Fitbit Blaze step count inaccurate

[OmarLittle]

Hey there,

Today was my first full day rocking my Blaze. I went to an outdoor festival and had some solid step count, however, when I got home and checked my step count I noticed that the blaze tracked about 1/4 the steps I actually took. My iPhone health app logged about 10K and my Fitbit did about a 1/4 of that (2500). Also I noticed it did an auto workout and thought I had rode my bike. I think this is due to my sons stroller I was pushing. Any suggestions on how to calibrate? If I go for a run and use the GPS- will that help? Thanks!

[Eppeerlym]

I worj for amazon abd average 15 to 20k steps a night according to my flex yet the blaze gave me 3k last night...so WAY it's correct. I am very unhappy right now!!!

[Eppeerlym]

Sorry to hear you had to return it. I also bought mine at Amazon and hopr i don't have to do the same. For $200 i expect accuracy.. more than my flex!!

[SunsetRunner]

@Mckay1985 as long as the app has mobile track set up as a device, you're good to go. If not, add it as a new device from within theapp

[Tymjennings]

How do you do this

Sent from my iPhone

[prettylolita]

I am having this same issue. Also my calories left are 300 higher than when my other fitbits were connected to my account. So my overall calories go way too high for me to even lose weight doing the same things everyday. I really hope a firemeare update will fix the blaze. I really like it so far. Just wish it counted my steps right.

[jcheeze]

i'm having generally all the same issues. my blaze counts each flap of the arm, flick of the wrist, and bump in the road while driving as a step. I would love to think I took 1,000 steps during a 4 hour road trip, but sadly I know that is not true. 

[Barbara_F]

This sensitivity to arm movement can be adjusted. If you're wearing it on your dominant arm, make sure you adjust your settings to say so. This is an easy one.

Also, and I remember this because it drove me nuts in the opposite way, but if you're driving, using driving as an activity and fitbit will remove those steps from your daily count. If you're getting in and out of the car, it can be a pain, but otherwise, it's probably a good thing that it removes the step count.

[Barbara_F]

I suspect the calorie counts are higher because it's figuring out, according to your heart rate, your actual calorie usage. In some cases it will still estimate low, like my yoga class yesterday, but overall, it's actually probably more accurate in terms of calorie usage now.

[jcheeze]

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@Barbara_F wrote:

This sensitivity to arm movement can be adjusted. If you're wearing it on your dominant arm, make sure you adjust your settings to say so. This is an easy one.

Also, and I remember this because it drove me nuts in the opposite way, but if you're driving, using driving as an activity and fitbit will remove those steps from your daily count. If you're getting in and out of the car, it can be a pain, but otherwise, it's probably a good thing that it removes the step count.

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I use it on my non-dominant arm and have it set to non-dominant arm. Although I am a righty, I tend to use my left arm to do a lot of stuff (and to carry most things). Do you think I should try setting it to dominant?

I'm definitely going to try out setting up a driving thing. I was wondering why there wasn't a driving setting but I didn't realize you could also set up your own custom activities. Thanks! 

[Barbara_F]

So the way it works, according to what I understand, is that if you have it set for dominant arm, it reduces the sensitivity of the accelerometers. If you have it on non-dominant, it increases the sensitivity. So it offsets what you do, to an extent.

I was carrying my groceries in my arm, with a relatively stiff arm, and it counted pretty well.

Wrist pedometers are often a bit inaccurate, regardless of the arm, just because they're not in a neutral location. I was willing to accept that for heart rate. I had the One for four years and loved it, but I didn't want to have to wear a second device to get heart rate. Oh the trade-offs! 🙂

Oh, and driving isn't a custom activity. It's actually a preset activity. I loved it when I got used to it. But losing steps really annoyed me! 🙂

*** BTW, I see you have it set up correctly per your response. I don't have a clue what to do in that case. Sorry... 😞 ***

[Salpal23]

I still think these things need an easy to set "driving mode" that will pause tracking. It's been an issue for me since I got my flex so many years ago.

[Barbara_F]

Wouldn't it be great if they added it to exercise? it'd be a simple upgrade! 🙂

[JOHNNYBlaze]

I looked at you review and man, I thought someone had cut and pasted my thoughts and experiences.

I have a surge and wanted the upgrade to the colors and the design.

My Blaze is off consistently by 200, 300, and more steps a day. - the more I move the more it's off.

as stated it doesn't count steps unless your arm is swinging.

The stairs - way off too I keep getting 99 a day! WTH??

And the heart rate is off - my HR is consistently 20 -30 beats off during hihg intensity training.

Sleep monitoring is screwed up too as well as the alarm.

Oh well, any way to return this?

I don't mind the way you charge it, but not spending hundreds of dollars on cheap bands either.

Hopefully any update will come  soon or it goes back.

I have no issues with using my phone GPS as I carry it with me on all my walks anyway and it is extremely accurate on the route anyway but not the steps unless I remember to swing my dogs leash while I walk

I am consistently of a several hundred calories a day during work outs and activity too because of the step and HR inaccuracy.

[Salpal23]

Fitbit has a 45 day return policy on the Blaze. Contact them if you want to return it.

Or ask whatever retailer you got it from. I know Amazon gives 30 days to return, not sure about others

[DavS]

I use an app called DriveBit to log my driving times. You launch the app on your phone and hit the "start" button when you start driving, and the "stop" button when you have finished. It will automatically log your driving time into the fitbit dashboard and take out any steps or floors counted by your tracker during the travel time. I use it on an android phone, but I think it is also available on ios. It is very fast to launch the app and start logging. I wish there was a native solution for this, but the app works pretty well. I've even heard of people automating it using tasker on android, but I haven't gone that far yet.

[prettylolita]

The calorie count is wrong. I had the Fitbit hr before and it was correct with my calories it allows me to eat. My blaze is on the same settings and I've actually had less activity at work and it's telling me to eat 250-300 more than I use. If I ate those I would never lose weight. I wish there was a way to correct this. My count was correct before I switched to the blaze.

[Eppeerlym]

After resetting my blaze and charging the battery, the steps are pretty accurate for wirk last night. Yay!! Maybe it just takes forever to update? Can't carry my phone at work so it was nowhere near(locker)

[Court126]

How did you reset and how long did you charge? We're your steps inaccurate before you did this?

Sent from Courtney's iPhone

[Mckay1985]

What do you mean? Do I need to down that app in my App Store??

[Court126]

Ok. So I chatted with Fitbit today and got my inaccurate steps corrected! You need to go into your dashboard and calculate your walking stride length and input that. Mine was 2.04 and was set to 0.0.
Fixed!!

Sent from Courtney's iPhone