Inaccurate step counting on My BLAZE

[Pakita]

I received my Blaze yesterday...

And it has been counting steps anytime i move my arm while sitting onthe couch.

Last night before bed it addedover 300 steps while sitting on couch for half an hour..

Today driving to work 10minutes, it added almost 500 steps for nothing, i didn't walk.

Please help before i return this Blaze right back to Fitbit.   I was so hoping for motivation for steps and having me work for my steps not just sit and get free steps.  

I work at my desk for 12hours at work dispatching and dont want free steps.

Anyone help me how to make this better, its on my non-dominant hand.  

thank you 

Pakita

[JohnH59]

Not true! Many, including myself, have tried numerous variations with strides to try to come up with a fix.

[Corvettekid]

"The distance problem will be fixed by properly setting up the stride. "

No it won't.

[anoyce]

I have given up and purchased a Garmin for running then use www.fitdatasync.com.. You can buy cheap Garmin watches on ebay paired with a blaze and you have it all. Shame I have to have two watches I have sent an email to support (with image proof) regarding the inaccuracy with GPS but no response. “Great Support Fitbit!” I think connected GPS just doesn’t work… 

[herget]

Dear Corvettekid,

Good morning! You are correct about measuring data around a certified track
versus a kitchen table. The Fitbit organization does their best to release
quality products. That being said your statement of 72% accuracy does not
seem valid. How many tests have you done? Did you accurately measure you
stride?

Sincerely,
Herget

Moderator edit: personal info removed

[herget]

Dear Corvettekid,

Good morning again! I sense passion in your writing and a pinch of
frustration. After being a runner since 1989 and a fanatic fitness tracker
since 2003 I have learned a few things. One, accuracy is correct in the eye
of the beholder. Your posts have valid concerns; however, the large
percentage of inaccuracy you claim is difficult to believe. Perhaps I
missed one of your posts with more valid data to prove your statistics?

To answer your question about the missing watch faces the answer was
already posted earlier this week. The watch faces were removed from the
firmware update for further testing. I chatted with Aleza on the Chat
Support Team this morning and she confirmed they are working on a fix for
the new watch faces and to more quickly release the Blaze software/hardware
updates for everyone. I am sure either @FerdinandFitbit
or @
AndrewFitbit will respond to your questions sooner than later. Until then,
this weekend I am going to run some outdoor track tests on both the Blaze
and Charge 2 to test accuracy. As soon as I have enough data to share I
shall share the results. Have a great weekend!

Sincerely,
Herget
--
Sincerely,
Peter

Moderator edit: personal info removed

[meresydotes]

@herget I can assure you that @Corvettekidis correct in his assesment of 70% accuracy. I had this problem for a long time and was only able to correct it by first walking/ running with my Blaze hand on my body at all times, then realizing that I'd trained myself to walk/ run without swinging my arms much.

Blaze has a huge accuracy problem with "fitness" walking and with running, where most people tend to swing their arms a lot.

Many people on these forums have reported the same problems.

[Corvettekid]

Peter:  First, no need to post the same stuff twice.

Second, I have gotten the 70-75% accuracy on NUMEROUS walks around my complex.  But the coup de grace was going to a local High School 1/4 Mile Track.  I walked it 4 times over 2 separate occasions.  I got 0.18 miles 3 times, and 0.19 miles 1 time.  That is 72% and 78% accuracy, respectively.

I am not looking for 98-99% accuracy.  I would settle for 90%.  Right now, assuming I walk 3 MPH, I can more accurately GUESS how long I have walked and how many steps I have taken (for me, 2400 steps = 1 mile) than using the Blaze.

I have offered to post a video of me walking the track and calling out the step and distance count at various intervals if Fitbit tech guys/gals have any doubts.

I have asked numerous times if THEY have walked a 1/4 mile track and what THEY got distance and step-wise.  No response.

