Fitbit Surge to Fitbit Blaze.

[cardio-junkie]

I just received and used my Fitbit Blaze for the 1st time this morning. I had a Surge and love it, but i am not an outdoor runner or cyclist, so the Gps feature was not necassary for me, I have to say that the blaze is much more comfortable to wear and is stylish as well, I also found the spinning workout for exercise which is right up my alley, the heart rate and Calorie counter seemed to be much more accurate than the surge, I also love the gyro feature to keep the battery charge longer, will update when i have used it more. 

[JohnRi]

I love my Surge, but I use the GPS feature on it daily.  I'm getting a Blaze this weekend, and will try the GPS passthrough to my phone.  My wife got the Blaze for both of us, but I won't see her till Friday.  She likes it.  The controls are different.  I tried walking her through using the buttons, and it was ALL different.  At least it seemed different over the phone. 

I got the blaze, becaue I like the color display, and I've lost so much weight that my Surge doesn't fit me anymore!!!!  Now that's a great reason to upgrade!!!!  Sadly, I've only had my Surge for 5 months!!!

Gyro feature, I didn't know that.  That's really cool!  Heart Rate and calorie more accurate...  Hmm....  I wish it was Friday!!!

[WendyB]

I love both the Surge and the Blaze. I like them for different reasons.

Love the colors on the Blaze

Glad you are liking yours!

[mcrocker]

Do you run both inside and outside? I just got Blaze but contemplated the Surge. I am more of a treadmill long runner.

[cardio-junkie]

I believe the blaze is a better fit for those of us indoor enthusiast.

[getmeoutside]

I am debating on the blaze vs. surge, the only reason I am leaning towards the surge is the GPS feature for outside running and biking. I understand if you have a blaze you can track your GPS via your phone (when brought with you), my question is does it use a lot of data to track your GPS? I don't want to get the blaze then end up using all of my data in a week going for a couple of runs. 

Thanks

[cardio-junkie]

I'm not an outdoor activities person. So I'm not sure about data. But the
Bluetooth feature uses Fitbit battery more. I have to charge about every 3
days. I have friends with surge, will ask them about data.

[USAF-Larry]

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@getmeoutside wrote:

I am debating on the blaze vs. surge, the only reason I am leaning towards the surge is the GPS feature for outside running and biking. I understand if you have a blaze you can track your GPS via your phone (when brought with you), my question is does it use a lot of data to track your GPS? I don't want to get the blaze then end up using all of my data in a week going for a couple of runs. 

Thanks

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I'm not sure what your question is  are you asking if using the GPS to track you activity on the phone uses a lot of your phone's data allowance?  If that is the question, I don't think it will.  I just looked at my phone data usage for the past month, and found that when I used the Map My Walk function of FitBit using the phone's GPS, each walk used between 20Mb and 40Mb of data.  The highest usage was for a 2.5 hour walk tracked with the GPS that used 43.5Mb of the phone data plan. 

So, whether or not if it will use all of your data plan depends on how much data you have available per month. I have 30Gb available, and have never come close to using all of it.

[JohnRi]

Pros and cons...

Surge - Built in GPS is very accurate distances and pace times.

Blaze - Color Screen

Blaze - Interchangable bands.  If you are allergic to the rubber bands on the trackers, you can switch to leather or metal.

Surge - Always on screen option is nice.  Very helpful when riding a bike.

Blaze - more conforable to wear.  It's lighter without the build in GPS.

Cons

Surge - Big, kind of bulky.

Blaze - Screen is off most of the time unless you flick your wrist, or push the button.  Not so easy to do when riding a bike.

Surge - Black and white screen.  It looks good, but lacks the pop the Blaze's color screen has.

Blaze - Connected GPS sucks.  Very inaccurate.  2-5% or more off on distances.  Pace times are off because distances are off.

Surge - Band often comes apart where it's attached to the watch.  Get your Surge at a Best buy, Cost Co, Amazon, and get the extended warranty for $20 for 2-3 years.  WORTH EVERY PENNY with a Surge.

Surge and Blaze are both not water proof.  Although I think the Blaze might be a little might be a little more water resistant.

GPS should not use any data with the connected GPS.  GPS tracking is based on satelite location to the phone.  But I think many model phones use distance to cell towers to calculate your postion.  Probably why the GPS data is so wrong for most blaze users.  Some users report 10% or more over distances.  I consistenly see 3% short distances.  The model of phone or carrier doesn't seem to matter much.

Bottom line I would advise you to go with the Surge.  I walk and I ride my bike.  And I found using my Blaze to be a pain when I'm on my bike.  With the GPS distances being so bad, I ended up going back to my Surge for all GPS related walking or biking or really an exercise.  I wear my Blaze whenever I'm not exercising.  IE at work, sleeping, etc. 

