Why should I keep my Blaze over getting an Apple Watch Sport?

[AirHej]

I've had the Blaze now for over a week and I'm pretty underwhelmed by it. I've run both inside on a treadmill and outdoors and found that in each case my mileage is off from my Nike + Running app by at least .1 miles each time. While it might not seem like a big deal, as the miles add up and you've completed 3 miles and the Blaze is showing 2.68, that's a problem.

I was a Charge HR user and really enjoyed the device. I used it primarily for step counting and tracking my sleeping. I like those features and with the ability to have the nice screen of the Blaze, I figured it would be great to see my pace/mileage on my wrist instead of looking to my iPhone strapped on my arm. The battery life for the Blaze is really solid, so that's cool as well. Other than that, I'm not sure this is worth a $200 upgrade over the Charge HR. 

I'm contemplating returning the Blaze and just getting an Apple Sport Watch. I've heard the Apple Sport Watch's battery life is lousy. Is there any other reason why I should even keep the Blaze? Thanks!

[SunsetRunner]

Well I suppose it depends whether you want a fitness tracker with some smart watch capabilities or a smart watch with some jewellery capabilities

[bbarrera]

I suspect that in time Fitbit will fix the mileage discrepency. A lot of posts about the problem, with folks showing that phone apps get it right while Fitbit connected GPS is wrong. Gotta believe that Fitbit will fix it, but who knows.

If you want simple step and sleep tracking, Fitbit makes it easy. Realistically the Fitbit HRM is just so-so, it has its moments both good and bad. I'm trying to get faster on my bike, so I do a lot of training near my lactate threshold and both Fitbit PurePulse and Apple Watch aren't good enough. So I use a chest strap. The advantage of Apple Watch is that you can pair with 3rd party bluetooth HRM, something more accurate like a chest strap or Scosche Rhythm+.

My personal opinion is that One and ChargeHR are sweet spots for Fitbit, as Blaze and ChargeHR are basically in the same league. Sure with Blaze its nice to see stuff on screen, but its really not all that different from tracking POV. There are reviews on Internet, e.g. Wall Street Journal and CNET, that also came to same conclusion.

I don't care about sleep tracking, but have recently tried it on Apple Watch for a week. I didn't have a problem with battery life on Apple Watch. Charge it 20-30 minutes in the morning and again before going to bed. On a normal day my battery life is about 36 hours, consistent with detailed reviews you can find on the Internet. Again no problems and I usually log an hour or two a day of exercise tracking (burns battery faster). My iPhone 5s is my primary step tracker for both Argus and Fitbit apps, although the Apple Watch also tracks steps.

First thing to understand about Apple Watch -- everybody else (Fitbit/Garmin/etc) is focused on steps. Apple Watch is focused on i) exercise minutes, ii) exercise calories, and iii) standing at least once per hour. As I'm a biker, swimmer, and weight lifter, I prefer this approach versus step counting. But it took some adjusting as Fitbit had me programmed to want 10,000 steps regardless of how I had to fool Fitbit into thinking cycling was stepping LOL.

If you decide to go the Apple Watch route, just understand that you'll most likely want to use an app for tracking runs (e.g. http://abvio.com), and another for tracking sleep (e.g. HeartWatch). Those apps are really sweet, but obviously you are now looking at two apps versus the integrated Fitbit app. There might be a new app that does both, for example Argus, but not sure how Argus integrates with Apple Watch. That said, with Abvio app (I use Cyclemeter, you just need one of their apps to do cycling/walking/running) you can display any stat you want, on multiple pages, and its fully customizable. Really well done and far better than Fitbit's limited display. HeartWatch is a real gem too, again it both simplifies HRM and provides far more detail than you get with Fitbit. Of course notifications are killer, the display is bigger/brighter with far more pixels, the overall watch a tad smaller - a lot smaller if you go with smaller Watch, charging is fast/easy, and I use my Watch to pay at cash register making checkout a lot faster than pulling out credit card. Navigation is awesome, start maps on my phone and Watch comes alive and taps on wrist when I need to pay attention and make a turn. My 2 cents.

There are certainly reasons to go Blaze or One or ChargeHR or another direction altogether. 

[bbarrera]

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@SunsetRunner wrote:
Well I suppose it depends whether you want a fitness tracker with some smart watch capabilities or a smart watch with some jewellery capabilities

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No. Do you want a simple yet limited fitness tracker with step challenges (Fitbit)? Or do you want more extensive tracking, integration with best-in-class apps, and full smartwatch experience (AW)? Or do you want both better tracking and longer battery life (Garmin)?

