First Week Blaze Impression

[GBO323]

Ok, a little less than a week, but I've had my first battery cycle and want to post my First Impression here. On a history note, I've used FitBits starting with the Zip, One, Force, Surge, and now the Blaze. It's linked with MyFitnessPal and is an important part of my Health Universe.

• Received it on Monday afternoon along with the accessory Leather Watch Band. FitBit's original bands rash out my skin. I converted steps already taken for the day from S2 Smartwatch into the FitBit. Yes, there is a way to manually report steps. 🙂
• Slight ding for lack of simplified instruction manual. Went to website, loaded up my Windows10 Fitbit app and connected it up. Initial firmware download took about 20 minutes. No issues.
• Went back to work. 🙂  Place on charger to get through rest of day while at my desk.
• Set up the Call/Text/Calendar notifications. Default Samsung Text app only gave me Text notification. Switching to Google Messenger/SMS now gives me Notification and Text message. I did not opt for Classic bluetooth connection for music since I want to save battery and work the music on my phone. I don't care for a full smartwatch experience, so not speaking commands to it or seeing weather, etc is bonus for me.
• Turned off the Heart Rate Monitor. My experience with the Surge was that I got almost twice the calories burned back vs not using it. And, I want to save battery. Too many posts from others with same experience.
• Set display to Max. Hard to see it otherwise outside or in bright lights.
• Leather band is quite comfortable. 6 days on and no rash.
• Battery. I'm impressed. Placed it on charger all night Monday and put it on wrist Tuesday morning, 7am. Got an "Empty Battery" icon on Saturday morning at 10:30a. That is 4 days and 3 hours of battery life. While I have HR turned off and no classic bluetooth used, I do utilize all of the notifications and max brightness. My hope was 4 days and Fitbit nailed it.
• I use original clock face and tap it to always see steps. A feature the Surge is sorely missing. Hope more watch faces are coming...or better yet, a watchface creator.
• The screen is easy to read. Liking the touch screen function vs messing with the side buttons at times.
• Step count seems to be accurate when I've checked it.
• The ConnectedGPS feature is easier to use then people make it out to be. I like being able to sort the exercises on the FitBit app so I can get right to my Bike verses scrolling to find. Once I pick it, it's easy to start the GPS exercise. Once done, I see it on the App map and FitBit Activity Log.
• Vibrations are just enough to get my attention.
• Reaching Goal vibrates the Watch and blows up colors. Nice touch.
• I'm glad to have gotten 4 days of battery. Having to take the watch off and pop the unit out of the band and placing it into the cheap feeling boxee charging station is a strange way to have designed this process. And for now, replacement chargers aren't available. Hopeful that the FitBit unit will handle being popped in and out regulary. Glad it isn't nightly. Still better than the Surge charging cable that always popped out.
• Overall, I am pleased with the Blaze. It's the right mix of functional and battery life. With a few tweaks, FitBit will continue to reign supreme on the Fitness Tracker market.

Ok..mine is done. Your turn!

[kerrycrow]

What a thourough review.  I agree with most of what you observed.

Although for me I have found the auto brightness setting sufficient for seeing it outside.

I have done minimal testing of the GPS feature so I can't comment much on that .  For cycling I use a Garmin and so I have not put the Blaze through its GPS paces. 

The only thing I can add is for me the notifications work great, and they are just enough buzz to get my attention.  The silent alarm is great for reminders during the day, but it does not have enough buzz to wake me up.  I sleep through it.  So that is the only feature that is causing me to pause, as I like an alarm that will go off and not wake up my husband.  

[AdamMSC]

I agree! It is a nice little watch with just enough to make it good enough... The only downside for me has been that it is not waterproof. A lot of people are really down on it and think it's worthless; however, it is the number one selling smartwatch right now on Amazon. Obviously fitbit hit a market that many people didn't think existed: a smooth mix of fashion, fitness and smartwatch features.

[David8732]

Great post, thank you.
I'm just curious as to what you mean by:
"My experience with the Surge was that I got almost twice the calories burned back vs not using it."

I have had my Blaze since Wednesday afternoon. I've trained twice since then, two one hour sessions and when I wasn't I turned off the HR monitor. And as I'm writing this it's 4pm UK time, Andy he battery is showing 'medium' as it has done for three days now. So... 4 days battery so far and still going strong.
I purchased a Surge the week before but I was so disappointed with the display and the backlight that I returned it. I simply couldn't see it as much as I wanted to, whilst training it was impossible to glance and see the information you wanted.
Then I purchased the Garmin Vivosmart HR, again the display was difficult to read, so I returned that too.
I researched the Blaze and managed to get hold of one (they're hard to get hold of in the UK just now).
I got the beautiful blue strap and it looks amazing.
The display is brilliant, the functionality is perfect for me.
I also agree with everything he original poster wrote.
My only gripe is the ever changing colours on the Zone display, I now use pop and also the fact you can't set alarms on the watch itself.
My girlfriend bought the charge HR on the same day, she loves it and I'd have one apart from the fact the display is too small.

I'm very happy, and I'm enjoying owning my first ever Fitbit.

[GBO323]

Ok...here's another update.

Since my last charge, I've gotten 5 days and 1 hour of battery time. Heading out of town, so am charging it up. VERY impressed as the only change I've made is to turn ON the all day since and the constantly connected. Figured that would take a hit, but no.

David8732-On the HR Monitor, when it was on, the calories I would get back to eat was almost double vs having it off and letting the tracker estimate via movement alone...and I would gain weight. So, I've turned and kept it off.

I've finally found my FitBit sweet spot....onward!

[GBO323]

Ok, this is getting better. I took the Blaze off the charger on Monday morning at 8 am. It's Sunday morning at 10am and the FitBit app shows Battery-Low. That's SIX FULL DAYS and 2 hours since the charge. Not going to push it more for today.

Very impressed. This is with the All-Day Sync and Always Connected options ON, Brightness at Max, Bluethooth Classic Off, and Heart Rate Off. All notifications for calls, calendar, and texts are On.

Well done, Fitbit...well done.

[David8732]

I bought my Blaze on Wednesday March 9th, I charged it that night to set it up. Then just to make sure as I'd read about issues I charged it the following Monday March 14th.
Since then I've charged it just twice on Mon 21st and Mon 28th March.
I turn off the HR monitor unless I'm working out, but I do train every day for an hour. I also have all day sync off as I just sync it when I look at my stats and I have the brightness on auto. I only have notifications for phone calls.
So, I always get a straight 7 days out of mine, I think it's excellent.
The device itself is just amazing and the display sublime. I love mine.

[racertempo]

Great to see people coming on here to post positive reviews.  The natural tendenancy is for people to only want to post negatives, so then folks seem to think that only negative reviews exist.  I love mine as well, the interchangable bands alone make it worth my money!

[AngelaMa]

Hello everyone! Thanks for taking the time to share your feedback about the Blaze. I have been a Fitbit user since the Zip, then I got the One, the Flex, the Force, the Charge, the Charge HR and the Surge. Now I'm a proud owner of the plum Blaze and I'm in LOVE!   I love how light it feels on my wrist,  the music control feature and the interchangeable bands. The battery of my trackers usually lasts 6 days I would like to share some tips to maximize the battery life of your tracker. 

Happy stepping! 🙂