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!

[CMichelle]

@ErickFitbit UGH - it still doesn't work!!!  You will have to pardon 2 pictures for the Fitbit portion of my walk tonight.  I accidently hit the Stop and Finish button almost exactly half way through my 3 mile walk so you will get the jest of how far it's off:

Endomondo:  

Fitbit:

I'm an accountant so bear with me while I break it down for you all:

Endomondo:  Total walk distance - 3.05 miles

Fitbit:  Total walk distance - 2.29 miles

Pardon my French but WTH?  Let's say I actually did go 2.29 miles by the Walk Exercise Function on my Blaze, using Connected GPS, I should have approximately 4,580 steps, right? NO!  Not only is my Blaze shorting me on distance using my GPS on my phone, but it is also shorting me steps.  In the Fitbit app, adding these 2 walks together, it only gave me 3,423.  

So, here is my dilemma, while everything else seems to be working on my Blaze, is this glitch enough to return it?  I can manually input my walks, sure but then I can never participate in a step challenge since manually input activities don't count.  And most of my personal workouts are all walks outside, especially this time of year. 

I just don't understand why this won't work and honestly, I am sick to death of thinking about it.  For comparison sake, here is my bike ride from yesterday - why are these distances so close yet my walks, so far apart??

Can anyone at Fitbit help me or am I just going to be forced to return this?  If it can't count steps right, it just doesn't seem worth keeping.  Is ANYONE else other than @meresydotes having this issue?  Again, I have a Samsung Galaxy S6 Edge.  Thanks!

[Incuchris]

@CMichelle, I am too.. I've just about given up. My charge hr was so accurate and I thought the blaze was an "upgrade."

[ChaneRZ]

Might be Blaze hardware problem and no firmware can solve the problems.

[Adisol]

How can i get new firmware update? There is no pink icon for new update on my ios app. (Fitbit Blaze)

[Jason212]

@Adisol the firmware update is sent out to people in stages so it will not crash the server, when you get it it will tell you that the update is available.

[MikeS1971]

@CMichelle I'm noticing errors with milage using the connected GPS as well. I've compared the same route using Google Maps, MapMyWalk and the FitBit Blaze with Connected GPS. With Google Maps I used my computer to measure the route, with MapMyWalk and FitBit, both used my phones GPS. Somehow FitBit shorts me over a half mile on a five mile run.

I find it odd that something I can download for free is better at measureing distance than something that cost $200.

I have to say one good thing about the Blaze, its making me research the competition a little more indepth. 

[DavS]

@CMichelle I have had the same problem ever since I got my Blaze when it was released.  It has always shorted me steps, and distances when using connected GPS (initiated on the Blaze) have generally been short.  Whenever I initiate a workout on my phone (Verizon Galaxy S6) via the FitBit app or used a separate app it has been accurate.  I have not been able to figure out the connected GPS issue.  I've tried everything; resetting the Blaze, uninstalling the app from the phone and reinstalling, using a GPS app to try to initiate it on the phone first to see if that would increase the accuracy ... nothing has worked.  There have been times when I have gotten accurate distances, but they have been few and far between.

As for the step counting issue, I noticed that the Blaze worked great if I was walking aroung without swinging my arms much or if I was holding it up and looking at it, but when I speed up (and generate a bigger arm swing) it misses steps.  I had my Blaze on my non-dominant wrist with it set to "Non-Dominant" because I thought it needed to be more sensitive.  I have since rethought that and changed it to "Dominant".  I have also disabled all of the auto-workout options.  I'm not sure which has helped (I'm not done with testing), but my step count has improved to where I feel it is pretty accurate.  My theory is that it was misinterpreting my arms swings as a non-walking activity (or as "eliptical") and not crediting those to me as steps.  It seems a bit counter-intuitive, but I think by reducing the sensitivity has made it less aggressive with its interpretation of my arm swings as being non-walking related.

I will let you know if I discover anything else with my testing, but my Blaze has been much better at counting steps as of late.

[CMichelle]

@DavS  Thank you so much for your suggestions - I will try anything at this point so to break it down again:

1)  Set to Dominant arm when wearing on Non-Dominant.

2)  Turn off all Auto Workout options.

3)  Use Fitbit App GPS tracking rather than Connected GPS on Blaze for workouts.

I 100% agree with the arm swinging.  It should make no difference at all but noticed last night, watching my step count just walking around the house was almost 100% accurate but on vigorous walks, with wide warm swinging is when I get the most steps shorted.

