Should I buy a Blaze ?

[Saqwin]

After reading some of the post in here I'm having second thoughts on buying a blaze. So I'm asking all of you users should I go ahead and purchase a Blaze I'm 50/50 at the moment thanks.

[WendyB]

I have had my Blaze since it came out. I have not had any problems with it. I love it.I love being able to change to different bands. When ever I get a new model I make sure to read the manual so that I understand it and what it does. Most people do not bother.

https://staticcs.fitbit.com/content/assets/help/manuals/manual_blaze_en_US.pdf

I know several others that have had no problems. You need to realize people come here to complain. You see happy posts once in a while.

[J-flex]

I have a Blaze and am very happy with it.

[racertempo]

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@Saqwin wrote:
After reading some of the post in here I'm having second thoughts on buying a blaze. So I'm asking all of you users should I go ahead and purchase a Blaze I'm 50/50 at the moment thanks.

---

Yes you should, consider my last week of trying out other products.  I decided to consider something with a little more workout detail and did some masive searching around and research.  So yes, Garmin has some amazing products, at 3x the price!!!!  Sorry, but $600-800 is just stupid unless it prints money for me.

I purchased a Garmin Vivosmart HR ($150), and a Polar A360 ($199)....and tried to buy a Basis Peak ($199) but the recall kept Best Buy from selling it to me.

VivoSmart HR compared to Blaze and Polar A360

plus:

-more detailed workout data,

-$50 cheaper

-app has a lot more data, but that is both good and bad,

-reminder to move (I don't care about it but others do),

-can easily be turned to 'do not disturb' mode which keeps notifications quiet for a set timeframe,

-24/7 HR monitoring, same as blaze, but not done by Polar A360

-Sleep data is cooler, it shows you how much "movement" you did while sleeping,

-Waterproof.

Minus:

-not color,

-notifications are less frequent than the Polar and Blaze,

-ugly rubber stra that is not interchangeable,

-Sync with app is usually more troublesome than the Blaze,

-Did not record steps while mowing my lawn when the Blaze recorded about 2000 steps for that activity, so so so so many people on here complain that the Blaze does not record when pushing a shopping cart in a , but the Blaze feels the vibration of the lawn mower and counts those......the Garmin does not count either situation.

-goofy charge-connector, lots of people complain about the Blaze clam-shell design, but I much prefer it to the Garmin design.  Both need to be removed from your wrist.

-I hated the app, it was too difficult to find all sorts of data becuase it was just far too busy, they crammed too much in there.

Polar A360 compared to Blaze and Vivosmart HR,

plus:

-gorgeous color screen, that is nicer looking IMO,

-5 workout HR zones that are presented better and more easily found on the app

-Interchangable faces with dates on the screen, 4 faces so the same as the Blaze.  The faces are not nearly as cool as the Blaze, but they have nice differences to give you a different look.

-Waterproof

-Charge coard is your standard micro that you charge any android phone with, so no need for a special charger,

-It tracked steps while mowing the lawn, like my Blaze but the Garmin did not,

-Reminder to move,

-can easily be turned to 'do not disturb' mode which keeps notifications quiet for a set timeframe,

Minus:

-HR monitor is not 24/7, only during workouts,

-Sync with the app is very slow and often does not work,

-Notifications work better than the garmin, but not as good as the Blaze,

-Rubber strap, nicer looking and feeling compared to the Garmin, and can be changed to different colors that are sold separately.

FITBIT has far more people and it is easier to connect to friends for challenges and keep tabs on each other for fun.  These pretty much are your only options in this price range.  There is a Garmin VivoSmart HR+ at $220 which only adds a built in GPS.  They have the Vivo Active HR at $250, but that is basically a color blaze with an ugly band that is not interchangeable.

All have roughly the same battery life depending on your settings.  Polar is the best here because of the lack of 24/7 HR.  This is the only Polar in this price range with onboard HR, other are compatible with their H7 chest strap. 

I returned the Garmin, and kept the Polar for now, I like the Polar app and the look and feel of it.  I also like the organization of the HR ranges for workouts.

