Fitbit Blaze - Running without connecting to phone GPS

[haddocksd]

I have noticed that when I run my Fitbit Blaze battery drains faster because it is connecting to my cell phone's GPS. Since I have a Garmin, I use that without buying the accompanying HRM and let my Blaze track my heart rate only during my runs. In case I have confused anyone/made absolutely no sense: I run with my Garmin to track my distance and I run with my Blaze to track my heart rate without connecting to the GPS on my phone. Yesterday I ran 7 miles, and my blaze tracked that as an 8.2 mile run, which I figured it would since the GPS wasn't connected, but now I'm curious how the software calculates calories burned.Are calories burned calculated through the heart rate, steps, and distance traveled or just from someone's heart rate? I've upgraded from a Fitbit Flex to the Fitbit Blaze because I gained approximately 8 pounds from following the Flex's calorie burn calculation and I wanted something more accurate because...well, gaining 8 pounds when you want to lose just sucks. If I don't connect to the GPS on my phone, is my calorie burn calculation going to be as way off as the distance traveled when I'm running? Thanks! 

[SteveH · Accepted solution]

Your Blaze will calculate calorie burn based on both the heart rate data and its interpretation of your movement i.e. steps, so it should work just fine monitoring your run without GPS.

However, it should also have much the same distance as when tracking by GPS. With no GPS connected it will calculate distance by multiplying your step count by your stride length. It sounds like your current running stride is perhaps too long leading to your distance being too long. Here is a guide to measuring and setting your stride lengths (one for walking, one for running):

http://help.fitbit.com/articles/en_US/Help_article/1135/

With this set correctly your tracking data should be fine even when not using connected GPS.

[Rich_Laue]

@haddocksd i can help ypu out some with the miles the Blaze reported. If you previously set your running stride, we can multiply ot by 0.854

Or take the step count recorded during that 7 mile run, and enter them here.

http://www.walkingwithattitude.com/blog/step-calculators/

[haddocksd]

@SteveH: Thank you! I'll try this out!