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!

[Seamonkey]

I have had FitBit s since late 2012, ONE, FORCE, CHARGE HR.. none required anything special in order to count steps while walking. Having a device with a heart rate monitor, does require wearing the device a certain way, but said device, be it a CHARGE HR, a SURGE or a BLAZE, should still count steps at the same time.

[Rich_Laue]

Dieing a walk or run i would say yes,  during everyday activity i would say maybe not.  I found the different models responded differently to the same non walking activity. The 4 devices One, Charge, Charge HR, Surge frequently changed possitions on the leaderboard  l, sometimes with every sync during the day. 

[Barbara_F]

Rich, I think you misunderstand how an acceleramator works. Basically it's based on "impact" not movement. and most current, state of the art pedometers use a triple axis acceleramator (I'm sure I'm spelling that wrong, sorry!). However that means it measures your motions, back and forward, up and down and along a third axis, which is how it determines movement. 

And while I agree that my arm rigidity would make it less accurate to an extent, that is offset by Fitbit's own setup, that asks if you're wearing the Blaze on the dominant or non-dominant arm. The typical is the non-dominant arm, in my case, the left arm. I have said I"m wearing it on the non-dominant arm. And this makes sense, as the Blaze had no trouble registering correctly my movements from my car to my home with my groceries held in my left hand. My left arm was rigid, compared to my right, from carrying groceries. 

Fitbit's own system is to adjust for that. So while I appreciate the multitude of comments on how my One was on a moving body part, and that it only worked BECUASE of that, I think you're missing the point. Any time you wear a wrist pedometer, it's going to be a touch inaccurate, because of hand dominance, and the way people move and carry things. 

I was discussing an inaccuracy rate of over 90%. Let's stop with the arm thing, ok? It's a diversion from the actual situation, and it doesn't help. 

I suspect I may have actually caused the problem inadvertently, because I had the workout mode on, and I saw it giving me step counts instead of heart rate. I hit the pause button, and then moved the screen to the heart rate and restarted. I actually suspect a bug in the program. I've mostly remembered this because I was trying to figure out what happened during that workout. 

But this endless talk about arm movement, and no arm movement is a red herring to what might actually be a fixable problem. 

Can we please just let fitbit deal with this? 🙂 

[RealBlaze]

Does FitBit Monitor this section for possible problems?  I do agree that it should work properly without having to move your arms..  Although  I have yet to see this happen.  My daughter has the Charge HR and hers seems to register steps well with her hands in a hoodie pocket.  Where my Blaze does not seem to do that.  I have not reset it.

Will resetting it cause your data on your APPs to go away or reset?  Do you do this at Midnight so as to not lose the days Data?  Like I said mine at the moment does not work on a non moving arm.  It has to be swayed back and forth for it to change.  A Stiff arm registers nothing.  Hands in my hoodie pocket register at times.  But usually if I am bouncing a bit.

If I put it in my pocket it does change.  But as I said I learned that trick from my SamSung Gear S

[Barbara_F]

Yes, I think Fitbit monitors these boards, since they have moderators. I am assuming here, and this is the "product help section, so I think someone reads these. I didn't send in a bug report, but I am kind of hoping this message serves the purpose of a bug report. 

I didn't suggest a reset, btw, I suggested a restart. The wording is important in this case. Restarting the device is something I found on their FAQs and it doesn't remove data. It won't cause you to lose anything you've put in. It does seem to help. Just like the suggestions to add a stride count. 

The other irony here is that I removed my One from my account early Friday because the app was having problems syncing, as it was looking for both devices every time. So that could be part of the problem as well. And I had a stride set with my One, but removing it removed my stride settings on my account (I think). When I checked Saturday, I noticed it was gone, so  added it back as well as the restart. All of this has increased the responsiveness. 

[Nianya]

It should work exactly the same as the Charge and HR and it does not. I'm
wearing my HR too. Either Fitbit responds with a firmware update or I'm
returning the Blaze.

FYI resetting will not effect your data.

Nianya

[Rich_Laue]

While the few moderators do monitor these boards, they will not be able to see every thread,  if you would like to get the attention of a moderator than a mention of them shall accomplish this.

I am perfectly aware that the tracker needs some impact to measure steps, that is why while pushing a cart, holding onto a handrail while walking, whether on a treadmill or stairs might not count steps, but in a car or on a bicycle it will happily count every bump as a step. It is that up/down motion that add steps. Just hold the arm parrellel to the floor and in front of you, now move the arm smoothly up and down then watch those "steps" get counted.  It is not so much the impact but the quick switch in the direction travelling.

The impact is a quick deceleration then an acceleration in the negative direction.

[SunriseRunner41]

I think I may be happy that it misses some of the steps that occur while walking in my home because it consistently adds a truckload of "steps" when I wash my hands. I've done a reset and I will see if there is an improvement, but I've had a few instances of "steps" getting tacked on when I know I didn't do anything that would warrant an addition of 25-100 steps added.

[Nianya]

I have officially returned my Blaze to Amazon and ordered the Surge.
Although I got the steps working, the distance is way off, notifications
are intermittent even after several resets and music does not work. Besides
we hike and I want accurate GPS. Very disappointed with the Blaze.

Nianya

[MuzDownUnder]

All the problems being reported in the Blaze should hopefully only need a firmware update to resolve. Maybe someone from @FitbitCommunity can enlighten everyone here about what is being done to resolve these issues and help stop a lot of returns from disappointed customers. The distance measuring issues are a big one for me as it trashes all the other stats like pace etc.

[Court126]

I completely agree. Would love to know if this will be fixed soon!

[Tymjennings]

Mine did the same thing and it said I was sleeping while it was charging.... Now it's saying I have walked 3.75 miles when I'm at 11k steps.... Something is definitely off

[MsSpammy]

Becoming more frustrating as time goes on. A quick walk to the bathroom. Only difference was that on the way back I looked at my blaze to see if any steps were counted. Just by looking at the face of the Blaze stops it counting any steps at all! So, if at any point you want to see the time, or check any progress or HR, then it stops counting steps full stop. If this isn't fixed I'll have no option but to send if back and look at other options. As someone who doesn't do many steps in a day, each one counts...

[Salpal23]

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@MsSpammy wrote:
Becoming more frustrating as time goes on. A quick walk to the bathroom. Only difference was that on the way back I looked at my blaze to see if any steps were counted. Just by looking at the face of the Blaze stops it counting any steps at all! So, if at any point you want to see the time, or check any progress or HR, then it stops counting steps full stop. If this isn't fixed I'll have no option but to send if back and look at other options. As someone who doesn't do many steps in a day, each one counts...

---

Thats odd. I just tested mine and it doesnt do this. I can stare at the face while Im walking and watch my step counter go up.

[OmarLittle]

Wow. This thread blew up. Glad I'm not the only one with this problem. I've noticed that since I've adjusted my step distance the count has gotten better but now my overall mileage is off. I guess we still need to wait for Fitbit to reply. Worth noting that besides the millage/step issue I love my Blaze! 

[Court126]

I completely agree. Love it but if they don't fix it. I'm returning it.

Sent from Courtney's iPhone

[ChaneRZ]

Mine is under counting my steps too. Need a firmware update now!

[Mckay1985]

How can you allow your phone to count the steps when your pushing a stroller?

[ChaneRZ]

I think the phone can count the steps when pushing a cart or stroller. It has to be in your pocket.

[Mckay1985]

If I have the Fitbit app on my phone do I need to do anything else for the phone to recognise steps when I'm pushing a stroller