Thanks again!  I will report back here how it works - going on a 4-5 mile walk tonight!

[meresydotes]

@DavS@CMichelleI think DavS may be on to something here! I already had the auto-workouts disabled, but I was afraid to try switching the setting to dominant hand, as the problem is that it's not sensitive enough. But I just switched and walked 100 steps with my arms swinging like they meant it and racked up 95 steps. Close enough for gov't work! I'm going to give it a try on the treadmill tonight...

Thanks, Davs!

[TracyV125]

@CMichelle I've had the same issue with connected GPS with the "walk" exercise function selected from my Blaze.  I did a bit of testing and I realized that when I go for a walk I'm walking fast to get a good workout in and I'm taking bigger strides than my normal walking stride and swinging my arms differently.  I did two tests over the weekend and set my exercise to "Run" instead of Walk (but walked instead of running).  The distance of the path I always follow is exactly 3.4 miles.  Using the "walk" function with connected GPS I was only getting 2.8 miles but the 2 times  that I used the "Run" function (but still only walked) I got 3.21 one day and 3.4 the next day.  When actually running the same path using the run function it's spot on as well.

Try it and see if it works for you.  Not a perfect solution but it's a fix for me.

[meresydotes]

For all the people who are having problems receiving notifications on your phones (or with connected GPS, though I don't use that), I've found that it's best to have all day sync OFF. When I had it on, I think the app/ tracker connection just got kind of tired and stuff stopped working, including manual sync. When I turned it off, I started receiving notifications reliably and I rarely have a problem syncing with my phone. I have always connected on, though.

[CMichelle]

@TracyV125  I thought about trying that - switching to the Run instead of Walk function because honestly, I walk as fast as humanly possible without breaking into a run.  I wish I could run but just shoots my heart rate up too high. . .but I'm working towards it!  I will try the Fitbit app GPS tonight, see how that works then on my next walk, try the Run Function.  Thanks so much, everyone - I am excited that one of these might work.  I just miss participating in my Fitbit friends Step Challenges - I can manually input my workouts to get the step counts right but manual entries don't count in challenges. 

[AndrewFitbit]

@pmlp You'll be able to update the firmware to support Korean language once the Blaze is launched in Korea.

@DavS @TracyV125 Thanks for the input!

@CMichelle Keep us posted, I'm interested to see the results. I generally haven't had accuracy issues with my Blaze, but at the same time I haven't been using 'Connected GPS' and 'Walk'. I might have to do some testing as well... 

[CMichelle]

OMG, it worked!!!  Thank you so much @DavS for your suggestions - I did everything you said and was able to get the distance spot on to Endomondo and my step count within 7% accurate, much better than shorting me 20-30% of my steps!

There is something obviously wrong with the Walk Connected GPS function but this workaround is good enough for me to keep my Blaze.  However, I will try what @TracyV125 suggested and use the Run Exercise Function on my next walk and see if that helps at all.  Otherwise, I will be using the GPS function in the Fitbit app for all my walks!  THANKS so much, everyone. You have saved me so much continued aggravation!

[Granny99]

Since the update my blaze will not connect to phone...no text or notifications. Help!

[MikeS1971]

@Granny99 that happened with my second replacement Blaze with the last firmware "update". Ended up having to do a replacement on that one to get my third one. Currently on my fourth warranty replacement.

[meresydotes]

@CMichelle@DavSWell, it only shorted me by about 500 steps (a little more than 10%) on my treadmill workout. Before, it was in the 1500-2000 range. The heartrate tracking was strangely both more and less accurate. It seemed a little on the low side, but also didn't have the weird spikes and dropouts that I sometimes see otherwise. I think that's the difference between moving my arms and not, though.

Still, that's like 1000 steps a day, which is a lot. I just don't understand why a tracker can't track!

[MikeS1971]

@meresydotes try detaching the Blaze from the frame and putting it in your pocket. I've found that it tracks steps more accurately in my pocket than strapped to my wrist.

[meresydotes]

@MikeS1971Except it won't be tracking my heartrate from my pocket. It works OK to just keep my blaze hand on my body.

[meresydotes]

@CMichelleBTW - off topic - you should totally start running. I'm almost 44 years old and I had literally never run farther than maybe down a hallway my entire life. Then, one day on the treadmill, I was walking, like you do, so fast that I was about to break out into a run, so I did. It's SO much easier and more comfortable to run 4 MPH than walk the same speed. And it gives you flexibility to go even faster. I'm still working on it - only up to 4.4 MPH, but I love it.