Blaze vs Other Devices

[bcalvanese]

I own and have owned several devices over the past year, and would like to give my opinion of it compared to other devices.

I currently own a Garmin fenix3, Garmin Vivoactive, and a Polar V800. I have also owned a Jawbone UP24, Basis Peak, Microsoft Band 2, Polar A360, Fitbit Surge, and an Apple Watch.

I am not going to make a long winded feature by feature comparison, but just a brief opinion of the devices.

Garmin

Great devices as far as hardware goes. The fenix3 is a very well built device, but for $500.00 it better be. The trouble with the Garmin devices is in the software and lack of documentation. There is firmware update after firmware update, and they just keep cranking out new feature after new feature, but they never fix the bugs from previous features and the bugs just keep piling up. They are the buggiest devices that I have ever owned. Also they have not updated their users guide since I can remember, and there have been so many changes since then that you cant even find out what the new features are without have to search forums. And even the people in the forums are confused, so you cant get a solid answer. Also the fenix3 is IMO a way to advanced device for the average user. Way too many advanced features. Probably better suited for extreamely advanced atholites and trainers.

Polar

Great devices and solid basic software. They are sort of the oposite of Garmin. They hardly put out any new features, but when they do it usually works well. You have to manually sync them by holding the button in, but its not that big a deal. Their documentation is ussually good though. Also they have no community like forums, and challenges. If they did they would be higher on my list. They have the potential to be much better if they added more features.

Jawbone

My first device, and a good starter device for basic activity and food tracking. The software is very good too.

Basis Peak

Well build device that recorded a lot of data, but the problem is the software and how the data gets displayed to the user. Very akward and confusing.

Microsoft Band 2

nice device but too bulky. I also dont like having to read the display sideways. Software was pretty good as well.

Apple Watch

More of a smart watch with activity features then a fitness watch. No sleep tracking, but the battery only lasted a day so how could you track your sleep anyway. What it does it does very well though.

Fitbit Surge

I loved everything about this device except for the display. I'm old and have trouble reading small displays and the display on the Surge is very faint and tiny.

Blaze

This thing is everything I liked about all the other devices all in a single device. 24/7 heart rate monitoring (which is very important for more accurate calorie burn). No need to waer a chest strap heart rate monitor for workouts. I compared power walk workouts to the same exact workouts that I have done with my fenix3 wearing a chest strap monitor, and the average heart rate was within 1 bpm. Pace, distance, and calories burned were also just about exactly the same. Fitbit also has the best software IMO. Very easy to use, and even food tracking without having to use a 3rd party app. Everything is in a single user friendly app that provides valueable information that is easy to understand. I dont mind in the least that it uses my phones GPS. In fact, why would anyone not want to have their phone with them in case of an emergency or to listen to music when they are walking or running?

Anyway, this is my brief comparison and only my opinion.

Yours may vairy.

[Odyssey13]

Thanks for the rundown on all these devices, @bcalvanese Nicely worded and concise.

Keep on stepping!

[Tank-Rust]

My only problem with using the phones GPS is that it kills the battery really fast.  Especially doing long runs.  13 miles will kill a batter pretty quick. Twice as fast in the winter time.  For some reason the cold just zaps the batter.  That is the only reason I bought the Garmin forerunner 15 and us it with my fitbit charge hr.  I don't like the Surge for the exact reason you mentioned.  I don't like the display.  If the Blaze got GPS, I'd buy it in a heart beat.  Great comparison though. 

[Rich_Laue]

The thing i like about the Blaze, and why i feel its worth keeping, i get 13 hours with the GPS on.
To be honest i havent found the limit yet

[Tank-Rust]

13 hours with GPS. Does your phone keep up? I have no doubt the blaze itself is good for battery life. I'm worried about the phone dying during the run since the blaze runs off of connected GPS.

[Rich_Laue]

Did you see the 13 hours are on the Surge, no phone needed, thats why im keeping the Surge.

I very much doubt I'll get over 3 hours on the phone with the Blaze and connected gps.

[shipo]

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@Rich_Laue wrote:
Did you see the 13 hours are on the Surge, no phone needed, thats why im keeping the Surge.

I very much doubt I'll get over 3 hours on the phone with the Blaze and connected gps.

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The above said, I did a four hour run last summer; my Surge had a full battery when I started, and while it wasn't flat empty when I finished, it wouldn't have lasted much beyond an additional hour.

[Tank-Rust]

My bad I thought you were talking about the blaze not the surge hahaha. Have a great Independence Day.

[Rich_Laue]

Was the run last summer before the latest update.

Yes the previous to the current version would only get 4 maybe if you were lucky 4.5 hours.

The current version rocks.

[shipo]

@Rich_Laue, I didn't know the Surge had an update which allowed more battery life while in GPS mode.  That said, my Surge is currently running the latest firmware (I just checked), and I'm not noticing any improvement in battery life.  Basically I get two days (with two ~10 mile GPS tracked runs) per charge.

[Rich_Laue]

Yes that sounds about right, the update did not improve non GPS time, which is not great. For this reason at night after using the GPS, i, as suggested by fitbit, give it a charge. Usually only 30-60 minutes.