Gadget shenanigans - wild inaccuracies, crazy calorie counts and more!

misskarne

Well, I actually just wanted to ask a question about my phone, but I don't mind if it goes off-rail with crazy stories and cat gifs. (I'm allergic to cats, but I do love cat gifs.)

Anyway, my workplace is starting a step challenge on Monday with a $500 prize for the winner. I was a bit surprised to find out that my Samsung Galaxy S4 has a pedometer inside! (The more you know!) So I've been wearing it in my jacket pocket for a few days now, to try and get in the habit.

I put all my stats (height, weight, age, gender etc) into S Health (the app) and started the step counter. It gives me "calories burned" but I can't help but feel this number is wrong. Today, for example, I made 7033 steps (not bad for a desk job), but it told me I burned 424cal! That seems like an AWFUL lot and was way more than MFP gave me for walking briskly for 30 minutes (the time it takes me to walk to work and back and work and back via the petrol station for milk).

Could it be right and I'm underestimating, or is it woefully wrong as I thought?

H: 173cm
CW: 107kg
Female, 26

MarissaEgham

I got something similar yesterday using MapMyFitness, which told me 700 cals for 90 mins walk. I trust my Garmin Vivofit analysis a lot more. It was nice to have the GPS log of where I had been, but its not worth the way it screws up my MFP calculations.
I would suggest getting a proper pedometer (Garmin, Fitbit, etc), but this will eat into your $500 winnings.

misskarne

MarissaEgham wrote: »

I would suggest getting a proper pedometer (Garmin, Fitbit, etc), but this will eat into your $500 winnings.

Hahahaha! I looked into getting a fitbit or similar at one stage, but step counting is not really my thing. My main exercise is figure skating, and for that I think a heart-rate monitor would be more effective, so I decided not to bother.

MarissaEgham

You can connect the Garmin Vivofit to a Garmin HRM, then it can do both.