Blaze Firmware Update - 17.8.200.3 [Closed]

[AndrewFitbit]

Update 5/6/16:

Hey all,

I've been keeping a close eye on this thread, and I wanted to give a quick update.

For reports of Blaze steps and/or distance being inaccurate, I think this is definitely something worth looking into. I've passed on all the feedback to our team so they can investigate. As a friendly reminder, remember that accuracy depends on many factors.

Here's a couple things being worked on:

• Excess Calendar Notifications
• 'Auto' brightness setting is too dim or adjusts slowly

For 'Auto' setting being too dim, you can switch to 'Normal' as a workaround in the meantime. Please note switching to 'Normal' will have a slight impact on battery life.

I'll provide updates when I can. Thanks everyone. 🙂

Update 4/27/16:

The firmware update should now be available to everyone. Update your Blaze and let me know how it goes! You can read the release notes for version 17.8.200.3 in the lead post or check them out on our help site. 🙂

Update 4/23/16:

Sorry for the wait, here's the release notes!

"The Simplified Chinese, Japanese, and Korean languages are now available on Blaze. Note that Blaze is only available for pre-order from fitbit.com in China, Japan, and Korea.

This release also resolves a couple issues:

• Some customers were unable to resume a paused FitStar workout.
• Some customers reported problems with the Blaze screen (display)."

You can find these release notes for this update (17.8.200.3) on our help site.

4/21/16:

Hey everybody,

Some of you may have noticed there's a new firmware update for Blaze! We just started pushing this update out yesterday, and just like any other update, we'll be rolling it out in waves. This update focuses on a few bug fixes. Release notes will be posted here soon.

Thanks!

[kerrycrow]

It was over 7 days for me the last time as well.

[CMichelle]

Thanks, @AndrewFitbit but I am well versed on how Fitbits work.  I have been a user for almost 2 years now, my first was a Flex before I updated to the Blaze about a month ago.  I've never had any accuracy issues until I received the 8.104.1 firmware update a little over a week ago.  I have already spoken with customer service and they agree I have a defective device and a new one is already on the way.  

I admit, the learning curve is a little steeper for those of us who have never had a heart rate monitoring device.  You do need to be mindful of where you wear it on your wrist though, in order for the product to be convenient, I think you shouldn't have to be TOO mindful of it.  With my Flex, it just sat on my wrist and for the most part, I completely forgot about it - it just did it's thing.  So far, I have spent HOURS AND HOURS trying to figure out the best ways to make all of the functions of the Blaze work correctly and I don't know about you all, but I don't have that kind of time.  Sometimes the heart rate tracks accurately, sometimes it drops.  Sometimes I get my notifications, sometimes I don't.  But, at the very least, it should track steps accurately, just by walking - not by having to move your arms a certain way, stepping heavier or lighter, just walking and mine was absolutely NOT doing that.  I will give it one more try but if I have to spend too much more time getting this new one to work, I think I will down grade to something else or change to a different fitness tracker all together.

[Incuchris]

@CMichelle what kind of issues are you having? I'm having issues with step accuracy and distance on treadmill...and notifications but that's because my LG G4 isn't supported yet (for whatever reason). I did get text and call notifications briefly, but that changed when I got in my car, which is connected to my phone. What did you tell support to have then send you a new one? Because I'm beginning to think mine is defective as well. I upgraded from a charge HR which worked great..and am pretty disappointed with my blaze thus far..

[Rich_Laue]

@Incuchris Treadmills can be tricky for an arm based tracker, and even trickier for any tracker to calculate miles.  With the Blaze it can be even worse if using the standard walk mode and not the treadmill option, since the connected GPS is still trying to work.

Some users have the bad habit of holding* on to the rails, this may cause steps to be lost because of the unnatural lack of arm movement while the feet are moving. The Blaze is not monitoring your leg movement but your arm movement in response to the legs moving.

Second point will affect the distance calculated with any type of tracker. Normally when a person changes the speed of their walk or run they will also change the stride. This means that the speed of the treadmill will need to be set for the same pace that would happen on a free run/walk. Some people do most their running on a treadmill and have set their stride for the treadmill to be accurate on distance.

*For anyone who holds on beware that it reduces calories, and can less to more injuries while on and off the treadmill. Please do a search on the topic.

[Incuchris]

@Rich_Laue I've used both modes; treadmill and standard. Both were inaccurate. I didn't have this issue with my charge hr..and I don't hold on to the rails so that basically crosses everything off your list. Thanks though.

[Colinm39]

---

@Incuchris wrote:
@Rich_Laue I've used both modes; treadmill and standard. Both were inaccurate. I didn't have this issue with my charge hr..and I don't hold on to the rails so that basically crosses everything off your list. Thanks though.

---

@Incuchris I realise what I'm saying is against the design principles of the Blaze because in some cases you need to put any wrist based tgracker in a pocket..  I have found that

I have experimented over the last few weeks because of the loss of steps while walking and the nullified steps while pushing a wheelchair and using a supermarket trolley.

I have found putting the Blaze in a pocket next to my Fitbit clipons in/on my jeans coin pocket, there is a remarkable closeness as below using my trusty One as the baseline.. This was a planned walk and the Blaze was in the pocket for the whole time.

I'm now working on "how to walk to maximise the steps This is only for the Challenges because I know I'm walking further than my goal when I forget to put the Blaze in my pocket and I'm not interested in using multiple trackers on my Phone to try and compensate. again. Maybe there should be an exercise function "Holding trolleys or railings".... I wan't to wear the Blaze 24/7.

