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!

[Cybdiver]

Maybe it's time to have a leg attachment to mate with the trackers?  Something that attaches to the shoe? When they make it I get a free one it's my idea.

I use the elptical with the hand motions, I've done the treadmill swinging my arms. The only time I get an accurate count is when I'm walking or at least it appears to be somewhat accurate. 

Oh and they need to add something for the stairmaster.  I kill the stairmaster but the FB Blaze just counts the heart rate. 

Yours truly

A sweaty mess.

[arkaycee]

I came here to see if the Blaze was any better than the Surge in inaccurate step counts, which might someday make me buy it and replace my Surge. Sounds like they both use the same algorithm and have the same problems. I've found with my Surge that I have to keep the hand wearing it still, and not swinging (when I first got it I tried things like swinging like the ultimate walker, and discovered it was only almost accurate when my hand is, say, in my coat pocket with no swing, just the up-down). Too bad they haven't addressed this. I like the idea posted by Cybdiver here, and have thought that it might work better with an external attachment. My Fitbit One may not have done as many fancy things, but when clipped to my jeans pocket, it was always dead-on to my manual step count. I wish there were a way to sync both my old One and my Surge, but tell Fitbit to only get steps from the One and everything else from the Surge.

[CMichelle]

Hello, all, I have an update for you all...my Blaze is FINALLY working!! I wish I could tell you how or why but this coming Tues will be 2 weeks, since I received my 2nd replacement tracker and I've noticed over the past week, my steps getting closer and closer to what they should actually be. Then today, I did my normal 5k walk and using Connected GPS, my Blaze was pretty on the money for distance, pace, steps, heart rate, calorie burn, everything. Fingers and toes crossed this keeps up and my frustrations of low step counts are behind me. I just wish I knew why it just started working after all this time? Hang in there, everyone...I truly do believe it takes at least a week or 2 for your new tracker to get used to your movements, stride, etc. Happy stepping!

[rdbishop999]

I hate to burst your bubble but I've had my Blaze for just over four weeks
and it is no more accurate today than it was when I bought it. It's going
back and I am not looking back. I love my Fitbit One. It works great and
is right on the money with the step count. The Blaze is consistently off by
at least 20-30%.

[Cassa]

I went for my normal 5 mile walk this morning, My GPS and Fitbit app indicated 5 miles with impact  showing +13672 steps taken. My blaze only showed 6286. 5 miles in steps does noe equal 6286 steps. This was the first time my blaze was off like that. In the past if I count my steps, for every 100 steps, my blaze may count 87 to 90 steps. a 10% to 13% lost.

[Rich_Laue]

---

@BlazeRunner wrote:
It's still baffling to me how inconsistent all FitBit's devices are against each other. For awhile I finally just accepted my Blaze was undercounting compared to the Charge HR and I was ok with that, because then at least I was 100% sure I actually hit my step goal.

However I just got back from a Disney world trip with my husband's family who also have the Fitbit Charge HR and one member had a regular pedometer. If anything, Disney is the perfect way to do a comparison between step counters! At the end of Epcot and Magic Kingdom, all the Charge HR members had around 19-20k steps and about 7 miles tracked for distance, while I had 13-14k steps on my Blaze and about 5 miles distance. That's a HUGE difference.

But guess what? I just googled how long the distances are for the parks and the Blaze makes the most sense now. Epcot is 2.78 miles and Magic Kingdom is 2.17 miles around the perimeters. We were all together the entire day, so we all walked approximately the same amount of steps and distances, yet the Charge HR gave so much more credit. But we didn't walk around the perimeter of either park more than 3 times...so 7 miles is a bit too generous. I think the Blaze logically made the most sense; we approximately walked around the entire park 2 times when you factor in the walking into stores, shows and ride lines. Also I have approximately 2500 steps to a mile, so my step count is consistent with my mileage. If you have 20k steps and you have 2500 steps in a mile, that means you walked around 8 miles which is around the park almost 4 times. Nope. Didn't happen.

I'm realizing the Charge really is a lot more sensitive than the Blaze. Step-wise, they all count quite accurately. The major difference is that the Charge picks up movements on rides or things like that, and counts them as steps, thereby giving that huge 20k number at the end of the day. The blaze is not very sensitive to non-step activity; it for the most part only counts actual walking steps, and therefore the discrepancy was so high.

Not intentionally, a trip within Disney helped me figure out a lot since 3 Charge HRs, 1 regular pedometer and my own Blaze were involved.

---

Without GPS both the Blaze and the Charge count steps and calculate miles, you need to compare steps on the Charge to steps on the Blaze, then take into consideration the difference in stride. There taller the person the less steps taken. As for the adjustment park, where you on any rides? This could affect the steel count.  Has the stride been manually set to the tour of walking that is done at Disney, this will be different that your walk around the block. If only because your walking with others.

As for inconsistency among different units, with millions of this model sold monthly, it most likely will be traced to a shipment or two of one of the internal parts being out of spec. If had to take a guess if look at the XYZ sensor first.

The offending units will need to be identified, diagnosed, then firmware written, tested, and distributed. Just like the steep count problems with the Charge and the Surge, this one also will be corrected. As with the Charge it will not be an overnight process, more like the month or 2 that it took to fix the Charge. It sound limited your help is happy with the fix to the Charge, all I can say is hang in there, I too have a Blaze.

[momdebbie]

I don't see any such setting on my Dashboard.  There is nothing I can find that sets stride length, etc...

The fitbit is a fantastic concept but I don't see why I should keep it if it's just an entertainment/fad type of thing and isn't accuarate. I want REAL stats so I can truly measure my success.  

