Interested in purchasing the Blaze but have a couple of questions

[ShirleyB]

Hi,

I am going to look at the  Blaze this week, but I spin cycle every morning and want to know my miles and calories and get points for it.  Is that possible with the Blaze? 

Also, where would I wear it, on my ankle or wrist?  Since I'm not familiar with how it picks up on your points/miles/calories, I'm not sure if it's by your heart rate or motion, if anyone can help me with this.  I've been searching all over the internet and want to be sure it will add to my daily points and miles if I purchase it.

Thank you in advance for any help!

Shirley

[FerdinandFitbit]

Hi there @ShirleyB. It's great to see you in the Community! 😄

The new Fitbit Blaze is a Smart Fitness Watch, designed to track your day's activity while matching your personal style. It has been built with revolutionary features like PurePulse heart rate tracking, Connected Exercise, SmartTrack activity recognition, on-screen workouts, and more. In Fitbit, you don't get points for calling it somehow but it will keep track of your steps, distance, calories burned, heart rate and active minutes.

You wear the Fitbit Blaze on your wrist and the motion of your arm will help it keep track of your step count and distance thanks to the 3-axis accelerometer and the heart rate monitor altogether with the accelerometer will keep a very accurate track of your burned calories.

For more detailed information about the Fitbit Blaze, you can take a look at this resource that contains everything you might want to know about it. Hope this helps.

If you have any other question that was not addressed previously, just let me know and I'll be glad to help! 🙂

[ShirleyB]

Hi, Ferdinand,

Thank you for your prompt and informative reply.  I went to the site you suggested, but it says basically what you said with other information that doesn't concern this question.  I think I understand how it keeps track when you are walking, hiking, etc., but if I am mostly interested in counting my calories/miles/steps with my stationery spin bike, will the Blaze do that?  In other words, if I worked out on my spin bike and then went out for a hike, would it add my spin bike steps/miles, etc., to the total of my daily activities.  I hope I'm explaining my question okay.

If you answered it already in your first response, it might have gone over my head and I didn't see the answer to that question, nor did I see it in the site you sent me. 

Thank you for your time. 

Shirley

[bjanow]

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@ShirleyB wrote:

<snip>

I think I understand how it keeps track when you are walking, hiking, etc., but if I am mostly interested in counting my calories/miles/steps with my stationery spin bike, will the Blaze do that?  In other words, if I worked out on my spin bike and then went out for a hike, would it add my spin bike steps/miles, etc., to the total of my daily activities.  I hope I'm explaining my question okay.

Shirley

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Yes it would add them to you daily activity. I'm a spin instructor and was very interested in the HR function of this device. My Polar is kind of on the fritz and I do HR training almost exclusively along with watts and cadence. Today I subbed a class and was excited to try it out. For the past 2 days I've noticed that the HR monitor was extremely accurate and responsive. The chart I got today after the class showed, average HR over the hour with increments on a continual basis. Below that it placed the HR over the hour into 3 zones, peak, cardio and fat burn. I believe those are configurable in the app. Below that it showed calorie burn over the hour in cal/min and also on a continual graph. And finally it gave me impact on my day of steps taken, calories and active minutes.

I'm not a big fan of calories burned but I do kind of look at it on a relative basis. If you like I can screen shot my workout if I can figure out how to do that. But I hope the above gives you the information you are looking for. I'm happy so far with the watch. As I said the HR function was paramount to me. If that didn't work it was going back, no ifs ands or buts.

[ShirleyB]

Absolutely wonderful news!!!  Thank you so very much.  I'm excited to hear that it works, especially since this is what you do all the time.  One thing I didn't notice in your respnse was, does it tell you how  many miles you went?  I do about 4.5 miles in 45 minutes on my spin bike here at home and trying to work up to more miles within that period of time.   Maybe if I saw the app and how it records things, I might understand better.  But if you know that, that would help me even more.  🙂

Oh, BTW, someone told me it's better to wear it on your left wrist as opposed to your right when working out.  Any thoughts about that? 

Thank you again for taking the time to respond to me!

Shirley

[bjanow]

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@ShirleyB wrote:

Absolutely wonderful news!!!  Thank you so very much.  I'm excited to hear that it works, especially since this is what you do all the time.  One thing I didn't notice in your respnse was, does it tell you how  many miles you went?  I do about 4.5 miles in 45 minutes on my spin bike here at home and trying to work up to more miles within that period of time.   Maybe if I saw the app and how it records things, I might understand better.  But if you know that, that would help me even more.  🙂

Oh, BTW, someone told me it's better to wear it on your left wrist as opposed to your right when working out.  Any thoughts about that? 

Thank you again for taking the time to respond to me!

