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!

[picasso66]

@CMichelle my step count with the Blaze is spot on and I've done many different type of tests, short and long walks. My issue is only with the distance that is off especially with the connected GPS. Typically I hit the 5 miles around 10,000 steps. Now it's taking me 12,500 steps and the map that it produces is all garbled and definitely not the route I take.

Patricia
Sent from my iPhone

[DSmithSanDiego]

Yeah I get the design... But mine looks like a zoomed in version of the preview with virtually ALL of the bottom of the 2 cut off and almost to the cross arm of the 4 and the entire bottom of the 5...Virtually unreadable!

Sent from my iPhone
(So please excuse any auto-correct shenanigans)

[CMichelle]

Well, update for everyone - I just got off the phone with Customer Service and they are sending me a THIRD Blaze.  On my walk this evening, I went 3 miles and my Blaze only counted less than 4,000 steps.  In order to show your tracker is defective, they will make you do a number of step tests and this rep said because my day to day walking was fine, to use the Run mode on my tracker and take 100 steps.  I went outside and did my normal walking stride and it only credited me for 64!!!  The Customer Service rep was stunned, immediately apologized and offered to 2 day ship me another one.  They have never asked me to send the defective ones back and he even suggested I order a different band color, so I can swap out with the 2 purple ones I already have.  

I also asked if this was a common problem and he said personally, this was only the 2nd person he had spoken to with more than 1 defective tracker.  Now, they can say whatever they want to say but he seemed genuinely shocked and said it was incredibly bad luck.

We shall see when I get my 3rd one. . .but thanks for those who chimed in and said theirs are working fine, with no issues.  SEE?  They do exist and I am going to do my darnest to get one!  

[MikeS1971]

I think a lot of people don't realize it's not counting steps correctly until they actually test it. It's also not as noticeable to those who do less steps a day. I asked a couple coworkers if they were having issues and they said no. But then I explained to them how mine is under counting steps, so we all went for a walk at lunch to examine how they were counting.

It's ended up being four of us going for a one hour walk and none counted steps correctly. Even before we left for our walk, two people realized their Blaze wasn't counting the first 50 or so steps after getting up from their desk and walking down the hallway.

At various times on our walk, we'd look at our Blazes, take note of the displayed step count, then mentally count our steps. After 200 steps we'd look back at the screen. None had counted 200. They all were 50 to 60 steps short.

Of all of us, I was the only one that knew what my steps should be for a mile. For me thats 1850. At the one mile mark my Blaze counted 1489. Before the recent firmware update, my one mile step count was within a reasonable percentage +/- that 1850. It almost seems like they changed something with the sensitivity of how it recognizes a step. I've tried wearing it loose, tight, switched arms and changed weather it was dominant or not. Nothing makes it accurate. The only thing that increases accuracy is to put it in my pocket.

Luckily for me, I didn't pay for my Blaze. I was given the money to buy it so I could evaluate it. My coworkers weren't so lucky. They feel ripped off. If the next update doesn't fix the step count issue, they're returning theirs and getting a different brand.

A friend said something that makes a lot of sense. FitBit is like Beats Headphones. Neither company makes a good product, they're just really good a marketing a mediocre product.

[Kikizmommy]

You are so right. After the update mine has stopped functioning right
completely. I hope this fixes because I want to love it! I haven't tried
customer service yet. Maybe I should. I guess im just hoping for the best

[meresydotes]

@CMichelleWhat do you say to phone support to get them to send you a replacement without even sending your old one back. Whenever I call them, they offer a replacement, but won't ship it until my old one is heading back to them, which leaves me without for at least a week and in danger of ending up in a worse situation. I had this exact conversation with them last night:

Me: I just counted 100 steps on my treadmill and my blaze counted 73.

He: Blaze won't count accurately on a treadmill if you hold the handrails.

Me: I don't hold the handrails.

He: You need to use Treadmill mode.

Me: I do, though admittedly not for this small test. I find it helps with heart rate accuracy, but not step accuracy.

