Possible switch from Charge HR to Blaze

[dwsugg]

Hello All,

First post here and have been looking at the blaze.  I currenlty have the charge HR.  My question is for those that may have upgraded to the blaze. 

Do you feel it was a good upgrade?

Any opinions you can share would be great.

look forward to any feedback that can be supplied. 

[dmason508]

I upgraded from the Charge HR to the Blaze, and for me it is an improvement in every area with maybe one exception.

The vibration is weaker. I had a morning or 2 where it didn't wake me up, other mornings it did. The charge HR has a very strong vibration.

There is an active fitbit thread on this forum with many opinions.

[WendyB]

I like the Blaze a lot. The colors, being able to change bands. I agree the vibration needs to be stronger.

You can vote for it here

https://community.fitbit.com/t5/Feature-Requests/Make-Blaze-vibration-stronger/idi-p/1217806

[Kmransom123]

I upgraded from a Charge (not Charge HR) to the Blaze and am very pleased that I did.  

[big9erfan]

I upgraded from the Charge HR.  I like the fit better, and the color screen & text notifications can't be beat 🙂

[bstngirl]

I really like BOTH. I wear my charge HR at night and "around the house". The blaze is worn all day at work, I usually train on my lunch break. 

There a couple of things I don't love about the blaze it can be a bit uncomftable w/ certain activities involving wrist flexion. I do turn it inside of wrist which typically solves that issue. The other problem I seem to have is I have to setup/pair it to my ipod touch EVERY SINGLE TIME I want to use music functions via the blaze. The music control was my primary reason for switching, so we will see. Also, the blaze doesnt register any steps while indoor biking as all the other trackers do not, I guess I can't cry about that too much. 

[cactusjack]

Another vote to recommend an upgrade..went from a Charge to a Blaze and its an excellent device.

[mcrmama]

I have both and am loving the Blaze. It is a nice mix of features for me. I was worried about the size but that has not been an issue, very comfortable.

[SunsetRunner]

I moved from a Charge HR to the Blaze and I so far don't regret the move.

As others have stated the vibration on the Blaze is very weak compared to the HR.  The Blaze is a device that seems to have a lot of potential for more features, hopefully Fitbit will listen to the very good list of feature requests appearing.

[Jaynometry]

I, too, upgraded from the Charge HR to the Blaze. Do I feel it was a good upgrade? For me, yes. I love the notification aspect of it especially with the BitTicker app. I'm a fairly tech-y guy so I appreciate the graphics and the screen. It really depends on the kind of person you are, tbh. If you're happy with the Charge HR and don't really care for notifications, I don't see a reason to upgrade now. Maybe wait for a sale or something. Apart from the notifications, your Charge HR does everything the Blaze does. 

[AngelaMa]

Hello @dwsugg and @Jaynometry welcome to the Fitbit Community!  It's nice to see you around  @WendyB, @Kmransom123, @big9erfan, @bstngirl @cactusjack, @mcrmama and @SunsetRunner hope to see you around more often! I must say I love my Blaze, I love the color of the wristband, the Fitstar integration and the calendar notifications, also I like that it's light and comfortable to wear @dwsugg I would recommend the upgrade. I'm sure you are going to love it  

Thanks for stopping by! 🙂  

[Conormark]

Do you have problems switching from one to the other on the app ?? I have charge hr and a blaze too but when i switch devices I struggle to get the device I'm wearing to connect to my iphone. Its driving me daft !!!!!

[AntNet]

I'm having the exact SAME problem, and I'm wasting way too much time trying to get them to switch and sync.

[David8732]

My girlfriend and I both joined the Fitbit family in the last 14 days. She got a charge HR and after trying the Surge I got a Blaze.
Apart from notifications they fibre same thing, the Charge just in a more discreet package.
However the display on the charge is too small, whilst training I couldn't glance at the screen without taking time to focus, with the Blaze it's instant.
She loves her Charge HR, I love my Blaze... It's a beautiful thing.

[AngelaMa]

Hello @Conormark, @AntNet and @David8732 It's great to have you here! 🙂 @Conormark and @AntNet I have the Blaze and the Charge HR too and I have no problem syncing my trackers with my android phone. I would recommend to visit this help article for more information about using multiple trackers in one account. Let me know if this helps! 🙂 @David8732 I'm glad to hear you and your girlfriend are enjoying the Fitbit experience 🙂 

Happy stepping! 🙂 

[dwsugg]

I just got the Blaze and love it.  I love the music control as I was working in the yard and garage and I was able to change the song without having to go to my phone to change. 

[sjones1360]

I bought the Blaze because it looked more professional and also had text message alert.  Those were my primary purchasing reasons.

Post that now that I have had it for about 10 days, in no particular order:

1. Negative - Agree Blaze vibration could be stronger. Especially on text alerts, should be stronger and last 1-2 seconds longer.  I only notice about half of my text alerts the vibration is too weak, short.  I ahve had no issues with vibration for call alerts or alarms.
2. Positive - I like that I can turn automaitic screen to the OFF position and HR OFF without having to use the app and sync up.  I turn both of these off at night so I don't wake myself or my wife up at night with the lights!  Syncing before going to bed was a pain now I can do it right on the device.
3. Negative - color screen is useless in the sunlight.  Sort of makes using the connected GPS during a run a waste as I can't read it, and the voice cues from the App don't seemt to work - also stupid. Thus I am not using connected GPS, instead using Strava and their voice cues.
4. Positive - I was afraid it would be too big.  I tlooks big but feels small. 
5. Negative - It is too big and more importantly maybe to nice to wear while biking.  I don't want to damage it (again I wanted it partially because it looked professional for work), plus it is big enough where I think the size would bother me on a bike ride (less flex in wrist).  Probably true for other sporting events as well like basketball, etc. where the small Charge HR might be better.
6. Positive - I like the various screen selections for clock face. I hope they add more.
7. Positive - battery from full charge seems to last longer than Charge HR.  I was recharging Charge once every 2-3 days.  I am charging Blaze every 3-4 days.
8. Negative - I dislike the charge for the blaze.  But, I suspect doing it the way they did kept it smaller form factor so if that is true I accept it.
9. Negative and Positive - Blaze looks great in the band frame. It looks and feels cheap when you pop it out.
10. Negative - I had an issue with getting HR data from Balze to sync with the App. Reading the forums I found a solution though. Assuming the problem doesn't come back it isn't a big deal.
11. Positive - Music controls = awesome during a run.  Hard to read the screen but the interface is simple so you can practically do it without needing to see the screen in detail.

I have not tried Fitstar at all or the timer/stop watch so I cannot comment. 

Overall I am happy with the upgrade.

[AngelaMa]

Hello @dwsugg and @sjones1360! 🙂 @dwsugg I know, the Blaze is amazing!  @sjones1360 thanks for sharing your input on the Blaze, I'm sure when you try the FitStar integration you will love it! The 7 minute workout is a great way to get your body moving!

Hope to see you more often! 🙂