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.

[racertempo]

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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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The Pebble is nice looking, I considered one just based on the look while grazing at Best Buy recently.  Glad you found a product you like.

[Travlrn6]

I personally would never buy a blaze again if I had it to do over. The blaze was my first ever fitbit product after many of my friends had fitbit products and always loved them over the years, and I was looking for a smart watch as well as a fitness tracker and felt blaze was the best of both worlds without breaking the bank. It was exactly what I was looking for and I was thrilled to get it. And then the never ending problems began. I've had my blaze now about 5 months. It's never synced properly since day one. I've spent countless hours on the phone with customer service and here in the forums looking for help and answers, and the best customer service can come up with as a solution for me is for me to erase the blaze from my fitbit app profile daily and then re add it in like it's a brand new device every single morning to get it to sync. Definitely not the convenience of a background syncing device I thought I was purchasing for $230 of my hard earned dollars. Oh and that's just the tip of the iceberg. It doesn't get notifications due to the Bluetooth issues that it has, it doesn't control music like it's supposed to, it can't be used for alarms, it cannot be used to track runs or bike rides even if I drag my giant phone along with me. And in 5 months and endless phone calls and a minimum of 17 app updates the best customer support can do is say "sorry, just keep adding it back on the profile every day and we can't make it work right" I should have stuck with my previous $12 fitness tracker at least it worked seamlessly with my phone and always synced without issues for 2 straight Years! This thing is supposed to do so much yet it does nothing more than my previous $12 one did but cost me $230 for basically nothing. And customer support isn't helpful at all. Any offer of a replacement? Nope! Any offer of trying to service the band or inspect to see what the issue is? Nope! Anything more than the same 5 steps repeated ad nauseum (turn off phone, turn off blaze device, try syncing again, if still not syncing try deleting blaze from app profile then recycle power on blaze, now add blaze as if it were a new device, now sync again. Repeat again tomorrow morning because it won't work again tomorrow! I've called so many times I could be the customer service phone rep) by the way, my phone is an LG GA top of the line phone and I have absolutely zero bluetooth issues with the other two devices I use Bluetooth with this phone on, so I know it's not my phone's fault! I just wouldn't do it. Find something where customer service is interested in actually helping improve the product when there are thousands of people with issues. There have been a bunch of app updates and fitbit is more than aware of our issues with this product but nothing ever changes for the better!

[Poo]

Hi.

That does sound grim.

I'm still considering it but will definitely be buying in John Lewis so that I know the returns policy and customer service is tight.

I can cope with some jiggery pokery to fine tune/troubleshoot things and quite enjoy IT challenges but if it's a pile of poop then back it goes!

[Lordrobs]

Buying at JL is a good call TBH.

It is interesting reading other peoples experiences with the Blaze. Technical issues have been minimal with me but my phone is iOS. TBH if I had Android I'd be more tempted by the Android wear offerings especially as they are so close in price. A 2nd Gen Moto 360 does so much more for an extra £10. Yes you lose sleep tracking (as you need to allow for charging every night) but you gain GPS, proper notifications etc.

[Rich_Laue]

I'm going to start with a disclaimer, I'm running the android Beta Fitbit App, sometimes I'll receive 2+ updates a week.
As for syncing, i find ocaisionly the phone needs to be rebooted after an app update.
Yesterday was the first time in months ive had to restart the bluetooth, but the app had determined the problem and offered to restart it for me.
As for syncing i ocaisionly see it sync, without the app properly notifying the last time it synced.. Also i find the app doesn't update as fast as i want, but the web shows all uh. Latest data.
Yes the all day sync seems to work most of the time, but i prefer not using it so i can control. He frequency of syncing.
Music it seems maybe once or twice a month i need to forget and pair the Blaze Classic.
For the most part i find motifs swoon just seems to work now, but have found that it gets turned off on the app ocaisionly.
When it comes to step accuracy i find mine is within 20 steps of a counted off 1000 steps.
The mileage is a little more off with the new phone, but then so is MMF, Google Maps, and waze

[bbarrera]

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@Lordrobs wrote:

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.

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Fitbit dumb notifications are really disappointing. This problem was solved by Apple and Google long before Fitbit decided on how to implement on Blaze - let the user control notifications from iPhone or Android notification center just like on other fitness trackers. I have my suspicions as to why Fitbit chose to artificially limit notifications, not worth hashing over that. I wear Apple Watch because the value of notifications during 8-12 hour day far exceeds my intellectual curiosity of seeing 24x7 HR (it didn't improve calorie estimates, and most calories are burned in 90-300 minute workouts where HR accuracy is key). What will be really disappointing/frustrating/annoying/last-straw is if Fitbit keeps notifications as-is on Blaze and then rolls out new devices in October (in time for holiday shopping) that have full notifications. I fully expect that to happen, Fitbit's message yesterday to Wall Street is they know how to sell new devices (Blaze & Alta sales), and will have more new trackers this holiday season (think Surge replacement for starters, due to replacements driving up warranty costs). Meanwhile Fitbit mgmt downplays warranty reserve, which took a big jump last quarter ($40M to $60M according to CFO). Unless Fitbit delivers a real winner this fall (tracker and dashboard), this will be first time I won't upgrade my tracker (Flex > Force > Surge > Blaze).

[racertempo]

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@Poo wrote:

Hi.

That does sound grim.

I'm still considering it but will definitely be buying in John Lewis so that I know the returns policy and customer service is tight.

I can cope with some jiggery pokery to fine tune/troubleshoot things and quite enjoy IT challenges but if it's a pile of poop then back it goes!

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Buy form REI.  REI allows returns ANYTIME for ANY Reason.

[bbarrera]

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@racertempo wrote:

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@Poo wrote:

Hi.

That does sound grim.

I'm still considering it but will definitely be buying in John Lewis so that I know the returns policy and customer service is tight.

I can cope with some jiggery pokery to fine tune/troubleshoot things and quite enjoy IT challenges but if it's a pile of poop then back it goes!

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Buy form REI.  REI allows returns ANYTIME for ANY Reason.

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One year:

https://www.rei.com/help/guarantee.html

[Poo]

Hi Guys,

I'm in the UK so don't think REI is a viable option for me.

I'd be happy if the Blaze had zero notifications/apps etc. to be honest so thankfully don't have to worry about what it can do on that front!

[jennablaze]

We started out with the Blaze. Both my husband and I did and we loved them. The only reason we ended up with versa and ionic is because the company we had bought our extended warranty and replacement plan through stopped carrying it. It was durable and even in my line of work (childcare with toddlers) held up like a charm. Towards the end of the two years I started having some battery problems. However... I found out later on through receiving tips about my ionic and my versa, that it was probably some of the settings I had set up without thinking.

All in all though we loved it. I honestly think it's probably the most durable oit of most of the fitbit smart watches. It's just a little square that's actually the watch itself and it fits in any frame you purchase for it and any strap. I like that beyyer to be honest. I changed my band and frame out at least twice a week and never had any problems. 

[Rich_Laue]

To answer the question,  No do not buy a Blaze, They stopped manufacturing then almost 1.5 years ago.