Blaze step inaccurate

[R3dsoxfresh]

While eating dinner my steps were at 9987. Did not getvup to step an my celebration went off that i completed 10k step . How this that possible? Have it set to non dominate arm.. what is goin on

[AlejandraFitbit]

A warm welcome to the Forums @R3dsoxfresh. If your tracker is not being accurate with your steps, I recommend Restarting your Blaze and test it during the day. If you see that it keeps inaccurate, feel free to contact our Support Team. For a faster solution you can contact them via phone or chat.

Let me know the outcome! 

[ThePreacher]

It will see some movements as if they were a step and I can see how eating will do this. Remember, it detects movement in a certain pattern to decide if you are moving, not magic.

Also, make sure youve set up your dominant wrist in the settings. I would recommend always setting this to dominant as this reduces the sensitivity to only recognise solid steps as movement. However, this does mean I rarely get steps counted when Im pushing a stroller or shopping cart.

[HurricaneDave]

Mine is not accurate either. I've noticed I can do a mile on my Freestrider but the Blaze only shows a portion of that distance. And I put it in exercise mode. Mine seems to be under the number of steps.

[Yorkie10]

I have same issue with inaccurate steps.  I discovered a few issues:

1. How can the Blaze showing 200 steps as soon as I woke up from sleep in the morning.

2. The steps are increasing while I am driving

[joshuadillard]

My blaze is missing a ton of steps throughout the day. If I only make 6-10 steps and then stop it doesn't count any of them. I have to walk 10+ steps in order for it to start counting them.

[AngelaMa]

Hello @joshuadillard welcome to the Fitbit Community! @ThePreacher, @HurricaneDave, @Yorkie10@joshuadillard It's great to have you here 🙂 Fitbit trackers have a finely tuned algorithm for step counting. The algorithm is designed to look for intensity and motion patterns that are most indicative of people walking and running.  When working at a desk, cooking, or doing other arm movements, the tracker can pick up some extra steps if it thinks you are walking.  If you feel that your step count is inaccurate, first make sure the wrist placement settings are correct. You may also want to manually adjust the stride length that we calculate automatically. 

 @Yorkie10 your tracker is a smart device that has been designed not to pick up your steps while driving. It has been tested against driving, buses, trains, and other public transportation and should not give you extra steps when you’re traveling. On bumpy roads you may get extra steps but these should not make a big difference in your overall stats. You can negate the steps recorded while driving click here for more information. 

I'll be around if you have any question! 🙂 

[CMichelle]

Hello, all!  I just wanted to chime in and say you are all right - these things do NOT count steps accurately.  I just received a replacement Blaze, after testing my first one with Fitbit Customer Service and they deemed my old one defective - this new one is doing the SAME thing, counting only about 80 steps for every 100 I take.  It is SO frustrating, I have spent so much time researching, reading the forums here, rebooting, installing and reinstalling software, waiting for this replacement to arrive and having to manually add all of my activities for a week or 2 and this new one still doesn't work.  How can Fitbit put out a product that won't do it's basic funtion correctly - count steps??  I didn't have any problems until I received the last firmware update 8.104.1 a few weeks ago.  Before that, the Blaze worked fine.  I love all of the functions it has - heart rate monitor, notifications, etc but at the heart of it, we need it to count steps too.  Now, it's going to take ANOTHER call to Customer Service, more testing, more of my time and in the end, probably just getting my money back.  So disappointed!

[laffe]

Sounds like blaze has the same exact problems as surge. That is a really sad thought

[Rich_Laue]

When I take a thousand step walk with the Surge, it counts 980 or better,  two of the walks with the Blaze have me at about 970, the third walk was 955. For me the Blaze worse case is within 5% our half of the 10% guaranteed error. The Surge is normally within 1%.

For now I'm not worried since when the Surge came out I also found it about 3%. After the first update the accuracy went down to an error of 15%, giving me only 830 to 870 steps for every 1000. The second update tuned it right in. 

[CMichelle]

@Rich_Laue  So how long do you think we have to wait for the Blaze to be updated to more accurate?  I really want to keep this because I love all of the other functions and have to believe they will come out with some kind of software update that will improve the accuracy.  When I go on a 3 mile walk and it only logs me at 2.2 miles, that's a problem.