None are perfect, and none have 100% of everything for everyone.  For the cost, the blaze is hands down the best buy of the groups.

I know Tomtom has a "spark" cardio for $199, but I had the Tomtom Runner Cardio (previous version) and I loved it......the problem was it was not designed for all day tracking, and mainly for workouts.  The Spark is trying to get into the all-day tracking market for tomtom, but the battery life just is not there.

[MikeS1971]

@Saqwin I got the Blaze at the time of its release. From then until the Firmware update in April it worked great. After the April update it all went down hill. No matter what I did, it wouldnt count steps correctly. And unfortunately, a lot of people dont even know they have a problem unless they test the unit. There are some people out there that don't have issues, or at least think they don't. After waiting for a fix that I doubt is ever coming, I threw my Blaze in a drawer and sold all the frames, bands and chargers. I couldnt with a good conscience sell the tracker itself.

Ultimately its up to you what you decide. You can buy one now and hope you get one that works correctly, wait to see if a software update comes and fixes the current issues or like me, just get something different. 

[racertempo]

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@MikeS1971 wrote:

@Saqwin I got the Blaze at the time of its release. From then until the Firmware update in April it worked great. After the April update it all went down hill. No matter what I did, it wouldnt count steps correctly. And unfortunately, a lot of people dont even know they have a problem unless they test the unit. There are some people out there that don't have issues, or at least think they don't.

---

I have never had a problem, but realize that they ahve sold over a million units and not everyone will be happy.  I wore all 3 devices, the Blaze, Polar A360, and Garmin VivosmartHR all on the same day, and the Blaze counted 8431, the A360 counted 8210, the Garmin counted 6378.  This was because the Garmin did not count when I mowed the lawn.  So no trackers are 100% perfect at counting steps, and they never will be perfect.

The biggest bonus with the Blaze is the look and interchangeable bands, but it all depends on what you want from a feature standpoint.  If you "need" waterproof, GPS, reminders to move, then the Blaze is not your best choice.

[MikeS1971]

@racertempo I realize none are 100% accurate at counting steps, but the Blaze was off by thousands of steps.

I could walk a certain route turn around at 5000 steps and walk the same exact route back. Keeping the same pace. It would count anywhere from 3000 to 7000 steps on the return walk. Even the 5000 step point where I'd turn around would be different by an astronomical amount on each walk.

I'm currently using a Garmin Vivoactive HR and it's as accurate as the Blaze was before the April firmware update. I've tested on the same route the Blaze failed miserably at and the Garmin is accurate. Only a 100 or so difference in steps between the walk out and the walk back instead of thousands.

FitBit had a decent product up until April. I could care less about reminders to move or watch faces, I just wanted it to work correctly.

[bbarrera]

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@Saqwin wrote:
After reading some of the post in here I'm having second thoughts on buying a blaze. So I'm asking all of you users should I go ahead and purchase a Blaze I'm 50/50 at the moment thanks.

---

@Saqwin Three questions:

- What have you been using?

- Why do you want from a fitness tracker?

- Which Blaze features appeal to you?

Do you swim? Run? Just walk? Nothing seriously wrong with the Blaze at this point. All fitness trackers have some limitations, a lot of complaints are about step counting accuracy from folks coming from Fitbit One or Flex.

Personally I like the Fitbit One as overall best value and best at accurately tracking steps, if your primary goal is to start moving more and compete in Fitbit step challenges with friends and people at work. The roundup article is worth a read:

https://www.wareable.com/fitness-trackers/the-best-fitness-tracker

For step counting I just use my iPhone 5s and Fitbit MobileTrack (and also Argus app). Works great and is accurate. Phone is in pocket all day with ringer off, and I spend a lot of time on calls and answering emails so for notifications I use Apple Watch. For me, notifications on the wrist are a game changer. For example I was in the kitchen yesterday at 5:30am when my boss sent a Skype asking a question, and I was able to answer without my phone because of my watch (same with texts).

[racertempo]

---

@MikeS1971 wrote:
@racertempo I realize none are 100% accurate at counting steps, but the Blaze was off by thousands of steps.