He: You need to wear it two fingers above your wrist bone.

Me: How do you propose I keep it up there. Also, 1) that's for heart rate accuracy and 2) I find that it's more important to get it at the right tightness, rather than the right position.

He: It won't count steps accurately on a treadmill because you're not moving forward.

Me: It counts accurately when I keep my hand on my body.

He: It counts extra steps when you keep your hand on your body, because of the extra vibrations.

Me: No, it counts accurately; it's like keeping it in a pocket, which is recommended, but I also get the heart rate function.

He: It won't count accurately on a treadmill if you hold the handrails.

Me: I don't hold the handrails.

(repeat like this several times)

He: I can send you a replacement.

Me: I don't think it's a hardware issue, but I'm willing to try.

He: I need to you return your old one first, I'll send you a FedEx label.

Me: I won't do that, that leaves me without.

He: Those are the rules.

(repeat like this, with some of the first conversation interspersed)

[MikeS1971]

That support person doesn't know what they're talking about. A step is a step. If not, then my Charge HR and Blaze previous to this update never worked correctly then. Step count was accurate.

And for the record, of all the defective replacements I've received from FitBit, I have never been asked to send the defective one in first and I've never had to send the defective unit in after the replacement arrived.

[meresydotes]

@MikeS1971You think I should cry discrimination?

The thing is, I had the same problem with my Charge HR and at least the Blaze has workarounds, like treadmill mode, available.

You would also think it would count steps BETTER when arms are swinging, but it counts fewer steps the more I swing my arms.

I tried the suggestion of wearing it on my non-dominant wrist and reporting it as on my dominant wrist. It only shorted me 10% on the treadmill when swinging my arms, but it also shorted me 5% all day. (Probably not counting the "make up steps" you get washing your hands and such, to replace the ones you don't get taking 5 steps across the kitchen.) Anyhow, since I take 9000-ish steps on the treadmill daily and 15,000-20,000 steps all together in a day, that's a lot of steps to be shorted.

[meresydotes]

@MikeS1971Oh, and also, I have essentially this same conversation every time I call them. The problem might be slightly different, which makes the things I'm doing wrong slightly different, but it always ends up the same way.

[mrskdhill]

I totally agree.  I'd ask to speak to a supervisor.  I gave up purchasing from FitBit.  I get mine from Best Buy so I can return it without all of these issues.  I got both of my Altas from there and returned them w/no issues.  When I returned the last one, I exchanged it for the Blaze.

[meresydotes]

@mrskdhillUnfortunately, I HAVE spoken to supervisors, with the same results. Trust me, if there's complaining to be done, I'll be doing it. I'm VERY good at complaining.

[mrskdhill]

That is too bad. I hate that you are going through all of this. Think
about purchasing from Best Buy if there is a local one by you. I decided
to do that after reading all of the complaints w/returns through Fitbit. I
hope that you can get a remedy soon.

[meresydotes]

@mrskdhillI bought from Kohls, which actually has a "whenever" return policy. The problem with returning and getting a different one is that the new one may be worse. At least I have workarounds for this one and I don't need to figure out new workarounds for a new one.

Thanks, though.

[mrskdhill]

oh ok.  As long as there are work arounds and you can use it.  Hopefully, updataes will fix these issues (and not make them worse).  I know that new products are not always 100% because they just haven't went through EVERY possible test and unfortunately, sometimes the best tests are from consumers using the products.  Good luck.

[Julia_G]

@meresydotes , treadmill "mode" is not a mode at all, and isn't advertised as such.  All that it does is put a time stamp on your exercise and labels that exercise "treadmill" when it syncs to your account.  It does not in any way change the way it counts your steps. 

[meresydotes]

@Julia_GWhat's weird is that, I agree, that's how it should be. And that's how it is in regards to steps. However, in regards to heart rate, it's actually much more accurate in treadmill "mode." I tried not starting a workout, run and walk. In all cases, my blaze, and the charge hr before it, would frequently show my heart rate to be 72, when I can guarantee you it was at least double that. It's reasonably accurate when I start a treadmill workout, as long as the band is neither too tight, nor too loose.