If you carry phone all the time then you can do it all without anything on wrist.

[Rich_Laue]

If it is true Apple is about to announce a new watch, i would wait on the decision. 

[bbarrera]

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@Rich_Laue wrote:

If it is true Apple is about to announce a new watch, i would wait on the decision. 

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No credible rumors about such a thing.

In tech you are 'in the market' and buy, or you aren't in the market. Waiting is a fools game as you'll always be waiting for the next bigger better gizmo. Buy, use, and sell early if a bright shiny object appears.

[matt9013]

It really depends on if you want more fitness over smart watch or smart watch over fitness. AW is a lousy fitness tracker and not even on par with Fitbits, Garmins or Jawbone yet. They could get there but as of now they are not even close. A lot of the 3rd party fitness apps used on the AW hardly ever work it seems.

I'm sure Fitbit will get the GPS stuff fixed and release an update as it seems to be a major problem affecting a lot of users.

Apple will most likely announce a new AW at WWDC this June, so you could wait. Maybe they have been fixing all the fitness issues and have a good product this time for fitness.

[ThePreacher]

The Apple Watch is a no go for me as I need battery life in days, not hours.

Also. All the things you say it does is all wonderful but I found the major flaw to be that is requires 2 hands to do it. One with my wrist raised and one to navigate the interface. My phone does it all also but can be operated single handed. Leaving my free hand to hold a water bottle or drink a coffee.

It's all down to what you want as an individual. For me the blaze is perfect for my daily needs and the Apple Watch was too slow, big and needless when I have my phone with me anyway. Plus, price of one Apple Watch got me a blaze for me and my wife.

[Sballenger]

I had apple sport watch for 6 weeks before returning and was formerly a Charge HR user
The Apple doesn't count steps at all or at least didn't show on the screen

[AnnLondon]

The Apple Watch does count steps and they show up on screen (in the Activity app).

I have stuck with a Fitbit alongside my Apple Watch to stay in challenges and because while I still have Fitbit devices I may as well use them. I use my old Fitbit One during the day but switch to my Charge once I'm home so that it can track my sleep automatically.

I charge my watch overnight and use it as my bedside clock (in nightstand mode I can actually see the time without finding my glasses which is great for me; I have a charging dock which I really like in design terms and which makes it all really easy) which means I never have a battery issue. Because my fitbits need charging every few days (each with a different charging cable) I find them much harder to keep charged; if I run out of battery during the day, it's always my Fitbit not my watch.

In terms of accuracy, the Fitbit One and the Apple Watch give very similar step counts. My Charge generally gives a much higher step count (especially if I've worn it to, say, do the washing up or change the bed sheets) but there's a frustrating lack of consistency (if I'm wearing my winter coat it sometimes decides I'm entirely stationary despite going for a long walk).

I bought the Apple Watch expecting to try it for a fortnight and send it back but I find it incrediby motivating (I *will* close those rings!) and I find the smart watch features useful (a big favourite is having walking directions come to my wrist without me needing to walk around an unknown city with my phone in my hand, but being able to check train platform information or the weather or pick up a text or a news alert without getting my phone out is great too).

My feeling is that for accuracy of step counting the Fitbit to go for is the One. For the whole package, the Apple Watch is the clear winner for me.

[bbarrera]

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@matt9013 wrote:

It really depends on if you want more fitness over smart watch or smart watch over fitness. AW is a lousy fitness tracker and not even on par with Fitbits, Garmins or Jawbone yet. They could get there but as of now they are not even close. A lot of the 3rd party fitness apps used on the AW hardly ever work it seems.

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Wow, so much bad information in your post.

[bbarrera]

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@ThePreacher wrote:
Also. All the things you say it does is all wonderful but I found the major flaw to be that is requires 2 hands to do it. One with my wrist raised and one to navigate the interface. My phone does it all also but can be operated single handed. Leaving my free hand to hold a water bottle or drink a coffee.

It's all down to what you want as an individual. For me the blaze is perfect for my daily needs and the Apple Watch was too slow, big and needless when I have my phone with me anyway. Plus, price of one Apple Watch got me a blaze for me and my wife.