I could walk a certain route turn around at 5000 steps and walk the same exact route back. Keeping the same pace. It would count anywhere from 3000 to 7000 steps on the return walk. Even the 5000 step point where I'd turn around would be different by an astronomical amount on each walk.

I'm currently using a Garmin Vivoactive HR and it's as accurate as the Blaze was before the April firmware update. I've tested on the same route the Blaze failed miserably at and the Garmin is accurate. Only a 100 or so difference in steps between the walk out and the walk back instead of thousands.

FitBit had a decent product up until April. I could care less about reminders to move or watch faces, I just wanted it to work correctly.

---

Seems like we want the same kind of product, not carking really about faces or reminders to move.  I acuttally returned the Garmin because it was so far off when wearing all three trackers on the same day.  I also did not like the screen of the Garmin, but I could get past it if it worked right.  I kept the Polar A360, and right now I have 1596 on the Blaze and 1687 on the Polar.  The only difference I think I saw in the Garmin was not recording when pushing the lawn mower, but that is a 2-3 day a week activity, that is a relative workout in the 99* heat 🙂  Sounds like you might have had a glitch or bug happen when you got the update, mine has been good since the update.  I also had the notifications work best on the Blaze compared to the Garmin and Polar, but the Polar is doing better now, it also gives alerts of emails and any phone notifications, such as "wifi network available" which is nice.

It really all comes down to the important factors for the person buying, if you "need" it to be waterproof or "need" reminders to move, then by all means don't even consider the Blaze.

[Rich_Laue]

If you buy a new Blaze today, it will not be from the manufacturing lot that people say the second update has caused problems with. 

Your best idea would be to decide what you want in a tracker, then go to www.fitbit.com/compare

[bbarrera]

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@Rich_Laue wrote:

Your best idea would be to decide what you want in a tracker, then go to www.fitbit.com/compare

---

@Saqwin this is my recommendation as well. Every wrist tracker in the market is generally good at counting steps, with some over-counting and under-counting depending on activity and even differences depending on the user! Same for optical heart rate monitoring. With wrist models its all about averages and trends. A pocket tracker like Fitbit One is very accurate, durable, and inexpensive. However it is easier to lose, unlike a wrist tracker. And lastly its also possible to use your phone if its in your pocket all day, and a supported model. 

If you want to talk it out, let us know what you are looking for in a tracker.

[Poo]

Glad I found this thread!

I have used my One for 3.5yrs and think it has been vital in helping me maintain 2 stone wt loss which I'd managed to lose/regain for the last 30yrs!

I'm looking to change though because, now I'm pretty fit (and nearly 49 so bit older), my weight is harder to maintain. I'm thinking having a HR monitor might help show a more accurate calorie burn trend (I accept the flaws, a trend is good enough over time). I still calorie count and exercise the same but what has worked for nearly 3yrs is gradually no longer working for me.

To shake things up I've started doing some TRX and weights at gym so hope that'll help. However, it's a pain trying to describe/manually enter this activity on the app and I'm so wary of over estimating that I end up putting about 20 cals burned!  It's a bit disheartening to make a big change but not have tangible evidence of it - maybe a star chart on my fridge would help seeing as I sound like a 4yr old!

If anyone can spot any flaws in the way I hope to use the Blaze I'd be happy to hear before I go ahead!

Many thanks,

Helen

[bbarrera]

@Poo Two pieces of feedback:

1. During weight training (with a little TRX) I've had trouble with achieving accurate HR with all optical HRM worn on the wrist (Fitbit, Apple, Garmin). And weight training is not aerobic exercise (anaerobic), while calorie estimation with heart rate monitors is based on the assumption you are doing aerobic exercise between something like 60% - 90% max HR. So you may or may not get good calorie estimates (versus steady state running).

