Blaze vs One accuracy

[hysonmb]

I picked up a Fitbit Blaze today and while I'm enjoying the look and feel of the device I'm not getting the same number of steps on it as I'm seeing on the One, is there a way to adjust the sensetivity on the Blaze?

On my One whenever I take steps it starts counting them immediatetly. The Blaze, like the MS Band I've had for a while now, doesn't start couting right away. In fact if I don't swing my arm enough, like when I'm carrying something or just looking at the screen, it seems to not recognize that I'm actually walking at all and doesn't start counting steps for a while. I did 20 steps in a circle while looking at the screen of the band and it didn't count one of them while the One caught them all. This has lead to a disparity of hundreds of steps between the One and MS Band which I figured was just because the different companies had different methods if accomplishing the goal. I hoped that the Blaze would be as accurate as the One yet of the course of the few hours I've had it, that does not appear to be the case. I assume this may be realted to some formula used to ensure that it doesn't track steps while I'm sitting at a desk typing but it results in steps not counting and if I take a bunch of short trips, especially on days that I work from home, that'll add up.

If there's an adjustment that can be made to make sure it's as quick as the One to start counting steps, please let me know.

[Rich_Laue · Accepted solution]

To help weed out false steps your Fitbit waits until it sees 5 step like movements. Then it adds those steps and continues to count. 

Ie: take 4 steps none are counted, take 6 steps you get credit for 6 steps. 

Your Fitbit is designed to count steps while walking with a normal arm swing or an up down motion. This is becaise a person is not always swinging the arm, and i fond that while holding the arm in front of me the steps are still going up. Sometimes while holding a heavier item yhe extra wieght does buffer the arm movements and steps are lost.

As for sensitivity is the dominant / non-dominant  setting, but this is used by the Firbit to help filter out false steps. 

As for accuracy i would start the activity tracker and take a walk, while counting the steps in your head.  Stop at say 100 or 200 and check what the Blaze says.

I stopped at 500 but was counting only my left step, the Blaze said 1005, so it gave me 5 extra steps. The One said 1003 telling me that i didn't count correctly, on walks my One has been spot on or only off by 1 step.

During normal daily activity neither unit is 100% correct,  the visors morons are just not predictable enough. 

[SunsetRunner · Accepted solution]

@hysonmb as to sensitivity there are in essence 4 possible configurations out of the two wearing location settings (location): Dominant or Non-Dominant...

• Wearing the tracker on Dominant hand with Dominant location = Normal
• Wearing the tracker on Dominant hand with Non-Dominant location = More sensitive
• Wearing the tracker on Non-Dominant hand with Dominant location = Less sensitive
• Wearing the tracker on Non-Dominant hand with Non-Dominant location = Normal

Please remember to take a moment to mark the post that best answers your question as the Accepted Solution and Vote for posts that are useful or provide quality content.

[hysonmb]

Thanks for the replies!

[Rbrockport]

So we can't really adjust the setting only for the sleep sensitivity. This is my first full day using my new blaze and its off about 1000 steps from my one. I heard that it takes a few days for the blaze to adjust itself to my strides. Is that correct? 

[sollerlm]

i am having accuracy issues with my new fitbit blaze

what is the dominant location vs. non dominant?  I am wearing on my left writ, i am right handed.

[Rich_Laue]

Hi there @sollerlm, Since your right handed, your right arm is the dominant  arm, this will make your left arm non-dominant, you'll want to set it accordingly.

Now let's look at the way the two units differ in counting steps.

The One that's attached to the core of the body is looking at the motions of the bodies core.

The Blaze is mounted on the arm, and is looking at the motions of the arm.

Neither is looking at the movements of the feet, but instead are looking at the affect walking has on their respective points of the body.

Both will have their good and bad points.

The main is that there will be times that with both steps can be falsely added or simply not counted.  Please see the help doc n his subject.

So am I worried about getting extra steps while preparing dinner? Nope because I know that there are other times when my arm has something in it or the task prohibits the arm from moving properly and steps will be lost. Sometimes lost, sometimes gained, but at the end of the day, if not certainly on the 7 day leader board it does. It all averages out.

When receiving my first arm based tracker I set up a second Fitbit account. Attached the new tracker, and friended both accounts. I was not going to take anybodies word, but do my own detective work. Now on the leaderboard I was able to watch the two accounts, and noticed that their positions switched with each other frequently.

This also made me interested in  the Fitbit One and found that it too sometimes had problems. Sit in a rocking chair, or tap my foot, it was counting steps, walk across a moss covered field or a plush rug, steps where missed.

For me, the convenience of not worrying about the One when changing outfits is well worth it. The other features are the icing.

[Rich_Laue]

@Rbrockport please see @dkewatson's post two above yours, the sensitivity adjustment is explained in detail. 

[Rbrockport]

Thank you very much

[sollerlm]

i am disappointed.

I had a Fitbit HR and I felt it had a fairly high degree of accuracy. The
Blaze - I love the look, but i am disapoointed regarding the accuracy -
both when on a treadmill or on the track.

Please provide me direction on how to get more accurate results from my
Blaze. Thank you