Blaze usage at orange theory fitness

[Jibbs]

Does anyone here use the blaze at orange theory fitness (OTF)?

Girlfriend and I use the blaze and go to OTF 3 to 5 times a week and I want to know what others think or know. Have you compared it aginst a chest strap or the OTF watch or any other moniroting device?

Some days I feel the workouts are more intense than others and the blaze will show a higher heart rate and calories burned. But there are times when I feel the workouts are just as intense or higher but the blaze will show a lower HR and calories count. 

Just looking for feedback because I have read several places that blaze is not good for HIIT workouts and a chest strap should be used. 

[bbarrera]

The HRM is hit or miss. When doing steady state cardio it usually does well, however even then sometimes it will be off by 20-30bpm. The definitive review on Blaze HRM is DCRainmaker's - he is a triathlete and usually rides or runs with 2-4 devices (including chest straps). Open the link and scroll down to Running and Cycling sections, you'll see what I mean by hit or miss.

Its not necessarily a bad thing, it is what it is, and if you aren't zone training then it might be 'good enough' for your purposes. And accuracy also depends on your unique physiology, doing exercises that involve bending your wrist (accuracy goes down), how the watch sits on your wrist (to avoid outside light affecting accuracy), and a bunch of other variables.

The other issue for those training in narrow HR zones is that Blaze can be slow to react to changes (mentioned in review above), and sometimes misses short intervals altogether.

Some folks on this forum claim to have good luck using Blaze in HIIT, and I'm sure they did in spot checks, but I haven't seen anyone on these forums systematically compare to a chest strap like in the DCRainmaker review. And if you are satisified with 'good enough' estimates, then for most I suspect Blaze does a good overall job at tracking HR (particularly when you aren't exercising).

My sister-in-law goes to OTF, last year they started her with Polar chest strap and this year she recently upgraded to the Mio (OTF branded) wrist tracker. The Mio is optimized for high intensity workouts (brighter LEDs, shorter battery life), versus Fitbit which is optimized for all-day / resting heart rate (longer battery life). The gold standard for accuracy in consumer devices is the chest strap, followed by Mio, and then Fitbit. Its possible for chest strap to be off, usually when its cold and dry outside, but that is unlikely to happen in OTF studio (and easily overcome by wetting terminals of chest strap). Only other thing I've heard my sister-in-law say is you need a compatible HRM to connect with your OTF app and have real-time display of HR during workouts. The Blaze will only show HR on your wrist AFAIK.

Hope that info helps.