2. I'm about 5 yrs older, also lost a lot of weight and got fit. I started walking to burn calories, after losing about 2 stone (had to look it up, lol), it became harder to lose more weight. Thats when I started cycling and swimming to maximize calorie burn for a period of time. With cycling I can easily burn 700-1200 calories per hour, although as I get fitter it takes more effort to continue the calorie burn. But more effort means I go faster, so its opened up my world of adventure as I can travel farther and explore more territory 🙂

If you don't mind a good sweat, and want low impact as you get older, its pretty easy to burn a lot of calories with rowing (gym), swimming, spinning, and cycling.

[Lordrobs]

I'm pretty happy with my Blaze. What I underestimated (my fault) was how annoying it was to have a watch that didn't have an always on screen. I also overestimated how useful call and text notifications would be, these days my phone is buzzing all day with facebook, whatsapp, instagram, emails etc. actual calls and texts aren't of that much use to me anymore.

I'll keep my one until the Pebble 2 comes out and then make the swap I think.

[Poo]

Thanks both of you for those really helpful replies.

I think the Blaze is probably no better for my activity types than the One - most of my stuff is on foot, walking or mini trampoline, so a good step counter has been a great help and I know I'd lose that. I don't know how much it'd annoy me but, being nit-picky, I suspect it'd rankle! 

I suppose I hoped the all day HR info might be more accurate to capture my real calorie burn but I may just be being distracted by a shiny new gadget as I am a bit that way inclined......

I have never heard of the pebble, even in my comparisons of the various trackers! I took a look and am thinking it is appealing but not sure how long I'm prepared to wait - silly really but I'd really like one for my birthday later in August. I sound 9yrs old again  

[bbarrera]

New birthday gadgets are always fun! 

[MikeS1971]

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@Rich_Laue wrote:

If you buy a new Blaze today, it will not be from the manufacturing lot that people say the second update has caused problems with. 

---

Brand new Blazes are still having the same issues. 

[4thMesa]

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@racertempo wrote:

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@Saqwin wrote:
After reading some of the post in here I'm having second thoughts on buying a blaze. So I'm asking all of you users should I go ahead and purchase a Blaze I'm 50/50 at the moment thanks.

---

Yes you should, consider my last week of trying out other products.  I decided to consider something with a little more workout detail and did some masive searching around and research.  So yes, Garmin has some amazing products, at 3x the price!!!!  Sorry, but $600-800 is just stupid unless it prints money for me.

I purchased a Garmin Vivosmart HR ($150), and a Polar A360 ($199)....and tried to buy a Basis Peak ($199) but the recall kept Best Buy from selling it to me.

VivoSmart HR compared to Blaze and Polar A360

plus:

-more detailed workout data,

-$50 cheaper

-app has a lot more data, but that is both good and bad,

-reminder to move (I don't care about it but others do),

-can easily be turned to 'do not disturb' mode which keeps notifications quiet for a set timeframe,

-24/7 HR monitoring, same as blaze, but not done by Polar A360

-Sleep data is cooler, it shows you how much "movement" you did while sleeping,

-Waterproof.

Minus:

-not color,

-notifications are less frequent than the Polar and Blaze,

-ugly rubber stra that is not interchangeable,

-Sync with app is usually more troublesome than the Blaze,

-Did not record steps while mowing my lawn when the Blaze recorded about 2000 steps for that activity, so so so so many people on here complain that the Blaze does not record when pushing a shopping cart in a , but the Blaze feels the vibration of the lawn mower and counts those......the Garmin does not count either situation.

-goofy charge-connector, lots of people complain about the Blaze clam-shell design, but I much prefer it to the Garmin design.  Both need to be removed from your wrist.

-I hated the app, it was too difficult to find all sorts of data becuase it was just far too busy, they crammed too much in there.

Polar A360 compared to Blaze and Vivosmart HR,

plus:

-gorgeous color screen, that is nicer looking IMO,

-5 workout HR zones that are presented better and more easily found on the app

-Interchangable faces with dates on the screen, 4 faces so the same as the Blaze.  The faces are not nearly as cool as the Blaze, but they have nice differences to give you a different look.