Shirley

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You're welcome. No distance given but thinking about it how can it? If your resistance is high and cadence low the only thing that can approximate that value would be a power meter. The fitbit would have no way of determining how much resistance you had on the spinning bike. I have only worn it on my left wrist, but I can try it tomorrow on my right if you like. One thing it does do is add to your steps for the day. I'm not sure how or why it does it but other fit bands seem to do the same. I'll have to monitor that. Feel free to ask what you wish.

edit: one more thing. The app on the phone or the watch is not as detailed as I described. I see all these things on the fitbit dashboard on the computer after it syncs with the phone an I presume your account login.

[ShirleyB]

Thank you for adding the edit about the detail of the app.  I had a activity tracker watch from Misfit and it gave me the miles I went for the day and calories and steps and then points for everything, so I will have a little bit of a learning curve.  It worked good for a while and then all of a sudden it started shaving off points, miles, steps, etc., when I would sync.  I have no idea what went wrong with it, but I need one that I can see my results and then push myself a little more on it. 

Any other information would be much appreciated.  I'm going Thursday to get my new Blaze if they have it in a color I would like.  If not, I may have to order it.  I probably will have questions regarding the app when I get it.  I think it said you have to choose a certain exercise, such as cycle, before you start your workout.   I may go google and try to find what the app consists of.  I mostly spin and walk and hike.  Now, it will show the miles for hiking, right?  Because there are times when we are hiking in the mountains and want to know how many miles we have been.

I'm sorry to have so many questions.  You've been very nice to answer my questions.

Thank you....Shirley

[bjanow]

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ShirleyB wrote:<snip>

I probably will have questions regarding the app when I get it.  I think it said you have to choose a certain exercise, such as cycle, before you start your workout.   I may go google and try to find what the app consists of.  I mostly spin and walk and hike.  Now, it will show the miles for hiking, right?  Because there are times when we are hiking in the mountains and want to know how many miles we have been.

I'm sorry to have so many questions.  You've been very nice to answer my questions.

Thank you....Shirley

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No problem at all. I've only had the watch for a few days and I'm still learning so I'll tell you what I know and believe. There are 7 activities you can select from running to walking to yoga and weight lifting. You are only allowed 7 on the watch and you can reorder them. It give mileage for hiking as well as steps and altitude gain if you enable the gps function. Hiking is a separate activity. I have found 3 exercises that I can gps with, hiking, running and walking. There may be more but I haven't found them yet. For biking I only use Strava but will also try this watch along side it once the temps warm up enough for me to get on the road. Strava doesnt do HR and I really wanted to see that when hiking and biking and even running which I don't do that much. I could have worn a HR strap but you know how uncomfortable that can get on a 4 or 5 hour hike/bike.

The app on the phone and the watch are not as intuitive as I would have liked but once you get it it gets easier. Vibration on notifications is a little light but enough for me. I don't need the world knowing I just got a text or message. I think that some software updates will address some issues as the moderators here are responsive to queries and suggestions. You'll have a 30 day I presume so you have an out in case you don't really think it fits your needs. But from your questions I believe it will. And as aside, sleep tracking is very well done and accurate so far.  Have fun with it. I am.

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[FerdinandFitbit]

Hi there guys! 

@ShirleyB, I'm very sorry I didn't answer your main question. I guess I focused more on the other detailes that I skipped your main question but I'm very glad to see that @bjanow answered that for you.

Hope you guys have a great day and anything else, just let me know! 😄

[ShirleyB]

Not a problem.  It was also information I will need, for sure.  I'm sure I'll be asking more questions when I get the Blaze. 

Thank you!

Shirley

[ShirleyB]

I do have one hopefully simple question.  Is there a Fitbit app for my iPod?  In other words, can I use my iPod interchangeably with the iPhone when using the Blaze and the apps will sync with each other?  I use my iPod at night to record sleep and then it syncs with my iPhone. 

Thanks.  Shirley

[bjanow]

I don't have an iPhone but aren't all apps cross platform with the iPod touch?

[ShirleyB]

Yes, most are.  Just hadn't seen anything about it and wanted to check, since I use them interchangeably.  Thanks!

[FerdinandFitbit · Accepted solution]

You can definitely use your iPhone and your iPod together @ShirleyB. You only need to download the app on it and sign in to your existing account, you can in fact do this on as many mobile devices as you want and once your tracker syncs to either of them, all others will be updated with the latest information as long as they have an internet connection.

Keep in mind that in the case you open up your app on a different phone, you will need to set notifications up for that other specific phone for them to work properly as you can only receive notifications from one device at a time.

Shortly then, yes, you can use both your iPhone and your iPod without any problem. Hope this helps! 🙂

[ShirleyB]

Perfect.  Thank you.  Only want notifications on my iPhone, but have specific uses for each one.  Thanks!