I have tried race walking (slight 90o bend of the arm, I have swapped arms and played around with dominant and non dominant wrist. I have confirmed walking on plush carpet I lose steps, but filling the dishwasher and other domestics I gain steps so they are evened  out.

So today in a supermarket mall walk and then 75% of today's activity the results show 17% loss of steps to the One for the walk, but at the end of the day, caught up because of domestic activities..

            Walk   75% Today

Blaze  2,728     8,759

One     3,314    8,768

[meresydotes]

After MUCH frustration, I've found that the only way to get my blaze to track steps accurately on the treadmill is to keep my blaze hand on my body. It's really not too bad. If I'm walking, I keep it on my upper thigh; if I'm running, I keep my thumb lightly pressed to my chest.

And definitely use treadmill mode for the best HR accuracy.

One more thing! I had to disable the auto-workouts. It was detecting ALL my steps as elliptical and undercounting. Once I disabled elliptical, it didn't auto-detect any workouts, so I disabled all of them.

[Incuchris]

Ugh. While these tips are helpful, we really shouldn't have to create our own workarounds for a newer product...I didn't have avg issues with my charge HR. I'm just disappointed.

[meresydotes]

I agree with you. Except I had the same problems with my charge HR and the blaze is much nicer looking and more comfortable. And it has the treadmill workout mode that charge HR did not.

I think I kinda just drank the fitbit Kool Aid too long ago to escape. I actually had the very first model fitbit and have had every one in between except zip and surge. 

But yes, one would think a tracker would track...

[ThePreacher]

Treadmills are REALLY inaccurate for distance as many have never been calibrated and over time get even more out.

Also. When I run on a treadmill i vary it up just to keep entertained. Sometime I do little steps and sometimes I do big strides. This will mean the fitit numbers are off but they will only ever be an approximation. It's based on number of steps x your stride length. Have you ever measured your stride length?

[CMichelle]

@Incuchris  Since I had the Flex so long, I know about how many steps a day I usually get when I go into the office, do my regular workouts, etc and could tell it was shorting me after the firmware updates so did a few tests of my own.  First, I did a test around my office - walked 100 steps and it was giving me like 86.  Then, I went on a walk around my neighborhood using the Endomondo app and Fitbit Walk Exercise with connected GPS at the same time.  Attaching the pictures here for you to see - Fitbit shorted me .8 miles and worse than that, even walking the 2 miles it says I did, only gave me 3,100 steps!  The average steps per mile is 2,000 so way off there too.  I called Customer Service that night, they asked me if I had rebooted my Blaze, which I do at least once a day, deleted and redownloaded the Fitbit app, which I had and then had me do the 100 step test around my house. . .which shows 111 steps, exactly the opposite problem I'd been having!  Either way, the rep said their margin of error on steps is 95% either way and it was well outside of that, so they replaced it for free.  I am still within the 45 day replacement period, so not sure if that's why it was so easy.  My new one should arrive tomorrow so I will report if this new one is any better.  As for notifications, I have a Verizon Galaxy S6 Edge, which is totally supported but doesn't show text messages because I use Message+, which I'm fine with.  But, it should vibrate when I get a message or call and tell me who it is - that's about 50/50 with this one. Hope this helps!

[genericscissors]

anyone have issues updating?  its been nearly an hour so far and its only 25% updated...

[meresydotes]

@ThePreacherI cheated on the stride length measurement. I figured out how to get an accurate step count on the treadmill, then divided the total distance reported by the treadmill by the number of steps. When I started running and the distance went up, I reduced my running stride length by and inch. I figure, it's close enough. I'm lazy that way.

[meresydotes]

@CMichelleIf you haven't sent the old one back yet, I would recommend that you disable all the auto-track workouts.  I found that mine (back to my previous charge HR) was tracking all my steps as elliptical and undercounting because of this.

Moderator edit: content

[AndrewFitbit]

@CMichelle For the screenshot you posted, does that activity in the Fitbit app match what it says on the Fitbit.com activity log?

Steps will come from the tracker, but distance depends on your phone's GPS. For non-GPS activities, your distance is definitely affected by stride length (if you set one).

[MikeS1971]

Something I notice with the Charge HR and Blaze, is if you input your actual step measurement, it doesn't calculate it to an accurate distance. You have to play with the measurement numbers until it gives you the correct distance. After a little trial and error, I got it acceptable.

[CMichelle]

@AndrewFitbit Yes, it did match.  I totally understand the distance could be wrong because of stride length but isn't that why we are supposed to use Connected GPS, to get proper distance?  Otherwise, what's the point of having that ability with the Blaze - just to get a pretty map?   My stride length may be wrong (though it is set) but the steps were incredibly wrong.  The actual distance I walked is closer to the Endomondo app, I've tracked the route with my car before so steps should have been closer to 5,800, not the 3,100 it was reporting.

@meresydotes  Yes, I have the same issue with auto tracking, it always comes up as elipitical when I do any kind of fast walking.  Just a normal pace around town is fine, tracked my walks around downtown Chicago last weekend but any kind of workout, fast pace and it's jacked up.  I almost always use the Exercise function and start and stop my activity there.  I was just hoping for a more accurate calorie burn calculate on my workouts by having a  heart rate monitor.  

[meresydotes]

@CMichelleThe thing is, if it's detecting your workouts as elliptical, it might be detecting all of your steps as elliptical. When I had the auto-track workouts enabled, I would walk 100 steps and it would count 73. I disabled elliptical and it started counting 95-102. After I disabled elliptical, it didn't auto-detect any workouts, so I disabled all of them.

[AndrewFitbit]

@CMichelle I sent you a PM for more details on this. 🙂

[Incuchris]

@AndrewFitbit, care to tell all of us that have similar issues to her? Please?