While some people here have had accuracy problems far worse than 70-75%, the BULK of the complaints here center on being off about 20-30%.

I also realize that in a confned space -- like my small apartment -- the Blaze may not be as accurate as when walking outside.  But again....if it's off by 25-30% on an open 1/4 mile track, that doesn't bode well for other types of accuracy.

[Corvettekid]

Andrew, with all due respect, there have been TONS of posts and TONS of threads documenting the inaccuracy of the Blaze on Steps and Distance.

(1)  You and other mods have NOT stated whether this is confirmed by Fitbit Corporate/Tech.

(2)  You say this is "worth investigating" but there is no need for an investigation.  Unless the definition of a quarter mile has changed, I have walked around a local track several times and confirmed sub-80% accuracy each time.   I have offered to post the video if you or Fitbit Corporate/Tech require iy.  Many other frustrated Blaze owners have offered the same.  

I don't know why you can't have Fitbit tech guys take 5 or 10 Blazes....walk around a 1/4 mile track....and tell us what happened.  Better yet, have those who are reporting inaccuracy send our Blaze's to those same guys and see what they get with our Blazes and yours (assuming yours didn't have a problem) so you can see what is wrong with ours.  Of course, if the Fitbit tech guy's Blaze's are inaccurate from the get-go, that makes it easier.

This problem should have been addressed in April -- if not sooner.  Quite frankly, between the deleted posts and the answers that avoid directly addressing the topic, it appears you are more concerned with stalling the solving.

[Corvettekid]

Saigon, what did Fitbit register on the 1/4 mile track for 1 lap ?

[Tamisha]

@herget 

Have you ever done troubleshooting with a Fitbit rep? I have and they don't have you go to a track.  They have you walk and count the steps and compare the accuracy to what the device counted.  Also if you're counting steps and not distance I don't understand as to why it would matter where you take the steps and again, since I've done troubleshooting with Fitbit, I can guarantee they would agree with me. 

[Rich_Laue]

Yes I've. One troubleshooting and have helped many set their stride up.. 

With my blaze of i take a walk of 100 steps i find the count low by 15-20steps. If the walk is 500 steps i find the count low by 15-20 steps.. If i 1000 steps i find the count low by 15-20 steps. 

[Tamisha]

Ok, so that means your fitbit is fairly accurate. But for me to walk 60 steps and my count on the device not to change, mine is not. That is my point and you agreed with @Corvettekid in telling me that I was wrong in finding my Fitbit accuracy that way. I know that what I did was right because I've done troubleshooting with them that way and that is what they had me do.  They had me count 100 steps and compare my device to see how close to 100 steps it got.  If I get to 60 and the count on my device hasn't moved I know it is not accurately counting and whether I'm walking around a table, a store or a track shouldn't matter because I'm tracking steps not distance. 

It kills me that so many people seem to think that because they post in these forums so frequently that they work for Fitbit and that they're all knowing.  Out of the 10 devices that Fitbit has released I've owned 5 and purchased some of the others for family members.  I worked at stores where I sold the devices and was considered the Fitbit go to because I am such a huge advocate for the product.  So in short,  I don't need either of you to tell me that I'm wrong. Unless generally speaking, you should probably keep your opinions to yourself because I, unlike others that are posting in these forums, am posting for the Fitbit moderators to know what's wrong with their product. So again, thanks, but no thanks. 🙂

[MikeF]

---

@Tamisha wrote:

I, unlike others that are posting in these forums, am posting for the Fitbit moderators to know what's wrong with their product. So again, thanks, but no thanks. 🙂

---

And in that, you completely miss the point of the forum moderation role.

[Tamisha]

Not at all... people are here to HELP and AIDE one another NOT give misinformation.  (I put those words in caps to accentuate not to yell). Nor to completely down one another which is what was done in my first post.  That is why I still stand by my last statement becuase this forum is being used in an attempt to show "I'm wittier than thou" and you can tell this is being done based on how often someone posts and THAT defeats the purpose of a community forum.  So again, I say, unless you get paid by Fitbit, you shouldn't tell someone that they are wrong, especially if Fitbit has had you troubleshoot the same way!

