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!

[cyclejuice]

@CMichelle,

Ok, just got in from a light 2 mile run just to test the blaze against Endomondo, I couldn't stop Endomondo bang on the same time as the Blaze due to my mobile being in running backpack, but this will only add seconds. All in all the differences were very minor to say the least.

All in all my Blaze seems to be working effectively for me at this stage but will continue to monitor.

Obviously if this was not the case I would certainly look at changing due to the money involved. For the price of this device you expect within near crisp results.

I am covered for 2 years on this fitbit so have plenty of time to determine its durability against sound firmware updates. If the firmwire needs to be improved, which I gather it does due to other peoples issues then I would expect Fitbit to step up to the challenge.

I do know that with any new devices such as this, it can take a little while for all the creases to be ironed out, but with that being said, Fitbit should not assume we are all mushrooms!

Best of luck for those having problems & I do hope they are dealt with prompto!

[AndrewFitbit]

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. 🙂

[meresydotes]

@AndrewFitbitSince you're paying attention, would you please check on why it's been over 4 months since I've been able to force sync my fitbit (charge hr, then blaze) with my windows 7 64 bit pcs (2 different ones)? My phone doesn't take an extra battery, so I hate syncing with it and I'm a luddite who prefers a larger screen. I've called and been promised fixes many times.

[KeepItMoving]

Speaking of innacuracies. I went for a 5k and I completed it in about 4.3 billion....yes billion steps according to my Blaze. What a run!

[ChaneRZ]

For that steps you only got 500 cals?! LOL

[MikeS1971]

That stride length must be in mimmimeters. Lol. Wow.

[mirzam88]

I really hope the reminder to move feature will become available with the new update? Considering the Blaze is one of Fitbit's higher end products, it should have been something that was already there to begin with, especially since it's featured in one of the simpler models, such as the Alta.

I would also like to see the option of more notification options on the iOS version of the fitbit app, as Android allows for Whatsapp and Google notifications including the already available text message and calendar notifications.

Hoping these issues will be resolved sooner than later, because I really like my Blaze and I want to love it, but the reminder to move feature is an interesting feature I'd really like to have considering the money spent.

[jwebb72]

@AndrewFitbit I too am experiencing inaccurate distances when using the GPS connect and my Motorola Moto E 2nd Gen 2015 phone running Android 5.1. My 2 mile run can be as much as .25 mile off and the plotted route on map is very ragged. Using Mobilerun through the app the distance is spot on and the plotted route on the map is nice and smooth. I did a test with my Samsung Galaxy Tab Pro 8.4 tablet and I get the same accurate results as Mobilerun. I'm thinking there's a compatibility issue between the Blaze and my phone?? What's weird is that the only GPS mode on my phone I can use is "high accuracy" as when I try "power saving" mode I get a message from the Fitbit app that says to switch to "high accuracy" and when I try using "GPS only" mode, the Blaze will only get a red bar on the "Let's go" screen. Mobilerun on my phone and my tablet both work with full green bars in "GPS only" mode. Any thoughts? Customer service hasn't been helpful or even knowledgeable on how GPS connect works.

[Acawthon]

I purchased my Blaze May 1st. It is up to date, marked non dominate, restarted it, stride length, etc, all of the suggestions. I find it is ridiculously inaccurate. My hubs and I were walking around a lot together all day yesterday, he has the Charge hr, and I had 5,000 less steps. When I was walking around for 2 hours the other day I only got a couple hundred steps logged. I find if I am holding my purse when it's on my shoulder, or a shopping cart, it doesn't log steps. I found many posts with similar issues on here. So it seems the update hasn't helped with this issue. I have another week left to return it to the store. I'm bummed, I really liked the idea of it and got used to the size of it on my little wrist, but it's pointless if it's this ridiculously inaccurate. Not sure if it can be fixed with a firmware update or if it's a design flaw. I feel like it's a waste of $200.

[SunsetRunner]

@Acawthon you're perceived inaccuracy is possibly due to use. The Blaze is a wrist based steps counter. As such, if your arm doesn't move, the Blaze won't count steps. So, when holding your purse or pushing a cart and your arms aren't swinging, your steps won't get counted and you'll see the lower number at the end of the day. A firmware update won't change a design feature.

[MikeS1971]

My Blaze counts steps more accurately when it's in my pocket. So I don't think the swing of your arms has much if anything to do with how it counts steps.

[Fosse66]

What I've found is that all tracking devices count steps slightly differently...it doesn't matter which one you have.

I've used the One, Charge, Endomondo on my phone and Apple health on my iPod and they all will give different readings.