Either way get the extended warranty...

[JohnRi]

These are some pics from a walk at the same park.  I have a iPhone 6s.  Latest firmware on my phone, Blaze and latest App.

This first pick is the connected GPS tracking of my Blaze.  Notice who bumpy, and how the track is uneven.

This is the GPS track from my Surge, notice it is very smooth and much more accurate looking.  Notice where mile marker 1, 2, and 3 are completely different between these two pictures.  Yet I physically walked the same track for the first 3 miles...

Now look at these pace times for the Blaze.  They are all over the place because the distances are wrong.

Now look at the pace times from my Surge.  Much more consistent.

For me if you want accurate distances and pace times, plus easy to see the display when on a bike.  The Surge is the only option.

[USAF-Larry]

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@JohnRi wrote:

GPS should not use any data with the connected GPS.  GPS tracking is based on satelite location to the phone.  But I think many model phones use distance to cell towers to calculate your postion.  Probably why the GPS data is so wrong for most blaze users.  Some users report 10% or more over distances.  I consistenly see 3% short distances.  The model of phone or carrier doesn't seem to matter much.

 

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You are correct that the GPS doesn't use any data, John, the data usage is the phone transmitting the activity to the FitBit server. The phone stays connected to the FitBit server during the entire activity.

Most phones use the satellite for the GPS when it is visible, and use triangulation of cell towers when the GPS isn't available.  I have an HTC One M9, and the GPS is incredibility accurate.  I recentely walked a country road using the phone GPS to map the walk with my Charge HR, and then I drove the same route with my Jeep using the trip meter to test it. The phone GPS said I had walked 7.29 miles, and the Jeep said I drove 7.30 miles.  Another time I walked a different route which the phone GPS said was 5.48 miles, and when I drove it with the Jeep it said I had driven 5.50 miles. I am happy with both of those results.

[JohnRi]

My problem is with the Blaze is doesn't work right with the Samsung Galaxy or with my old iPhone 5c, or 6s. 

And what's even stranger, if I use mapmywalk app on my iPhone or the Galaxy, I get a pretty accurate distance.  I also use Strava to track my bike rides.  Strava always showed I rode about 1/2 mile more when riding 14 miles than the Blaze.  My Surge and Strava are off by less .05 of a mile at the most.

So clearly my phone is capable of tracking the distance properly, or close to it.  But something isn't working on the Blaze or the Fitbit app to track distance correctly with connected GPS.

My wife used to have a Galaxy Note something or other. It came out last year.  But it was wrong too on distance and pace.  We tried walking the same 3 mile course, I got 2.9 miles, she got 2.87 miles.  My surge shows 3.00 miles.  

So I've given up on using my Blaze for tracking my exercise.  It's of no use to me if it can't provide accurate data.

Even when I walk the same 3 mile course, I get different distances each time, and I get different pace times, and location for miles 1, 2, 3, 4, 5, 6 and will be different. 

The three mile loop I walked twice this weekend. My surge showed it as 6.02 miles.  My Blaze would have shown around 5.8 miles. 

So good for you Larry that you have a better result.  There are many peope on the forums that have complained about the same thing.  I've contacted Fitbit support and all I got from them was, they are aware it's a problem for some users, and are working on it.

I gave them 3 months to fix it, and I gave up waiting, and I went back to my Surge.  Plus without an always on feature, it's dangerous to use on a bike, unless you stop to look at your watch.  With my surge, I can just glance at the screen and see my time, distance, and heart rate(or speed, etc.) all the same time, while I'm still riding.

For bike riding, the Surge is a better product.

[terry9147]

Dont buy the surge as the band falls apart and you cant get a replacement band. It is okay if t falls apart during warranty, and  from my research thousands out there have the same problem.For such a large business this one is a failure, but it does have great features, but you do pay for it

[USAF-Larry]

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@terry9147 wrote:

Dont buy the surge as the band falls apart and you cant get a replacement band. It is okay if t falls apart during warranty, and  from my research thousands out there have the same problem.For such a large business this one is a failure, but it does have great features, but you do pay for it

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Buy the Surge, or any other FitBit tracker, from a retailer such as Best Buy, CostCo, or Sam's Club, where you can get a 3-year extended warranty for under $20. It is a very good buy on a very good device.

[RyanOG]

John, nice post. I have both of the same trackers that you do and was actually finding the Surge to be more inconsistent than the Blaze. I run a 2.5 mile loop in a nearby park. When using the markings and comparing to the odometer in my car, they're spot on. The Surge would consistently be off by about 2-4/10ths of a mile on a 5mile trip, but the Blaze using the cell tower was spot on. That being said, I like both trackers. Can you give me any tips on how best to set up my account to use both trackers?

Thanks my friend!

Ryan O'Gowan