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Floor count ridiculously overstated on Vivoactive 3

Former Member over 5 years ago

I have a Vivoactive 3 and the floor count is being massively overstated, both up and down. Apparently last Thursday I climbed the equivalent of 660 Empire State Buildings. Advice please.

0 Former Member over 5 years ago

To add, the watch has functioned normally for two years before this, and hasn't coincided with a software update.

0 Mauzophis over 5 years ago in reply to Former Member

Same here, started on Monday without any software change (I'm still with the 6.94 beta which works fine for me for month).

Maybe you want to try Garmins advice here (basically rinsing the watch) but it didn't help in my case:
https://support.garmin.com/en-US/?faq=LJ6vYF2phv7JUAOlsRRjC8&productID=571520&tab=topics

I found that floor count works again after starting a walking activity without (!) GPS. Unfortunately it doesn't fix it permanently but for a couple of hours (7-10 in my case)
If you want to give it a try here's what I'm doing:
Add a custom activity and copy walking - named it walking(2).
Edit walking(2) settings and disable GPS.

Now start a walking(2) activity and stop it after about 2 Minutes. You don't have to store this activity.
After that try walking around and check if floor count is still changing while being on the same floor.

I admit it's not a very good solution (if it works) but maybe it helps until Garmin has a better solution...

0 pshare over 5 years ago in reply to Mauzophis

I recently had a similar problem. This is what I got from Garmin support. It seems to have fixed my issue. I did not send a screenshot of Test Mode - yet.

Thank you for contacting Garmin International. I am happy to help you work through troubleshooting steps for your vivoactive 3.

The floors climbed feature is measured through an onboard barometer. Barometer readings can sometimes become skewed by large wind, pressure, or temperature fluctuations.

Please read these two articles:

The Floors Climbed Feature Is Not Accurate on My Watch

Steps to Calibrate the Barometric Altimeter on the vivoactive 3 Series Watch

I would first encourage you to clean the barometer port of your device by rinsing it under water or gently using a soft-bristled toothbrush or toothpick. Over time, this port can become clogged with sweat, dirt, sand, etc.

Then, in the future, I would encourage you to calibrate your barometer before any activity to ensure it has been calibrated.

Lastly, I would like for you to do a Barometer Test. Please reply back to this email and attach a picture of the watch screen titled "Barometer Test", so that I can verify the functionality of your watch's barometer. Instructions are below.

Let me know if you have any questions.

Thank you for choosing Garmin,

Mark

Product Support

Garmin International

For 24-hour access to support videos, manuals, FAQs & more, visit the Support Center.

To access Test Mode:

With unit in “off” state, turn the unit on
As soon as the display turns on, press and hold the button

Wait for the unit to vibrate 3 times and release the button (there will be a long gap between the second

and third vibrations). The unit will then enter test mode.

- vivoactive 3: Press the button 15 times to access the Barometer Test screen

To exit Forced Test Mode:

Press the button (vivoactive 3: 5 times)
You should see the screen "Press and hold the power button to disable forced test mode"
As directed, press and hold the power button until the Garmin triangle appears, indicating the device is powering back to normal mode.

0 Mauzophis over 5 years ago in reply to pshare

Thank you for sharing, I almost forgot about the Test Mode.
In my case it shows Baro is working but it seems to think I live underwater. :-)
After exiting the Test Mode the floor count was working for a few hours only , the same behaviour as with an non GPS activity.
Seems I'll also have to contact support.

0 pshare over 5 years ago in reply to Mauzophis

My issue seemed to go away but only for 1 day. It was back yesterday but it also was a very windy day. I made a more concerted effort to clean the port hole after that. I will be testing it today. Garmin has offered me a warrantee replacement if I want but I'd rather not get involved with setting everything up from scratch again. I told them I'd prefer to keep testing it for now.