All that matters to me is that they don't show a wild variance amongst each other; my iPod will show 9500 steps; my Blade 10000. That is within 5% and completely acceptable to me.

Sent from my iPad

[SunsetRunner]

@MikeS1971 well movement then but more specifically, being wrist based, it is expecting more movement as one generally swings arms when walking. Pushing a cart/holding a bag tends to prevent said movement.

From their help:
WHY IS MY STEP COUNT DIFFERENT ON MY WRIST-BASED TRACKER THAN MY CLIP-BASED TRACKER?

Fitbit wrist-based trackers have been tested extensively against our clip-based devices like the Fitbit One™ and Fitbit Zip™. That said, because wrist-based trackers are specifically designed for your wrist, if you move your body a lot and not your arms (or vice versa), you may get a slight difference in activity than you would see on your clip-based trackers. Additionally, since you’re more likely to wear your wrist-based tracker 24/7, you may count a few more steps.​

[Rich_Laue]

---

@MikeS1971 wrote:
My Blaze counts steps more accurately when it's in my pocket. So I don't think the swing of your arms has much if anything to do with how it counts steps.

---

@MikeS1971 tour lucid doesn't make any sense, of course if you keep the Blaze in the pocket your wrist movements will not be counted.

If the Blaze however  is on the wrist, then the pocket movements will not be be counted, but only arm movements will be analyzed.

[MikeS1971]

---

@SunsetRunner wrote:
@MikeS1971 well movement then but more specifically, being wrist based, it is expecting more movement as one generally swings arms when walking. Pushing a cart/holding a bag tends to prevent said movement.

From their help:
WHY IS MY STEP COUNT DIFFERENT ON MY WRIST-BASED TRACKER THAN MY CLIP-BASED TRACKER?

Fitbit wrist-based trackers have been tested extensively against our clip-based devices like the Fitbit One™ and Fitbit Zip™. That said, because wrist-based trackers are specifically designed for your wrist, if you move your body a lot and not your arms (or vice versa), you may get a slight difference in activity than you would see on your clip-based trackers. Additionally, since you’re more likely to wear your wrist-based tracker 24/7, you may count a few more steps.​

---

Im sure that how they'd like it to work. But recent tests are finding just the opposite. With the Blaze on the latest firmware, the less arm movement there is, the more "accurate" the step count is. If you can call it accurate. At this point, its far, far from accurate.

With my Charge HR, weather I put it on my wrist, different degrees of arm swing or if its in my pocket. Steps count is pretty accurate.

[MikeS1971]

---

@Rich_Laue wrote:

@MikeS1971 tour lucid doesn't make any sense, of course if you keep the Blaze in the pocket your wrist movements will not be counted.

If the Blaze however is on the wrist, then the pocket movements will not be be counted, but only arm movements will be analyzed.

---

What????????

[meresydotes]

I think the point is that pedometers are more accurate when they're attached to the trunk of the body (pocket). If you prefer to wear it on your wrist, there will be some sacrifice in accuracy.

I don't care so much that it's accurate, as that it's consistent. If I walk/ run just under 2 miles and it's 4500 steps today, it better be very close to 4500 steps tomorrow.

My main disappointment with the way the blaze and charge HR before it count steps on the treadmill is that it's not consistent. The same distance may be 2200 steps one time and 2800 the next.

[DaveL1993]

Hi, I've been trying to update my blaze to the current firmware version but it won't update and I've tried resetting the bluetooth, any suggestions??

[k8lyn]

i have had my blaze for almost a month and have had no issues with it until today. for some reason it's showing 65 'active minutes' when i was not 'active' at all today. it was just a regular work day and i've never had it recognize me doing my normal work activities as being 'active' before. i can't even tell where it's getting these 'active' minutes because it doesn't show up in my activities details. i'm so confused and i don't know how to fix it. i know i can turn off the auto-recognize feature, but this isn't even showing up in my log to let me know what it thinks i was doing (i.e. walking, running, etc.) i also noticed that my heart rate was reading a lot higher than it was (100 bpm when it was likely about 70 bpm). not sure if this is due to the update or what. i'm going to be very disappointed if this isn't resolved.

[fudge22]

I'm not sure where to post this, but since the last fitbit update I have charged my phone twice. I charged it once last week and then again last night. However, when I charged it last night, instead of charging the fitbit it drained the battery! I had about 30% battery before the charging, then after connecting the charger for a few hours, I went back to check it and it showed the bitbit as having no battery. I was so confused. Ultimately I reset the phone and connected the charger again and it finished the charge just fine. Has anyone else ran into an issue like this? Or was it probably just a one time fluke for me?