Blaze not counting all steps

[DonEssex]

I am on my 2nd Blaze. Both have started out accurate but after a few months it stops tracking all of my steps. I have a job where I walk quite a bit and I noticed my numbers going down significantly. I started counting out each 100 steps and it is only measuring between 60-80 steps out of each 100. Is anyone else having this problem or can guide me? I have turned it off, shut it down, resynced it but nothing seems to work. Fitbit replaced my first one in June.

[AlejandraFitbit]

Welcome to the Forums @DonEssex, thanks for troubleshooting this by yourself. 

If your tracker is not being accurate, I recommend restarting your Blaze and checking/update your stride length information. After this, walk 100 steps and let me know how many the tracker registered. 

Let me know the outcome. 

[DonEssex]

Alejandra,

Thank you for responding. I have restarted it and I have checked my stride length information and the problem still persists. This is the same exact problem I had with my first blaze that Fitbit ended up replacing. When I first received the replacement, the count was pretty accurate but it is now way off again. It was replaced in June so I have only had it for 3+ months.

Again, thanks for getting back to me so quickly.

[AlejandraFitbit]

Thanks for the information @DonEssex. Since this procedure didn't work, I recommend keeping an eye on your inbox for further instructions.

See you around. 

[Mczech]

Mine has been way off since the April update.  Are you just now noticing a problem??

[DonEssex]

Yes, just noticing it in the last 3weeks

Sent from my iPhone

[Poodlemama]

My Blaze doesn't count my steps when I'm pushing the grocery cart.  A little too awkward to swing my arm and push / stear with the other one.

[AlejandraFitbit]

Great to see you here @Mczech. Have you checked the instructions provided in my previous post? If you haven't, I recommend taking a look at it and follow the steps provide there. @DonEssex, I would like to know if you have heard from our support team? @Poodlemama Welcome to the Forums, as you might know, your Blaze won't register all of your steps while you are pushing a grocery car since you are not moving your arm in order for it to detect it.

See you later. 

[DonEssex]

Alejandra,

Yes, they did contact me. But unfortunately, all they are doing is replacing the Fitbit. Though I do appreciate it, I would love to know what the problem is. This is the 2nd one to do the same exact thing. They apparently do not even want it back to see what the problem may be.

Thanks for checking up on me though. Have a great day!!

Don

[crystal0513]

I am having the same issue. My husband purchased this for me on mothers day this year and i didn't start using it until a few weeks ago. The steps are very inaccurate and its killing me on my challenges and just personal tracking as well.

[DonEssex]

Alejandra.

I received my new Blaze approximately a week ago and I already have the same exact problem. I recorded a video showing me walking 100 steps and only 66 steps were counted. Unfortunately, the video is not one that this site accepts. If you provide me a Fitbit email address I will send it. This is totally unacceptable. I like some of the features of the Blaze but it's main mission is to track steps. I want to stay with Fitbit but with another product. There should be some way I can exchange this for another device straight up instead of 1/2 price since I have had three Blazes fail on me. I thank you for your help in this matter.

DonEssex

[ten4cmor]

Hi Alejandra,

I am experiencing this same issue and it has progressively gotten worse over the past couple months. I have followed your post by resetting the blaze and confirming my stride length but this has not been helping.  My Blaze is counting 1/2 to 2/3 of my steps.  For an example, I walked 1.3 miles this morning and the Blaze stated I walked .83 miles at a pace of 27'49" when I was walking probably closer to a 15'30" mile.  Is there anything else I should be doing to resolve? I am training for a half marathon and concerned my training paces are different from what the Blaze is representing.

Thank you,

Chris Moore

[RobertHouston]

@AlejandraFitbit What does the stride length have to do with the number of steps being registered?  100 steps is 100 steps, regardless of what the stride length is set to, correct?  Or am I missing something?  Thanks.

[DonEssex]

This is the message the support people sent me from the "very top" of their support team to try and get it to work. Stomping my feet??? Moving my arms across my body?? This was after they sent me the same problem solving techniques the "lower level" support gave me.

Hi Don,

Thanks for providing us with the additional details.

In order to further investigate this issue, could you please try the following adjustments and let us know if any adjustment increases your step counts per 100 steps?

1. Walk outdoor (not indoor) and deliberately make each step heavier.
2. Walk as usual but wear Blaze on the other wrist.
3. Increase the intensity of your arm movements while walking. 
4. Walk with forearms moving around elbow (not straight arms).
5. Walk with arms moving towards the middle line of your body as well as moving forwards and backwards. 
6. Take off your Blaze and place it in a pocket near your torso while walking. 
7. Wear Blaze they way you normally wear it, but take a short run/jog instead of a walk. 

We look forward to hearing from you with the feedback to the above adjustments. Please let us know if you have any questions in the meantime.

[Mczech]

Are you freaking serious???????   The step counter stopped working the day they changed to GPS no matter how much you move your arms and stomp your feet you will not change your location or how far you travel!  They really need to fine tune the GPS problem instead of sending out bogus lists of things to try.  Makes me sad that a great company has resorted to this in the last 6 months.

[Mczech]

it does matter when GPS is measuring your steps. Problem is the GPS is not correct either.  It needs o be fine tuned or something.

[Mclaugh3]

I am getting the run around with FitBit support. I am positive my FitBit is not counting my steps and/or distance correctly. Has been just recently like the past 3 weeks. I walk a measured path. FitBit says I walked 1.6 when it should say, 2 miles. Also number of floors is way off. Should say 2 and it says 12. I have done everything they have told me to troubleshoot and they still will not concede and send me a new FitBit. Now I have to wait until they contact me via email. I would not call them if there wasn’t a real issue. Others also having same issue and received a new watch. Frustrating. 

[Mczech]

Getting a new watch will not solve the problem. The problem is in their software/programming.  They need to own up to it and fix it. It is really sad to be treated this way.

[HeaterS]

I have noticed my Blaze step count is very inaccurate as well. I don’t expect exact counts, but my Blaze step counts/distances are 20-30% lower than my manual counts or when tested against other devices. It’s quite frustrating. For instance tonight the treadmill recorded 3.87 miles and my Blaze recorded 2.45 miles. 

[Rich_Laue]

@HeaterS if we are going to talk about step counts, lets leave distance out of the picture. Distance is nother more than an educated guess based on the step count. 

A treadmill is a unique problem in that if the user holds on to the support rails, steps most likely will not be counted because the arms are not moving in a natural way. Also the user is not moving on a treadmill but the ground is moving under them. The result is the stride on a treadmill will not be the same stride while out on a free run. We need to stick with steps and simply count them in the head and compare to the tracker.

Sorry @Mczech my 100, 200, 500, and 1000 step count tests are now allways within 5 step counts. Usually only off by 2 steps, but then i count the steps by two by only counting the left foot. This also goes for the Charge 2. I even found the Alta step count remarkably accurate considering that there is no start button.