And as far as me saying that I post for the moderators, I'm not sure if you've noticed but there are moderators who will directly message someone in an attempt to fix their issue, move people's posts to either the correct forum or even create their own and they also respond to people's concerns in the forum. THIS in essence is what a community forum is for.  It is for a someone to post a question or pose a concern that may effect the community and for the community to receive a CORRECT response. A community forum, again, is not for misinformation to be passed around. 

[MikeF]

Sorry, it doesn't wash.

At the end of the day you're complaining about other people's opinions while holding your own up to be absolute truth. Your falling foul of exactly what you're complaining about which is a shame.

[meresydotes]

@herget I can give you statistics, and I can give them to you in steps (the real metric) not distance, to avoid confusion.

I've had fitbits all the way back to the very first model, called simply fitbit. I used to do a kickboxing video as my workout, and it would always, consistently, be around 3000 steps. I got a treadmill at around the time I got a Charge HR (Blaze has same problem as Charge HR).

With the treadmill, I noticed that the same half hour workout would vary between 2200-2700 steps. I thought this was strange as I expected an actual step based workout to be more steps than kickboxing. I also thought it was unlike fitbit to not be consistent with step counts for the same workout.

Then, after I got used to the treadmill, I noticed that my right foot was hitting the deck at least once per second. This means that a 30 minute workout should be at least 3600 steps, instead of 2200-2700.

After many calls with support, I decided to see what would happen if I kept my Blaze (by this time, I'd upgraded, with no change in behavior) hand on my body. Voila - 3600-ish steps! I calculated my stride length based on the distance my treadmill told me I went, divided by the number of steps. Then I just started deleting every workout and putting in correct stats. I started experimenting and noticed that Blaze counted fewer steps when I would swing my arms more vigorously.

After a while, I started mixing running in with my walking and decided to go back to keeping my Blaze hand on my body.

I got tired of this and decided to give it a try without my hand on my body anymore. Steps were suddenly pretty accurate. I think, because I inadvertently trained myself to walk without swinging my arms much.

Proof enough for you?

[Corvettekid]

I see we now have that 250 Step Activity tracker on the Blaze -- so that's sticking, even though New Faces are still unavailable ?

Andrew, what do the tech guys say about the Steps/Distance problems ?

[MuzDownUnder]

@Corvettekid The Blaze GPS inaccuracies has been batted around since February on numerous forum subjects. Fitbit either don't acknowledge there is a problem or cannot fix it. It also could well be that their testing is ok in their area. My testing shows that the Blaze/Android (Samsung S7) does not actually use the GPS at all when using 'Connected GPS' but rather uses cell phone towers as locators. You can test this yourself by setting the phone to 'GPS only' on the location settings and then 'connected GPS' will not work at all. Some report under measuring, I get exactly 10% over measuring. Using a cell tower locator app on the phone shows my local cell tower to be about 100m out to sea so it is no wonder the accuracy is off.

There is actually a good workaround. Start your run/walk using the app on your phone and just wear the Blaze. Finish the run/walk on the app and you have all the info including steps, HR etc and distance is exact. Works for me.

[The_Lion]

I'm really surprised that you have these problems with GPS. I track my runs with Sportractive and my Blaze, so I can compare. The distance from the Blaze is most time a bit shorter. The last activities Sportractive/Blaze:

5,994km/5,940km

5,790km/5,740km

5,112km/4,980km

10,276km/10,380km

The last two activities were in the forest.

The only problem that I have is that my phone cannot be found. So I have to open and close the app.

[CyndyFit]

I agree. People post here for assistance not to be critiqued on whether their concern is "valid". The social media mentality of attacking anyone with a question or opinion different from ones own is obnoxious and unnecessary.