Blaze data can't be right

[mibo3000]

I just got a Blaze and I have been wearing it for about a week, but what I see can't be right:

Heartbeat: It shows me a resting heartbeat of 63, which seems to be more or less OK, but just now I took a walk at not too brisk a speed, and it shows my heart rate spiking up to 170. My heart rate was not 170... I know what that feels like from working out hard, so that can't be right. My guess is that my heart rate was around 80 - 90, yet almost the entire time the blaze reported a heart rate of 140 - 170.

Steps: There seems to be a 1000 steps a day that the Blaze adds when I am not moving. I understand that there can be false positives when I move my arm and the signal mimics a step. But 1000 a day? That doesn't seem right.

On the other hand I worked out on a stair stepper the other day and had selected "stairclimber". The machine itself told me that I had done 70 floors after 15 minutes. The Blaze told me ... Zero.

So, how accurate is this thing?

[Chien747]

This is not to answer your question, but I have the opposite problem.  I kept losing steps.  Yesterday I came home from an oversea trip, after my Blaze sync with my smartphone and got back to the local time, I had almost 16,000 steps (which is about right, the place I visited is 14 hours ahead of the US, and I had 10,000 steps before I left).  I took a walk to the store and back (about 1/2 mile round trip), not only I did not register any steps, I lost close to 2000 steps.  By the time I went to bed, the Blaze showed 13,630 steps.  I am not happy.  Still waiting for Fitbit support for an answer.

[MartyL]

I recently got my Blaze as a Christmas gift - I love it for that reason alone. But I too question the accuracy of everything. I very much doubt my resting heart rate is 43. The speed and distance recording appear to be about 10% greater than actual (measured against 3 other sources being my bike computer, Strava and other people riding with me). As for steps, I have no idea how it allocates these. 

[mibo3000]

More info:

Just got back from working out. 

First 15 Minutes on treadmill (steepest setting, 3.4 mph). That's a good warm-up for me and gets my heart going. The Blaze tracked the heart rate I could also read on the treadmill (by holding the grips), but was on average 10-15% lower. Also the distance walked was about 20% lower on the Blaze than on the treadmill readout. Since the treadmill simply needs to count the rotations of the belt and the Blaze must make an assumption how long my stride is, I believe the treadmill, especially since I am not small (6'3"). So, how do I calibrate the Blaze, and why is there a 10% difference in heartbeat?

Then off to weights: Not much to report here, as I have no way of actually measuring comparable data. But the Blaze does not seem to have registered that as "exercise" ...

Finally 15 Minutes on a stationary bike. Pretty high resistance setting (18) and going at a good clip. Readout on bike for heartbeat in the 150s. Blaze in the 140s. Then, 8 minutes into the routine (while still going at high resistance and speed), The blaze seems to think I have gone to sleep. Heart rate drops to around 80 and stays there with a few small changes. After finishing the bike, I am watching the readout on the bike during cool-down steadily drop, but at 122, the Blaze shows 78. 

Now I have been sitting at my desk for about 15 minutes, yet the Blaze shows a heartbeat of 84 (compared to my resting heart rate of 63).

So, where are the fitbit people here that can explain that and tell me how I can calibrate the Blaze to my own characteristics? And if not, how do I return it? Or exchange it for a properly functioning one?

[Chien747]

May I suggest that you email https://contact.fitbit.com with your question and concern, the turn around time is about 2 days, they can remotely see your data, and possibly make suggestion on different things to try.  If you can't wait, call 1-415-513-1000 to talk to a real person (might have a very strong accent, but a real person).  One thing I can say about Fitbit is that they really stand by their products.  I have owned from Zip, Charger now Blaze, I like the look and feel about the Blaze, but I do have problem with the data accuracy.

[MartyL]

Thanks, I’ve just contacted them. Let’s see if a “reset” solves the problem! Otherwise, I have a very accurate clock and that’s all !

Martin Leedham
0435 480 120