When will Blaze get a new Firmware Update

[Houstonnick]

Subject says it all

[Julia_G · Accepted solution]

Fitbit do not announce dates for updates in advance.  You will know when an update is ready for your Blaze because your app or computer will alert you.  I am afraid no one in the Community will be able to provide you any more specific answer to your question.

If you are having a difficulty with the current version, maybe someone could help with that?

[Houstonnick]

Not Solved ! ! !

A Firmware Update that solves all the known problems (i.e. step count inconsistency, mileage inaccuracy, etc. etc. etc.) would be a solution.

[Houstonnick]

I've had a FitBit and a Charge HR but with both I didn't like how much data input I was doing to track my exercise and calories (primarily into MyFitnessPal).  So when I heard the Blaze had automatic tracking, a heart monitor and tracked steps and calories, I was like sign me up and take my money.  Of course, I just assumed they would track and transfer ACCURATE data.  My bad, should have read the fine print. 

[SteveH]

In what way is not tracking accurate data? There may be an issue we can help with if you give us some more information.

[Houstonnick]

See my other posts for details.  But essentially no matter how I adjust my step length (I've done higher or lower based on distance/step count tests and my height), there is a difference between the distance registered on the the Treadmill (inside), or on MapMyRun (on known distances where MMR is correct but Blaze is off).  Also, the calorie count on the Treadmill is different.  I can see some distance but this is 200-300 calories in an hour.

[SteveH]

Looking at your step and distance data for the last few days I see that your average step distance varies quite a bit so I assume that this is a combination of walking and running. I take it that you have tried setting both your walking and running stride lengths? Perhaps one thing to try is to set both stride lengths to an average distance based on your step count for the known distance you ran. It would be interesting to see how this fares if you include some running as fitbit do not disclose how / when they switch from the walking to the running stride.

Treadmills do certainly cause problems for some fitbit users (although I, for one, don't have any issues so it's not a universal problem). In some cases it's just a case of people holding the rails so they miss steps. 

Your post suggests that you think the issue is with the distance calculation rather than the step counting. Is this the case? If it's missing steps then that will throw off both the distance and the calorie count.

[shipo]

For outside walking/running, unless you enable your Blaze to tether to the location services of your smart phone, you will never get a terribly accurate reading of your distance.  The thing is, slice it and dice it anyway you want, using an average stride length for running and walking is just a gross approximation and will, almost by definition, never be correct.

[SteveH]

That's a fair point. Fitbits - or any other tracker - will never be 100% accurate. In a similar way the BMR calories have to be based on an average for someone with your height, weight etc and will not be 100%

I guess we all have own view on what level of accuracy is good enough. Those who demand 100% will be disappointed.

I use mine mainly for hiking (so don't have the issue of a mix of walking and running) and get about 98% accuracy when compared with a GPS track - and that's assuming it's the GPS that is more accurate. That is plenty accurate for me.

[Houstonnick]

I do connect when I'm outside.  But I want to make sure of something.  Whenever I start a walk (I don't run outside because its too **ahem** hot) I use the Exercise function and select Walk, it then connects to the phone or tells me to start the FitBit app, and then away I go.  Doesn't that override the stride length?  I thought the stride length was only used on the Treadmill.

[SteveH]

Yes, if you use your phone's GPS to track a walk outside then it should use that to calculate the distance rather than the steps x stride calculation. Are you saying then that it's your phone's GPS that has a problem?

[Houstonnick]

No, the failures occur when I'm testing the Blaze outside on a known distance in an effort to adjust the stride length.  I don't connect the phone when I'm doing these tests, just when I do my actual walks.  

[Rich_Laue]

What i did was to the use fitbit phone app with the GPS, i walked the same route five days in a row.. Added together the 5 days of steps recorded and the five days of distances recorded. This gave the total step count for the total miles recorded. By adding the 5 walks together it has the affect of averaging out the days. Now i went to an online stride calculator to figure out my average stride over the five walks.
OK i like math so i did the calculations myself, but there is several online calculators.
The math for stride in feet 5280 * miles / steps = stride. 
Metric is easier.

I now find that without the GPS my distances are close to reality, always correct almost never (see @shipo's and @SteveH's posts above) but usually close enough. 

[Rich_Laue]

BTW the Charge HR has the same auto track feature as the Blaze, but this thread is about manually starting athe exercise traking function. 

[Houstonnick]

You asked for details so here is today's FitBit got it wrong -  The Treadmill shows 5.878 miles whereas the Blaze shows 4.83 miles and 10,028 steps walked.  I usually take about 1.9k steps per mile so that's how much the Blaze undercounted my steps. 

[shipo]

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@Houstonnick wrote:

You asked for details so here is today's FitBit got it wrong -  The Treadmill shows 5.878 miles whereas the Blaze shows 4.83 miles and 10,028 steps walked.  I usually take about 1.9k steps per mile so that's how much the Blaze undercounted my steps. 

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Long story short, you need to adjust your walking stride length in your profile; this isn't an issue with the Blaze.

[OleMarius]

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@SteveH wrote:

Yes, if you use your phone's GPS to track a walk outside then it should use that to calculate the distance rather than the steps x stride calculation. Are you saying then that it's your phone's GPS that has a problem?

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For me, even with the gps track it does calulate distance with stride lenght. I have also tried to change stride lengt and same problem happens.

The odd part is google map log show correct distance with gps. Fitbit with gps, who use google map shows 2x distance.

[Houstonnick]

If you've read all the posts you would know that I have adjusted up, and
adjusted down, there is no setting that gets it right.

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Sinerely,

Nick

[shipo]

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@Houstonnick wrote:
If you've read all the posts you would know that I have adjusted up, and
adjusted down, there is no setting that gets it right.

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And if you've read all of the posts you'd know there is no way of having complete accuracy when relying on stride length; ain't never going to happen.

[Houstonnick]

So then don't tell me to adjust the stride length because it is not an answer. 

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@shipo wrote:

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@Houstonnick wrote:
If you've read all the posts you would know that I have adjusted up, and
adjusted down, there is no setting that gets it right.

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And if you've read all of the posts you'd know there is no way of having complete accuracy when relying on stride length; ain't never going to happen.

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