Blaze vs digifit calorie tracking discrepancy

[Cef1]

Hi. Just got my blaze. Used it while spinning yesterday. Also wore my Polar chest strap linked to digifit which I have done for a couple of years. Started both frackers at exactly the same time, stopped both frackers at exactly the same time. Results from Blaze and Digifit were exactly the same re. Time, HR, avg. HR, BUT Blaze calories were only 279, while Digifit calories were 461. I've checked personal settings on both devices ( age, weight, etc) and both are exactly the same. Help! Which device do I believe? Is the Blaze defective? It's also not tracking sleep correctly. Should I return it? Thanks

[FerdinandFitbit]

Hey there @Cef1. Good to see you in the Community! 😄

When using your Fitbit Blaze, it takes your heart rate into consideration mostly to provide calories burned information. This means  that wearing it properly has an impact on the results you will get. For this, for all-day wear when you’re not exercising, your tracker should usually rest a finger’s width below your wrist bone and lay flat, just as you would wear a watch. Fitbit’s PurePulse™ heart rate tracking system is designed to be most accurate when the tracker is worn on the top of your wrist as shown below:

Experiment with wearing the tracker higher on your wrist during exercise. Because blood flow in your arm increases the farther up you go, moving the tracker up a couple inches can improve the heart rate signal. Also, many exercises such as push-ups cause you to bend your wrist frequently, which is more likely to interfere with the heart rate signal if the tracker is lower on your wrist.

With high-intensity interval training, P90X, boxing, or other activities where your wrist is moving vigorously and non-rhythmically, the movement may prevent the sensor from finding an accurate heart rate. Similarly, with exercises such as weight lifting or rowing, your wrist muscles may flex in such a way that the band tightens and loosens during exercise. Try relaxing your wrist and staying still briefly (about 10 seconds), after which you should see an accurate heart rate reading. Note that your tracker will still provide accurate calorie burn readings during these types of exercise by analyzing your heart rate trends over the course of the workout.

Now, when it comes to sleep tracking, if it has not been very accurate, I'd recommend restarting your tracker by pressing the left and lower right buttons until your tracker turns off and comes back on. Try it the night after and see how it goes.

Hope all this helps. Let me know if you need any more help.

[bcalvanese]

If the heart rate is the same as the chest strap the it could be a difference in the way the calories are calculated.

Could you post the stats from the workout?

heart rate

duration

distance

pace

Thanks,

[Cef1]

Thanks for the suggestions:

Here are the stats:

Digifit spinning app (using Polar HR7 chest strap). This was an Aerobic Based Ride

Avg HR: 110

Max HR: 135

Distance : N/A

Pace: N/A

Duration: 1:28:49

Calories: 461

Fitbit Blaze:

Avg HR:109

Max HR: 134

Distance: N/A

Pace:N/A

Duration:1:31:26

Calories: 279

So apart from the calories, both apps look pretty similar. Thanks for any light that you can shed on this discrepancy.

Cheers 🙂

[bcalvanese]

---

@Cef1 wrote:

Thanks for the suggestions:

Here are the stats:

Digifit spinning app (using Polar HR7 chest strap). This was an Aerobic Based Ride

Avg HR: 110

Max HR: 135

Distance : N/A

Pace: N/A

Duration: 1:28:49

Calories: 461

Fitbit Blaze:

Avg HR:109

Max HR: 134

Distance: N/A

Pace:N/A

Duration:1:31:26

Calories: 279

So apart from the calories, both apps look pretty similar. Thanks for any light that you can shed on this discrepancy.

Cheers 🙂

---

Sorry but can your physical stats too?

age

height

weight

gender

thanks,

[bcalvanese]

Using the MyFitnessPal exercise database with the spinning exercise. I put in 90 minutes and a weight of 135 lbs. and got 276 calories.

This would be on par with what the fitbit is calculating.

[Cef1]

Here's my update re my question re sleep tacking issues and calorie discrepancy (fitbit vs digifit). 

I tried all the suggestions - thanks! Basically none of the suggestions worked. 

I finally gave up and exchanged my Blaze yesterday for a new one.

My sleep tracking is still not perfect, but WAY better... tracking for a longer time with more realistic stats. I'm going to try to 'force' it into sleep tracking mode tonight as a test. 

Happy to report that the calories recorded with both spinning and yoga this am are pretty much the same..Yeah!

So, thanks for all your suggestions and help. 

Great forum for Blaze wearers.

Cheers

[Cef1]

Another quick update re. sleep tracking fix. 

Blaze is now set on normal sleep tracking -not sensitive.

When I get ready to sleep, I 'begin sleep now' on the fitbit app on my phone at bedside. 

When I wake up, I stop the sleep mode. 

So far, this has resulted in the sleep tracking mode recording the entire night's sleep, restlessness etc. 

Of, course, the Blaze should do this automatically.... but it doesn't, so I can live with this solution until the issue is fixed by Fitbit. Everything else is working fine. Cool.