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!

[Didge777]

I'm actually getting huge numbers like 25000 steps per day. When I check the times I find some of my biggest numbers are in times when I'm driving my truck which can be very bumpy and when I'm in the truck I'm traveling at 100kmph, so I would have thought the blaze would know how fast I was traveling and not count these bumps as steps.
This is a problem! May have to get my money back and see if the iWatch does this job better. It's not that much more once you upgrade the Fitbit band and consider all the other things the Apple Watch does.

[Mikegf]

The answer to this is probably in the depths of this thread somewheres...but do we know how the Blaze counts steps?  Is it based on arm movement alone?

[rdbishop999]

I am about ready to return my Fitbit Blaze before my 45 day return window closes due to the highly inaccurate step count.  I have both the Fitbit One and Blaze and the Blaze is constantly missing steps that are picked up very reliably by the Fitbit One. I take a pre-determined distance indoor walk on a daily basis and over a mile, the Fitbit Blaze will typically only record about 60% of the steps.  That is totally unacceptable.  If I was not also wearing the Fitbit One and syncing both devices, I would be losing a ton of steps.

Both products utilize a 3-axis accelerometer to track steps so why should your arm have to move in order to count steps.  The motion detected by your foot hitting the ground should be detectable without needing arm movement.  Obviously there is some tweaking to the firmware in order to get the step count issue resolved.  

[sagegoose]

I am also having issues with my Blaze undercounting steps (only half are being counted). I have tried to change my stride to a number of different ones and NONE of them have worked. I would seriously thing that an inch shouldn't make that much of a difference. I even tried to change my stride from 26in. to 29-30 and that didin't even work. It seems that when it doesn't want to count all of my steps is when I am walking fast, which I do all of the time, so that is a big deal for me.

[sagegoose]

Thank you MsSpammy for saying that. I have an office job so I also don't get a lot of steps in during the day so each one definitely counts for me too. I'm getting severly frustrated that my husbands is spot on but I can't seem to get a fitbit that actually works. I really had high hopes for the Blaze after my 2 Altas were not counting my steps but I got my Blaze and it is doing the same thing. I have tried and tried again to change my stride length and it doesn't seem to do a bit of difference. I'm starting to thing that a Garmin is sounding better all of the time.

[sagegoose]

Also is it just me or does it seem that this is a bit more of a problem with women than with men. Maybe these fitbits were made for a man's stride and arm motion and not so much a women's stride. I'm not trying to sound as if us girls are getting picked on, I'm just saying maybe it was a man that designed and tested this out and that's why, to me, it seems as if girls are having more of an issue. Maybe I should try to put in a stride length that is more like a guy's stride and see how that treats me. Fitbit, see how desperate I'm getting?  AAARRRRGGGG!!

[sagegoose]

I had two Altas and trust me, if you think the count is off on the Blaze then you are going to be really disappointed with the Alta. Plus the Alta doesn't have the heart minitor and I really do like that part about the Blaze. At least with my Blaze, it is consistenly off whereas with the Alta, those were all over the place. One time it would be right on then the next it would be way over half short of the step count. Just to give you a heads up.

[pmellon]

That sums up my experience as well.  Way undercounting steps and I'm returning and going back to my Charge.  I can also tell it's completely missing chunks of step time bcause the Hours with 250+ steps isn't correct either.   Very frustrating.  I was thinking of going to the Apple watch, but I like my Fitbit community and friend challenges.  Such a bummer!!

[Gingerbelle31]

I have been having the same problems with being very inaccurate with step counts. I walk on the treadmill with an incline and hold on to the bars to walk and my Blaze counts only about 25% of my steps. I went to support and asked them if it was true you needed to move your arms for it to count your steps and he told me yes. He said if you hold on to rail or push a stroller or grocery cart and don't move your arms it will be inaccurate. He then basically told me sorry you are stuck with your Blaze, we only exchange it if you bought it on fitbit.com. I contacted the store I bought it (the source) and since it was over the 30 days, they would not exchange it not even for in store credit. I am never buying anything from fitbit again. So many people are having the same exact problem but they won't take responsibility and say it is something wrong with the Blaze. My Charge was so much more accurate. I am going to take the sales person advise and got with a Garmin Vivofit 3 next as he said they were very accurate and also water proof. 

[Didge777]

The FitBit app allows you to use what ever input you want. I was using my iPhone 6 which came out with the pedometer in it. This app is how I got conned into the Blaze, I liked the app so I bought the watch and scales. The scales work very well. Just wish the watch could tell not many people can run long distances at over 30 kph. It should be able to do this when conected to the phones GPS.

[MJP86]

I have the same problem. I work in retail and I am very active all day long. I gave my partner a Fitbit Charge as a present and few months later I decided to buy one for myself, but they did not have Charge in stock at the shop where I bought it, so I decided to buy Blaze. My partner has an office job, but still every day he counts double the stepst that I count. When we go for a walk together, his number of steps is always BY FAR higher than mine. I am very disappointed with Blaze and if Fitbit does not do something to fix this problem, I will prevent all my friends and family from buying any Fitbit Blaze.