[Rich_Laue]

There currently is an update being rolled out right now. Did yippy read the main post?
https://community.fitbit.com/t5/Blaze/Blaze-Firmware-Update-17-8-200-3/td-p/1318684

[AngelaMa]

Hello @CMichelle, @laffe and @Rich_Laue hope you are having a great day!  @CMichelle For wrist-based trackers, its important to specify whether you wear the tracker on your dominant or non-dominant wrist. In this case, please check if you have set the non-dominant wrist setting which increases the sensitivity of step counting and should reduce any under counting of steps. 

If you still feel that your step count is inaccurate, you may also want to manually adjust the stride length that we calculate automatically. 

Let me know if this helps! 🙂

[CMichelle]

@AngelaMa  Trust me, I have been through it all and nothing makes a difference.  I am upgrading from a Flex after almost 2 years so I am well versed on how they work.  My Blaze is undercounting my steps, even though I have it on my non-dominant wrist and have it set to non-dominant - about as high a setting I can use to get it to count!  Since it's a watch, I would never wear it on my dominant arm so if it won't work on my left wrist, I won't keep it and let's be honest, it shouldn't make a difference.  As for stride length, that has nothing to do with step counting, only the distance you travel with those steps.  Mine just flat out won't count walking steps correctly, especially during a vigorous walk, swinging my arms back and forth. It is shorting me anywhere between 25-30%!  There has to be some kind of glitch with these devices because this is my 2nd Blaze and it has the same issue as the first.

[HurricaneDave]

I understand that people are wanting to help with this problem. But from
the posts I've read, Blaze owners who are complaining about the
inaccurate step count have tried everything suggested.

Repeating the same thing over and over isn't really helping much. I see
so many posts about the step count and the distance being so far off
that something HAS to be wrong with this model.


Has someone FROM Fitbit actually responded to all the complaints? I
admit I haven't checked the forums in a week or so because it's all the
same thing. And so far none of the suggestions have helped increase the
accuracy.

I too really like the Blaze but it needs to be way more accurate. For
those who suggest putting it in your pocket or on your ankle when
exercising, how will it track your heart rate if you do that?

Just my two cents...


David

*Update 05/17/2016* I just used my Nordictrack Freestrider to do a mile (1.05) which logged over 2000 steps and the Blaze showed I did 277 steps and .12 miles. Not good at all. I did use the elliptical workout exercise. Next time I will restart the Blaze and set it to dominant arm and see if it helps.

[CMichelle]

Wholeheartly agree @HurricaneDave!  However, on another thread here, I think I found a work around.  I tested it last night on my workout walk and it actually improved my mileage to 100% accuracy and my steps to within 7% of expected!  Here are the suggestions:

1)  If you have your Blaze on your non-dominant arm, change your settings to Dominant, rather than Non-Dominant.

2)  Turn off all of your Auto Recognize Exercise functions (choose Ignore for all).

3)  Use the GPS function in your Fitbit app on your phone to track your walk workout, rather than the Walk Exercise function on your Blaze.

I did this last night and it seems to vastly improve my stats.  Of course, it begs the question of why the Walk Exercise function with Connected GPS doesn't work - there obviously is some flaw or bug that needs to be fixed because it should work that way as well.  Also, isn't one of the draws to the Blaze the auto workout recognition so you don't have to constantly worry about starting and stopping time for a workout?  Right now, I just need to get my step count back up so will be monitoring this very closely in the coming weeks. But, I agree, someone from Fitbit needs to address these problems with the Blaze and let us know when they will be fixed ASAP.  

I sent a lengthy E-mail to Customer Service yesterday, explaining my experience and issues in detail and so far, no response.  I know it is always better to call but honestly, who has time to sit on the phone on hold, explain everything to one person, only to be transferred to another team, possibly get disconnected and then once you finally get another person, explain it all again???

[Rich_Laue]

@HurricaneDave of your wondering if anybody from Fitbit has responded, scroll up 2-posts above your last one, you'll see their name ends with Fitbit. That's the way to know that they are a Fitbit employee.

[HurricaneDave]

Thanks CMichelle, I'll give that a try.

[scrubsz]

Same for me. Went through two Blazes and they both sucked. When I owned my Blaze, NOT ONCE did I ever hit 10,000 steps. I would run 3 miles, do a T25 work out, and then work a 12 hour shift at my hospital where I work in the ER. Now, I have nothing to gage that on, but really? 

[scrubsz]

totally agree.