SO it is clear to me that the strps are recorded by a swinging arm only.  I can stand with my feet totally still and by just swinging my arm steps are recorded.  Well I can't always swing my arm and an old clicking steps pedomter that sells for a few dollars seems like a more accuarate measure!  It was totally useless as a cycling tracker as well.   Best Buy gt ready for a return!

[PAUSTIN819]

Another problem is the silent alarm never goes off. It's not that it's not
as hard as the other trackers. It just doesn't go off. I've been awake a
few minutes before alarm time and wait.. and nothing.

[sagegoose]

Mine is completely opposite. Mine will count my steps perfectly if my arms are still. If I swing my arms normally my Blaze only counts 55-60% (somewhere around there). It's pretty consistent but it's off so I have a replacement coming. Hopefully this one works because I already had two Altas and they did the same thing. Frustrating!!

[Corvettekid]

IMPORTANT UPDATE:  Just got off chat with FitBit Support....they are aware of the technical glitch involving distance and steps and their tech people are working on it.

Distance is apparently calculated based on default or inputed Stride Settings....Distance is NOT GPS-calculated on the Blaze.....thus, based on my stride length I figured that a mile should be 2,400 steps (2.2 feet = stride length) and indeed it is showing up like that.....BUT....I have to OVERWALK to measure 1 mile which means if you actually walk 1 mile the Blaze reads it as about 0.75 miles which means 2,000 steps instead of 2,400.

I noticed because I was walking the same distance/time and getting fewer steps.

[Cybdiver]

I'll bet it will vary from person to person based on height.

[Corvettekid]

"I'll bet it will vary from person to person based on height."

Yeah, a bit....but if you input your Stride Length then it should use that to calculate distance.

Here's The Problem In A Nutshell (FitBit Mods/Tech Support, This Includes You):  You need a FIXED variable to get accurate Step calculations.  Either the distance traveled must be GPS-accurate (and apparently even synching to a GPS-activated phone isn't cutting it) or it calculates distance based on inputed Stride Length.
 
If an internal or external GPS distance calculation is accurate, then Steps can be calculated based on a default setting or an inputed personalized setting.  So I have a stride of 2.2 feet which works out to 2,400 steps per mile.  If distance is GPS accurate, then I should be a bit above or below 2,400.
 
Now.....since the Blaze doesn't have internal GPS and external linking seems to not work, then inputing your Stride length should then calculate distance.  Every arm motion should be consistent with a stride of 2.2 feet in my case.  After 1,200 swings of the Left Arm (2,400 total with the Right arm) the Distance should be exactly 1 mile.  If my total swings are off a bit, or even if my stride changed a bit, it should be very very close to 1 mile on the button.  Only a running stride differs materially from a walking stride. Slow, moderate, or fast walk.....the stride is going to be pretty much the same.
 
I have NO IDEA what the Blaze is using to calculate distance and/or steps.  I have my GPS off on my phone and on the Blaze.
 
What is the default stride on the Blaze if you don't manually change it ? 

Moderator edit: format. 

[Cybdiver]

Maybe they should hire you
You've put alot of effort into a 200 dollar watch.

Sent from my Windows Phone

[chels0832]

I had the surge before this and I hit my step count goals pretty frequently. Now that I have the blaze I almost never hit my goals. My activites have not changed. I feel like my short walks do not get counted. I have friends who have "upgraded" to this model and are complaining of the same thing. PLEASE DO AN UPDATE!! Whatever the calibration is on these things need to be adjusted to be like the Surge. That model counted my steps accurately. This one undercounts by alot. It seems like in order for the steps to count you have to be moving for around 10-15 steps before it begins to count your steps.  

[OmarLittle]

Yeah it's a total bummer.

I've decided today, since Fitbit officially haven't responded at all that
this will be my last Fitbit device. This sounds annoying but I'm also
selling the stock I purchased in the company around the IPO time too. It's
not like it's a ton but it doesn't matter. I'm super disappointed in them
as a company.

[JodeEye]

Was there any indication when this may be resolved?  I'm thinking about going back to my Charge HR until the issue is resolved. Very frustrating to have lower steps count then what you're actually doing, especially for challeges and the such.

[Bernadette1111]

I read page after page , I see I'm not the only one that doesn't get an accurate count, my count is way off as I hand counted , not just on steps but on stairs, I have a count of 12 today I did 32 so 20 flights of steps did not count, they are the same flights of steps so it's not that they are too short or anything like that , I also had my phone with me, it doesn't count all my steps , my daughter does much less walking than I do since I'm constantly moving all day at work , I'm getting 3-5,000 steps compared to her 20,000. I paid a lot for the blaze but I thought it would be worth it, I could get a cheap pedometer if I wanted something inaccurate.

[RealBlaze]

The Blaze will read inaccurate if your on an Elliptical.  They will tell you here that it is because they can't read all the flywheels.  But really it has to do with distance travelled.  Most ellipicals have a distance travelled of around 18 to 24 inches.  If you could manually put in the distance and when the Blaze sensed movement count 18 to 24 inches travelled it would be accurate.  The flywheel has zero to do with the distance travelled.  As I stated before on here the Blaze only records 1 stroke per 2 strokes.  That is the problem.

[sagegoose]

I just got a replacement Blaze and it still counts only 60% of my steps, just like my alta. I also received a replacement alta and it turned out to be a dud. That is why I switched to the Blaze in the first place but now I know that it is not just one of their products but many of them that have this problem. And evidently people can't complain about this problem because they will get their posts deleted and kicked off the community page for "cross posting". That's what they did to me...all because I had the audacity to speak up about the shortcomings of the Alta and the Blaze. So be careful about posting any of your problems on here because evidently the fitbit people don't like that.

[Corvettekid]

Sage, 60% accuracy seems off alot.....can you walk around a high school 1/4 mile track and report back the distance and steps ?