Blaze verse surge

[PWF5]

I am deciding on the blaze or surge. Really like the built in GPS that the surge provides but really like the color features of the blaze. I carry my phone for almost all runs because I like listen to music. Help me decide which one to get. Thanks!

[SunsetRunner]

If you are going to cary your phone I would get the Blaze and allow the GPS on your phone to do the tracking thru the watch app.  It works great on my iPhone.  

I have the Surge but it is ugly compared to the Blaze but if you ONLY wear the Surge while working out you might want to reconsider.

[KisaraKaiba]

If you are bringing your phone on runs all the time anyway, there is no reason not to go with the Blaze and use the connected GPS feature.

[WendyB]

If you always carry your phone I would get the Blaze. I like the surge but I like the Blaze a lot more do to the colors and the sleek look of it

You should go to a store and look at both. You will make a better decision 

[bbarrera]

@PWF5 since you carry phone while running, I recommend either the One or Blaze because:

- Surge integrated band is prone to early failure, and entire unit must be replaced. In particular the band starts failing around the screws on back, leading to condensation in display.

- Surge is big and bulky, I'm a big guy and find it too big and frankly ugly.

- due to Surge size, it tends to move around on your wrist and that interferes with heart rate monitoring accuracy.

- if you care about HRM accuracy, because you run intervals and do over/under threshold work, then Fitbit isn't the best choice as PurePulse isn't so pure and you can't use chest strap. Read DCRainmaker reviews if you care about HRM accuracy.

I believe Fitbit will eventually replace Surge with something that looks like Blaze. After returning Force due to recall I'm using MobileTrack - my iPhone 5s is Fitbit tracker. Personally waiting until "Blaze 2.0" appears (actually I'm hoping its "Surge 2.0"), as MobileTrack works well because my phone is always in pocket and notifications on Apple Watch are awesome, and AW does a better job tracking my weights/cycling workouts vs Blaze. I even get Fitbit app notifications on my AW, including messages and challenge updates.

Blaze is very nice addition to Fitbit lineup although a bit large for my tastes. Like anything these days, there are a few annoying bugs at launch but those should get fixed soon. MobileTrack works for me right now, but its not for everyone, so if you want a nice Fitbit tracker with a display then Blaze looks pretty sweet. Both the One and Blaze are my recommendations.

[PWF5]

Thank you for taking the time to respond!

[EmersonFitbit]

Great insight, thanks to @bbarrera @WendyB @KisaraKaiba @SunsetRunner! Let us know what you choose to move forward with, @PWF5!

[David8732]

I bought a Surge a week last Tuesday. I returned it within 24hrs as the display is so poor. In the UK there's not many shops where you can go in and test the devices, so we have to rely on YouTube reviews. On most of them including Rizzo etc they made the screens look fine.
So after more reviews I bought a Garmin Vivosmart HR. But the display on this was worse than the surge. In daylight it was fine, but in a dark room or a pitch black room the backlight was so ineffective it was crazy. I couldn't train and glance at the screen, ever. The Garmin had five backlights choices, these ranged from dark to not quite so dark.
So I returned that too.
I didn't think the Blaze was available, in the UK it's only just making an appearance. Plus on first glance I wasn't sure about the design. However I bought one on Wednesday with the lovely blue strap and I love it. Of course no fitness tracker is perfect (just go on garmin's forums to see that!) but the Blaze is fantastic. It's comfortable, far more so than the surge (it's flatter to the wrist). But I can see the display, always!
I'd go for the Blaze all day of the week.
Good luck.

[SunsetRunner]

I actually "downgraded" from the Surge to the Blaze this week. Who knew a downgrade would be an upgrade? The Blaze is much lighter on the arm, less bulky, and the band is more flexible. I love the Color UI and it makes the Surge look like 5 year old tech. I really love it. I did a comparison between the two and both counted steps accurately. I even believe the GPS works better on the Blaze because of the high accuracy of phone GPS. It caught little movements that my surge never picked up on. I'm really happy with the Blaze.

[PWF5]

Thank you!

[AdamMSC]

Blaze is cheaper and better looking than the Surge; you will get more use from it by wearing it daily. For some reason, I have a difficult time imagining women liking something like the blaze or surge, unless it is for working out... It just seems larger than a watch that a lady would like to wear out at night or to work, but a lot of ladies on here have said they love it!

[Rich_Laue]

I as a man feel the Surge is to big for daily wear,  which is currently the Charge HR for me. The Surge is reserved for times when i know I'll be hiking are walking.

[bbarrera]

Agree. The biggest issues with Surge size are:
- doesn't fit under cuffs of long sleeve shirt
- moves around on my wrist, likely one big reason why I get poor HR accuracy vs other wrist trackers

[AikiPen]

Interested in the same thing. I have the Surge and have babied it. I have babied it so much that the inevitable serew cracks on the back didn't occur until 1 month and 1 day out of warranty. I am no longer eligable for a replacement but for 25% discount. To me this makes the Surge no longer a durable fitness device but that holy grail for most tech companies Surge-as-a-subscription. You renew yearly, or every 13 months in my case, by using the 25% discount to purchase a new device. Sounds like a strong business plan if you discount annoying your customers. I'll be purchasing a Blaze with the hopes of it lasting longer than a year. My One is still kicking after 3 years.

[tryingtolose1]

I love my surge, but only because it takes a beating better, my father has a blaze and is a cop and had to get his fix idk how many times but he started using the surge for about and it hasn't broken on him yet, he had hit it against walls, doors, and people and not even a scratch, so there are no complaints thwrw

[FerdinandFitbit]

Hey @tryingtolose1.  Great to see you in the Community Forums and thanks a lot for sharing your feedback on this. I really appreciate it!

If there's anything you may need, let me know. I'll be happy to help!