Floors Climbed

for me, latest update (5.70 firmware) ruined floor climbing accuracy, before i have pretty close to accurate counting, up and down.

Floor climbing is a constant topic on the VA forums. It seems to work for some regardless of firmware. It has never been reliable for me and I've owned all three VA's. It's not the firmware that's the problem.

Maybe it's an issue with what is the height of a flight of stairs for different buildings?

My climb up to a crane cab last night showed up as 2 flights of stairs. It's 20m high. The FAQ says don't hold the handrail with the hand the device is on....I don't think so!

Taking this metric with a huge pinch of salt!

Well, if the watch doesn't register movement other than going up/down, how is it supposed to know that you're not in an elevator? It needs to register steps as well as elevation to record stairs climbing,

my VA3 was auto updated to 5.90 fw overnight, first thing i notice in the morning - floor climbing is working again almost accurately (just like in 5.50) ,so... is firmware regardless or not?

As a competitive cross-country skier and avid backpacker, I use floor climbing as a primary exercise. Counting floors is very important to me! I have found that during the month that I've owned the VA3, continuous climbs while skiing are counted quite accurately. I did a one-hour workout yesterday at a local ski hill and accumulated 60 flights - which seemed correct. But when I use the stairs in my home - old, steep steps in a two-story Victorian - I have found the floor counting to be quite unpredictable. It seems that the most reliable count occurs if I walk several steps after reaching the 2nd floor, then rest for a second before returning downstairs for my next climb. I can live with this, but it would be great if Garmin could make the count work a little quicker. My conclusion is that it takes the VA3 a few moments to record the movement and barometer before it shows up on the display.