[sagegoose]

@AlejandraFitbit. I have read many posts about the Blaze not counting steps while pushing a stroller or when holding on to the rails on a treadmill and I find this very strange because mine is the complete opposite. I found this out yesterday when I just thought I would test out my step count while carrying my water bottle (just for an experiment). So I was not swinging my arms at all and when I got to a 100 steps I checked my Blaze and it was right on. On any other 100 step count my Blaze only counts 60%. I tried this 10 more times and it was exactly on every single time. So my question is why is everyone else having problems with the no arm swinging thing and that's actually when mine works. Another question is when I've contacted fitbit or when other people have had problems, why is it that Fitbit always comes back with "maybe your not swinging your arms properly" when that is when mine is actually the only time it works properly?

[CMichelle]

Update for everyone who has been following my saga:  Just got my THIRD replacement Blaze last night, downloaded all of the updated firmware, restarted the Blaze when it was done, restarted my phone, uninstalled and reinstalled the app and still seeing crazy stuff on this replacement too.  I just did a step test around my office and walked 324 steps, it only counted 241 and for some reason, it has credited me with 23 Active Minutes now, even though all I've done is walk around my house getting ready for work and walking into my office building from the parking lot, something I do every day and have never been given active minutes before. . .and it certainly doesn't take me 23 minutes to do that!

Per Fitbit Customer Service, it takes a new tracker about a week to get acclimated to your stride, step pattern etc and become more accurate, which I think I can buy but seeing the same issues, right out the gate with this new one isn't very comforting.  Also, this whole arm swinging discussion is driving me batty - it should NOT MATTER if you are swinging or not swinging your arms to count steps.  I can't control how much or little I swing my arms and I refuse to have to think about every time I do a work out in order for my steps to count correctly.  If it is that specific and sensitive to work, then I don't want it.  You should be able to go about your business during the day or during a workout and have it count your steps correctly without you even having to think about it.  Isn't that the point of owning it?  If I have to think about it everywhere I go and everything I do, I could just manually enter all of my information into the Fitbit app and track it myself without wearing anything on my wrist!

[kalamityb]

I have a similar experience.  I'm not sure if it is related to the 1.)  'heaviness' of the step or 2.) if the Blaze just zones out for awhile.  I was doing a normal walk (through the house) and it didn't register any steps.  Then I jumped up and down a few times which seem to get the ball rolling.  After that it started capturing the same normal steps.

This is different from my Fitbit One that was much more sensitive (and I think accurate) as far as step counts go.

[Gingerbelle]

I have been told my support that you need to move your arms for the blaze to be accurate when it comes to steps. I don't see the point in having this on my arm if I have to think about what I am doing and the way I do it to be sure it counts the steps. I can't return it since it worked fine at first and stopped tracking correctly about 2 weeks ago but that puts me over the 30 days. I am very upset that I stuck with an expensive tracker that does only part of the job. When I walk a mile on the treadmill and I start in on the tracker and choose treadmill, it only gives me credit for between 700 -900 steps and between 0.05 to the highest it recorded of 0.17miles. That is way off, not even close to the mile I walk or steps it should be.

[CMichelle]

@Gingerbelle  I would still try calling Fitbit Customer Service and if they can look at your account, do some testing and prove it is inaccurate, I believe, at the very least, send you a replacement tracker.  That's my last resort - if this final Blaze doesn't work, I will try another tracker instead like the Charge HR.  I'm going to give it a full 2 weeks and then if it isn't accurate by then, I'm done.

[sagegoose]

@Gingerbelle. I think the Fitbit people are full of it. I seriously can't get my tracker to work unless my arms AREN'T swinging. Who wants to walk like that all day long? And if they are saying that you have to swing your arms (that's when mine doesn't work), then you must have to swing your arms pretty hard for these things to track your steps. I just contacted Fitbit and they said they wouldn't send me a replacement because I didn't buy it off their website (I got it on Amazon). Well maybe they shouldn't sell such s****y products and promote them like they are the best things ever. They better hope that my charge HR works or I'm completely done with Fitbit.

[CMichelle]

And I think many of you are right - the more you swing your arms, the worse the step count is.  For instance, I just did another step count around the office and took 307 and it only registered 214.  I grabbed my phone, opened the Fitbit app and did a little more walking. . .if I held my phone with both hands, meaning, my left arm not swinging, it counted every step (and then some) but if I held my phone with my right hand and just swung my left arm like normal, it only counted every OTHER step.  Complete flaw in the design of the product if it won't count all your steps if you arm is moving!

Also, noticed that my phone battery is all of a sudden draining like crazy, mainly due to my Verizon Messages+ app, which is what I use for my Blaze notifications.  Now, again, this is the 3rd Blaze I've had but never had this issue before.  I have tried rebooting my phone, turning Notifications on and back on again on my Blaze, rebooted my Blaze many times and it is still draining at a rate of about 10% per hour!  May have to uninstall and reinstall everything tonight on my phone and see if that helps at all.  Who has time for all of this troubleshooting???

[Lebischak]

Have you heard whether there will be a firm update to fix this.  I am extremely disappointed with mine as well.  I LOVE getting the texts and especially calendar updates, but the step count is horribly inaccurate.  I have walked for minutes watching it and it does not move at all.  I have adjusted the stride, although I don't know why that would matter since and step is a step regardless of how long or short.  I may be returning mine as well and going back to the Charge HR.

[sagegoose]

I actually mowed my lawn last night with the push mower. I don't know why the vibrations didn't make a difference with the step count because it did not add on any more than what I walked. I did a step count of 500 steps and it came out perfect but I'm not walking around all day with a push mower in my hands either so I just wish it would work when you're walking like a normal person. I'm getting seriously torked off with this fitbit.