ongoing issue since these devices included step counting. It was far worse when the 920 was first released but has got better, and the extraneous steps counted fewer.

I agree that a step is a step, but philipshambrook is correct--don't hold your breath. I have found the counter to be useful anyway as I find that I need ~11k "steps" t"o prevent weight gain, and that can be achieved by walking, running, swimming or any combination thereof. So on days I don't run or swim I know I need to walk more. They should just call them activity units" instead of steps (but still cycling is not included).

just call them activity units"

Interesting idea and could perhaps be used with intensity minutes somehow.

I haven't really looked at how many 'extra steps' I acquire throughout the day for a long while. I know when the 920 first came out steps seemed to accumulate for the slightest movement when driving and cycling. I'm not aware of any major gain in steps now after swimming, just a few. If they have removed or reduced the extras from driving and cycling then I can't see that's a bad thing really.

It's important to log the time spent doing some activity together with how hard you do the activity. How far you've gone or how many steps you've taken are just more numbers you can use to quantify progress. We'd all like the numbers to be accurate, but the reality is that sometimes it's hard for these devices to distinguish a step from some other movement.