Third Blaze and none of them will smart track elliptical reliably

[nkonichiwa]

I used to have a Surge and it was amazing, never missed an elliptical workout.  I am unable to do cardio that has any sort of jarring impact so the elliptical is what I am confined to until I have a couple surgeries.  My Surge lasted exactly 12 months and 1 week after purchase, so was not covered by any warranty when the band separated at the watch face points and there was water/condensation in the face so much so that I could not read it, as well as my altimeter going nuts.  I replaced it with the Blaze figuring it might last a bit longer than a year, but only tracks my elliptical workout once out of every 10 times and it almost never records a heart rate over 100 even though I am on there for 20 to 30 minutes and my Bose heart rate ear buds have me at greater than 150 bpm. I never had this trouble with the Surge, but spending 250 on a watch every year is not going to happen. I have checked the app settings and the Blaze onboard settings but all seems in order and since it does actually identify the correct workout 1 out of 10 times...well, it's just frustratingly inconsistent.  Any advice?  Ideas? Any others having this problem?

[WendyB]

Welcome to the forums!

I am just assuming with the surge you use the exercise mode a lot and now you are relying on the Smart track with Blaze?

If its not working for you then why not go back to the exercise mode with the Blaze as well?

Just a thought

Hope to see you around the forums! Join in on the discussions forums!

[N8teGee]

Can you not just add Elliptical as one of the exercise shortcuts on your blaze, then when you start your workout just go into the exercise menu on the Blaze and select Elliptical?

As for the problem with the HR not detecting properly, have you tried wearing the Blaze slightly higher up your arm? It's said this can improve accuracy/performance.  

[nkonichiwa]

I never set the Surge to "elliptical" if that is what you mean, the smart track just identified it as such and when I synced it it automatically registered as elliptical if that makes sense. I wanted the same functionality in the Blaze and it says it will but it mostly does not. That is my issue. I tried a Garmin Vivofit but ended up choosing a Fitbit product expressly for this feature and in the Blaze it does not work. Now I am reconsidering owning a Fitbit at all 😕

Sent from my iPhone

[nkonichiwa]

Hi Wendy, I never used the exercise mode where you select the exercise.  As I mentioned to the other commenter, I selected a fitbit product specifically for the smart mode that identifies the type of exercise and with the Surge it worked perfectly, but as I read the forums all the Surges break at the wrist strap and break within a one to two year period.  I'm honestly wondering if people even read what I wrote tbh, I was pretty clear that I want the watch to auto identify the activity (which it says it should, it's listed as a feature), and it clearly can since it does from time to time, when it feels like it.  I am really just wondering if this is the level of reliability I should expect because I am within the time frame to return and just give up.

[N8teGee]

Have you tried changing the period of time before the exercise is auto recognised in the exercise settings like the image below?

Other then that, the only thing I can suggest is to manually start the exercise, but you say that isn't an option you wish to use.

I can't comment on the reliability of the auto mode on my blaze as I like to see the session stats on my screen which the automode doesn't offer.

I hope you find a solution.