Has anyone switched from Charge HR to Blaze?

[haley4540]

I have the Charge HR, and am moderately happy with it. The calorie counter is way too low when compared to wearing a chest strap, sometimes by 1/2 the amount!

I was hoping that the Blaze is more accurate with calorie counting. If anyone has switched, please let me know your thoughts. Thank you!

[racertempo]

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@haley4540 wrote:

I have the Charge HR, and am moderately happy with it. The calorie counter is way too low when compared to wearing a chest strap, sometimes by 1/2 the amount!

I was hoping that the Blaze is more accurate with calorie counting. If anyone has switched, please let me know your thoughts. Thank you!

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I have made the change and I am very very happy.  The Blaze is just a glorified ChargeHR with a few more bells and whistles, but they are nice bells   I am not aware of any changes to the calorie counting algorithms, but they are easier to see on the screen 🙂  For $200, if you have the money you will be much happier with the blaze, and the interchangeable bands make it even a better buy.  It is mroe professional looking and you are not fixed to that rubber-band. 

[Koshka]

I have a Blaze and had a Charge Hr.  I wore both of them for a couple of weeks (put them on separate accounts).  There is no discernable difference in calorie burn.  Each day ended up close to one another although not exact.  When I do weight lifting they are both equally inaccurate.  I use a chest strap HRM for that activity and that works for me.

[MikeS1971]

I went from a Charge HR to the Blaze. Calorie burn is the same. As well as how it inaccurately monitors heart rate. Same drop offs, same random readings of high and low heart rate when it shouldn't.

Also if you like the silent notifications/alarms on the Charge HR, you'll be disappointed with the Blaze. They're pretty much nonexistent. Instead of a vibration you can feel, you get a slight buzz you can't.

So basically, all the same inaccuracies you have with your Charge HR, you will also have with the Blaze. With the added benefit of weaker notifications and alarms.

Oh yeah, you also get to take it apart every time you need to charge it instead of plugging a cable directly into it.

But it has a pretty color screen….

[racertempo]

I actually find what I believe to be more accurate HR readings during workouts.  When playing Volleyball my ChargeHR would show an average of 105-115 with 90+% fatburn.  With the Blaze I get an average of 135-140 with 60-70% in cardio and much more time in peak.  I do believe this to be more accurate as I am usually out of breath while playing.  Same thing with tennis, much higher readings, more in line with what My Tomtom Runner Cardio showed.  

The resting HR is still the same though, I am very pleased.

[SunsetRunner]

I bought the Blaze to replace my Charge HR but returned the Blaze to go back to my Charge HR. For the size of the device the Charge is much better for me. You hardly know it is there and the Blaze is not really ready for prime time even with the color screen.

[big9erfan]

I started with a Flex, upgraded to the Charge HR and now a Blaze.  I love the Blaze, and I only go back if I'm doing something rough where I want to specifically avoid possible damage to my Blaze.

[haley4540]

I am very annoyed because no matter what workout I do, whether it be an intense HIIT with peak heartrates vs. a leisurely stroll, the calories burned for an hour never break 300! Yet with the chest strap, i burn close to 500. I hate the thought of wearing multiple devices again.

[Tranloco]

Soooo I've had my Blaze since March. I kept thinking it's such a great thing. But my calorie count seems low when compared to the Charge HR days of past. I didn't consider comparing them early on but lately I've worn the HR (now my husbands) twice during a cardio (Jazzercise) work out. The first time there was a 60 calorie difference. Today a whopping 114 cal difference. The blaze is showing LOW compared to the Charge HR. Today the Blaze was 370 and the HR 484. All workouts are relatively the same each being an hour.
Wow. What's happening and how can I fix it?

[CDM1188]

I have switched. Have had my blaze for 3 days now and I'm not noticing a difference in data. Steps, sleep, calories burned , and heart rate,all seem to be in conjunction with the average data I had with myHR. And I had the HR for over a year. Only thing I am not fond of is how sensitive the touch screen is on the blaze. My workouts accidentally get paused.

[silentium]

The Blaze shows a significantly higher number for calories burned for me. Using the Charge HR, I usually burn between 2,800 and 3,200 depending on my activities (workout day or not). Using the Blaze, I easily burn between 3,200 to 3,800 doing exactly the same activities and workouts.

The heart rate seems to be off with both devices unless I take conscious breaks between exercises to give the devices time to catch up. I feel like the Blaze is a little more accurate during weight lifting if you take long breaks (greater than 1 minute) between sets. If I don't, it shows my heart rate between 80 and 100, when my HR is more like 90 to 140.

The Charge HR feels more durable which is kind of logical considering it's all rubber. The Blaze looks very stylish and I love the fact that you can change the bands.

I have now returned my Blaze because it's too inaccurate to upgrade from a Charge HR.

I love Fitbit and hope they update the Blaze soon or the next device will be more accurate. If not, I will have a look at the Apple Watch 2.