-Waterproof

-Charge coard is your standard micro that you charge any android phone with, so no need for a special charger,

-It tracked steps while mowing the lawn, like my Blaze but the Garmin did not,

-Reminder to move,

-can easily be turned to 'do not disturb' mode which keeps notifications quiet for a set timeframe,

Minus:

-HR monitor is not 24/7, only during workouts,

-Sync with the app is very slow and often does not work,

-Notifications work better than the garmin, but not as good as the Blaze,

-Rubber strap, nicer looking and feeling compared to the Garmin, and can be changed to different colors that are sold separately.

FITBIT has far more people and it is easier to connect to friends for challenges and keep tabs on each other for fun.  These pretty much are your only options in this price range.  There is a Garmin VivoSmart HR+ at $220 which only adds a built in GPS.  They have the Vivo Active HR at $250, but that is basically a color blaze with an ugly band that is not interchangeable.

All have roughly the same battery life depending on your settings.  Polar is the best here because of the lack of 24/7 HR.  This is the only Polar in this price range with onboard HR, other are compatible with their H7 chest strap. 

I returned the Garmin, and kept the Polar for now, I like the Polar app and the look and feel of it.  I also like the organization of the HR ranges for workouts.

None are perfect, and none have 100% of everything for everyone.  For the cost, the blaze is hands down the best buy of the groups.

I know Tomtom has a "spark" cardio for $199, but I had the Tomtom Runner Cardio (previous version) and I loved it......the problem was it was not designed for all day tracking, and mainly for workouts.  The Spark is trying to get into the all-day tracking market for tomtom, but the battery life just is not there.

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Brilliant summation ^

Thank you.

And to the OP.... it depends on what features you want/need, how much you're prepared to pay, and your personal style.

For me, the Blaze has been fantastic. (But I'm not interested in using several of the features others have had trouble with.)

For some - and remember, people mostly come to online forums to complain (nothing wrong with that, just sayin') - it's been awful.

I actually find the notion that you CAN have a constructive whinge on fitbit forums kinda re-assuring.

[Poo]

Thanks so much for replying.

Although I look fit/sporty (allegedly) no one would mistake me for an athlete and I suspect my expectations of a gadget are low in comparison. I suspect I too would use a small number of the Blaze features. I want a step counter and to see what I'm up to all day and if it helps a bit with capturing gym work even better.

I did some research on Pebble last night but am still drawn to Fitbit. My 3.5yrs experience of them as a company has had a few dips but it's been mainly positive even though they remove good things from the naffing app!

I'm finding it's not unlike the Apple/Android issue - (subject to it doing the job it's supposed to) sometimes you just prefer one over the other. I flirted with iPhone this year and sold it within a month because I hated it, maybe I should see that as a sign to stick with what appeals even if others can't see that appeal!

[4thMesa]

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@Poo wrote:

Thanks so much for replying.

Although I look fit/sporty (allegedly) no one would mistake me for an athlete and I suspect my expectations of a gadget are low in comparison. I suspect I too would use a small number of the Blaze features. I want a step counter and to see what I'm up to all day and if it helps a bit with capturing gym work even better.

I did some research on Pebble last night but am still drawn to Fitbit. My 3.5yrs experience of them as a company has had a few dips but it's been mainly positive even though they remove good things from the naffing app!

I'm finding it's not unlike the Apple/Android issue - (subject to it doing the job it's supposed to) sometimes you just prefer one over the other. I flirted with iPhone this year and sold it within a month because I hated it, maybe I should see that as a sign to stick with what appeals even if others can't see that appeal!

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And thank YOU for your reply 🙂

I completely agree with your Apple V Android analogy.

I'm an Android guy, for example.

Why? The layout and interface instinctively makes more sense to me.

Does that mean Apple is " bad" or " inferior"?

Heck no! Zillions of devoted Apple fans around the globe use & appreciate them every day.

So, I repeat, your choice is a personal one, based on what YOU want/expect/need/are prepared to pay for in a fitness device.

For me, that's the Blaze. I couldn't be happier. But I know - and respect - that others feel disappointed and let down by the product.

Are they " wrong"? No! Not for THEM.

Such is Life 🙂

I can't help being reminded of the axiom; "we don't see the world as it IS, we see it as WE are."

All the very best, whatever your choice, Poo 🙂