Quick Noob Question About that Old Blaze Pausing Issue

[Ladrex]

In shopping for my next Fitbit (Charge HR was donated to me to try out), I was very sold on the Blaze (vs. the Charge 2) and then I stumbled on many threads indicating that the Blaze touch screen causes the Blaze to pause workouts simply by accidental taps (citing many pauses during a cardio kickboxing workout). Since one of my main sports is kickboxing, this could be a deal breaker. These threads are easy to find in the Fitbit community. It looks like one tap causes a Blaze workout to pause with no lock screen option to turn on or off. Sorry to open any old wounds here as I am looking for an update.

Quick Question #1 - Does tapping the Blaze screen ALWAYS pause tracking for a workout? For example, is this for auto-detect workouts (SmartTrack I think) or when you put the Blaze in workout mode (if I understand the difference correctly and it's like the Charge HR that I am using) or both? I.e. is there a workout mode where tapping the screen will NOT pause the workout? 

I would have never worn any Fitbit while kickboxing but I have adopted an old Charge HR and tried it out (it was passed down to me) and it ROCKS. I wore it in many kickboxing classes and it holds up great (for the record, under my gloves but I wonder if a wrist band ... so 80s ... would give more protection).

After speaking to Tech Support, I am convinced that the gorilla glass on the Blaze makes it more durable (so I am told) than the Charge 2 (plastic screen) even if it looks more 'fragile' to me based purely on its size. It's also a personal choice but the Blaze screen looks much nicer to me as well. I would assume that the problem with "accidental pauses" still exists on the Blaze for contact sports with gloves, wearing long sleeves, etc. 

[wmchapman]

Never heard of the issue.

My Blaze requires a button push for action, screen is for navigation.

Maybe folks were having issue with quickview or wanting more time to "see" before it auto blanks requiring a tap to light up again as a battery conservation feature.

dunno, @Ladrex, I'm sure any tracker will light up though if someone gives you a swift kick, keep moving!

[Julia_G · Accepted solution]

Hi, @Ladrex, unlike my friend @wmchapman, I have occasionally experienced this issue, particularly in the winter when wearing long sleeves.  SmartTrack workouts are not relevant, as they are not stopped or started by the user, but only by the automatic detection of activity.

Since the Charge HR does not have a touch screen it is not a problem for that device.

I don't have a sense of whether the Blaze screen or the Charge 2 is the more robust.  I would say both are pretty tough and would be up to a pretty intense workout, including kickboxing.

You might like to know that if you buy directly from Fitbit on line, you have a 45 day unconditional money back guarantee, meaning that if you, for example, choose the Blaze, and find that it doesn't suit your workout style -- or in fact don't like it for any reason -- you will be able to return it for a full refund.  In this case you will, however, have to pay the return postage.

I hope this helps!  Good luck, and let us know what you decide.

[Ladrex]

Thanks very much, @wmchapman ! Here is one (of many) threads about the Blaze being a no-go for people because of this issue:

https://community.fitbit.com/t5/Blaze/HELP-Blaze-pauses-during-workouts/m-p/1219644

Since I don't have a Blaze or a clue for that matter ;), I wonder if this pausing issue only happens when the Blaze is put into "multisport mode" or in "auto detection" mode? Or neither/both? 😉 

I guess that I am thrown off as (I think) that there is more than one way to track an exercise. I am hoping that the pausing issue in the URL above is with only one of these modes. I probably need to post that discussion above to figure it out ... or find a manual for the Blaze 😉 I am thinking that there is more than one way to track a workout.

Thanks again!

[wmchapman]

I think my good friend @Rich_Laue asked the best question @Ladrex

"Did it pause because the button accidentally got pressed?"

Most of the exercisers responding mention it being to easy to depress the button, but most trackers do have one so can't see a work-around for that.  The glove thing, yeah being capacitive (like a smart phone) I can see leather being treated as a touch - you might consider that in making a decision since a kick boxer - maybe a clip on style tracker would be better for those workouts.

[Ladrex]

Thanks so much for your post @Julia_G! I just found out that this 'pause' button is something in the bottom right corner of the screen (according to support). I guess that there is only one way to find out. I can jam a lot of workouts into 45 days and see if this pausing becomes an issue and if perhaps some kind of wrist wrapping would stop it. Thanks to all for the quick answers. A lot of these Blaze discussions seem to point to the accidental pausing issue being a real problem.

I am hopeful that sweat (yeah I do ... a lot in my more intense workouts) don't cause issues with the Blaze (screen sensitivity, reading pulse, etc.)? 😉

[Ladrex]

Thanks for the tips, Fitbit fanatics (lame but I just thought of it). I just wanted to give a quick update on my observations with the Blaze and kickboxing (with gloves).

If I put the Blaze into "proactive" workout mode (i.e. select Workout > Kickboxing), put on my gloves and box the dang Blaze feels like a bee got into my glove (on ... off ... on ... off for pauses). Just plain awful. Yes, a lock screen would be incredibly helpful (or even press a button on the side of the Blaze and THEN the pause button) but nope. However, in passive mode (i.e. just box and don't go through the workout menu) the Blaze works just fine. It detects the workout and I edit the workout in the Web interface as Kickboxing. Done.

I should also mention that despite this real design flaw (ease of pausing workouts by touching the screen with a glove, sleeve, sweat) I still love my Blaze. It looks way better than the Charge HR I have and I like the bigger screen. The Blaze also has yet to pause on my cardio kickboxing (no gloves), yoga, strength training, step or core classes! This awful pausing issue only happens when I wear gloves/sleeves and put the Blaze into 'active' workout mode (rather than having it just auto detect my kickboxing sessions).