Additionally, presuming the manual workouts are the same as the automatic workouts, my blaze and the charge hr before it were undercounting day to day steps AND undercounting workout steps and detecting all my workouts as elliptical. When I disabled elliptical in automatic workouts, my day to day steps became accurate, but it didn't help with workout steps. It also didn't auto-detect any workouts anymore.

So, here we are - as I've said many times before - one would think a tracker would track, but that's not the case.

[Rich_Laue]

@meresydotes that is true about the heart rate.

While there is no difference in the way the Fitbit records the treadmill time, there is a difference in the way the Dashboard displays the steps and HR.

Through out the day, your heart rate is displayed with an average over of a 5 second(I believe) period. While displaying a graph of any exercise the Heart Rate is displayed in 1 second intervals.

This goes for the step count also, out normally is displayed on 15 minutes increments, but when looking at an event it's displayed on 1 minute periods.

[cyclejuice]

Ok, today I tested a 2mile walk with the blaze whilst using a GPS garmin device. The Blaze was very accurate, perfect to my step, so much so that I cannot knock it whatsoever. I will do a further run test tonight to check against its running accuracy but so far so good  

[CMichelle]

That's awesome, @cyclejuice - at least we have one success story on here!  Honestly, @meresydotes, I don't say anything in particular when I call except that my Blaze does NOT work and consistently under counts steps.  They have me do a couple of 100 step tests, check my settings on my account to make sure I have everything set up correctly, check my last few workouts and then finally agree I'm right.  I even specifically asked him if I needed to return the TWO defective ones I had - that I wasn't trying to scam anyone, I just wanted a tracker that worked correctly and his response was - "Let me check with San Francisco but they haven't been asking us to send them back."  Two minute pause.  "No, you do not need to send them back to us."  and that was it.  I imagine even they know that the thousands and thousands of units returned are probably thrown into a bin, never to be looked at again.  I thought it was kind of curious too because now they are out $400, no questions asked and you think someone may want to take a look at these so called defective trackers to maybe figure out WHY?  To me, that tells me they just know it's an issue and don't even bother.

I personally don't think you will ever get a Fitbit to count steps on a Treadmill just due to the type of motion.  You aren't physically moving forward, whether you do or do not swing your arms and it just isn't sure what to do with that type of movement.  My friend has a Charge HR and she said she has to hold her arm against her body to get it work too - who wants to work out like that???  Like I said in a previous post, I used to attach my Flex to my shoe and that seemed to work, for some reason but that's just not an option with the Blaze.  And ultimately, I care more about my calorie burn than steps anyway.  I am willing to accept if it has an accurate step count every where BUT the treadmill. If I am physically moving forward, this sucker better count every last step right.

[MikeS1971]

---

@CMichelle wrote:

I personally don't think you will ever get a Fitbit to count steps on a Treadmill just due to the type of motion.  You aren't physically moving forward, whether you do or do not swing your arms and it just isn't sure what to do with that type of movement.  My friend has a Charge HR and she said she has to hold her arm against her body to get it work too - who wants to work out like that???  Like I said in a previous post, I used to attach my Flex to my shoe and that seemed to work, for some reason but that's just not an option with the Blaze.  And ultimately, I care more about my calorie burn than steps anyway.  I am willing to accept if it has an accurate step count every where BUT the treadmill. If I am physically moving forward, this sucker better count every last step right.

---

It should have no problem tracking steps on a treadmill. My Charge HR did it with no issue. My Blaze did it with no issues. At least not until this last "update" where it cant track steps accuratly no matter where I walk or run. Walking is walking. Steps are steps. Doesnt matter if you're on a treadmill or walking down the street. As long as you're walking with a natural motion and not holding onto the sidess, it should pick up your steps if its working correctly.

As for distance using connected GPS, it wont be able to do that on a treadmill.