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Interesting, I take dog for a walk in the morning with a cup of coffee in one hand, and start recording the walk by raising my wrist and saying "Hey Siri start an outdoor walk" and within 5 seconds its tracking my walk. 2 hands? No, that was single handed, can you do that with Blaze? When I'm doing yard work, or BBQ dinner, and need to time something just raise wrist and say "Hey Siri start a timer for 5 minutes" and 5 minutes later the alarm goes off. In the car raise wrist "Hey Siri start Shazam" - then wait about 10 seconds, raise wrist and tap big blue circle to identify song - ok that was two hands I guess you got me there lol. Oh, I said 10 seconds, please feel free to jump all over that as "too slow" and then tell me how long it takes your Blaze to identify a song on the radio. And I love being able to review and dismiss all the group texts on my watch, versus pulling out my phone. And the texts are organized by thread, versus the Blaze where all texts are in jammed together with no way to follow a single discussion/thread. Responding to texts is easy with quick snippets, or use voice transcription to dictate the reply. If I'm in the car I can just raise my wrist without taking eyes off road and quickly glance to see if an important text came in, and then make a phone call if necessary.

If 2 handed operation is a major flaw, why didn't you say that about Blaze? Blaze is always two handed, the AW is only 2 handed for some things.

Blaze is slightly bigger than the large Apple Watch, and a lot bigger versus the smaller Apple Watch. But you said the AW is too big. Why doesn't your size standard apply to Blaze?

If AW is needless as you have phone anyways, why have Blaze? I always have my iPhone with me and it works great as step tracker for Fitbit and a couple other apps. 

Anybody lift weights? My whole routine is prompted on my AW in the gym, and I can record weight/reps/sets right on the watch. I don't do much bodyweight anymore, and haven't used Fitstar in awhile -- my understanding is that Fitstar on AW is superior to Blaze (3 fixed workouts, can't track actual time or reps completed).

I agree its an individual decision, but the arguments you give don't make sense. You apply a double standard by citing issues with AW that aren't issues, or are actually bigger issues with Blaze(!). 

[AirHej]

Thanks everyone for the great replies to my original post. Much appreciated. I'm really trying to find reasons to keep the Blaze, but there doesn't seem to be all that many. Likely I'll be returning this and getting the AW.

[bbarrera]

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@AnnLondon wrote:

I bought the Apple Watch expecting to try it for a fortnight and send it back but I find it incrediby motivating (I *will* close those rings!) and I find the smart watch features useful (a big favourite is having walking directions come to my wrist without me needing to walk around an unknown city with my phone in my hand, but being able to check train platform information or the weather or pick up a text or a news alert without getting my phone out is great too).

My feeling is that for accuracy of step counting the Fitbit to go for is the One. For the whole package, the Apple Watch is the clear winner for me.

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I'm with you, I like Fitbit, still compete in step challenges (using iPhone as step tracker), and believe the One is the most accurate step counter in the Fitbit lineup. If you are just getting started, then 10,000 steps and building a habit of moving is a good thing and Fitbit does a great job at keeping things simple and covering the basics. However if you exercise regularly and want to step up your game, say for an upcoming event, Fitbit lacks the tools that have long been available. Simple things like easily reviewing weekly and monthly progress, or creating and following a structured training plan.

Also agree that closing the rings on AW is motivating and addictive, and there is an incredible amount of info on my wrist without going 'bent neck' - burrowing face into phone and momentarily tuning out the world. No problems with battery, although when on a 5-8 hour century I just use my Garmin Edge bike computer to record the ride and don't bother putting AW into exercise mode. 

In response to @matt9013 - its not "a lousy fitness tracker" - the AW takes a different approach, instead of focusing on steps it focuses on workout minutes / calorie burn / standing once an hour. More significantly with 3rd party apps it goes well beyond Fitbit at providing live tracking and logging on your wrist.

AW has better Fitbit notifications than Blaze... I get notifications about daily step goal ("Overachiever! You're 12,223 steps over...), challenge updates (a few examples - "Bill cheered you for joining" and "joe accepted" and "Bob pulled past Steve for first place"), and even private messages.

Fitbit is fun, motivational, and inexpensive (One, ChargeHR). AW is also fun/motivational, and it integrates with best-in-class fitness apps, plus a whole lot more. Choice is good.

[TheDan]

Blaze is more user friendly, low cost and has advanced options. The Blaze boasts staple Fitbit features (records multi-sport workouts, tracks all-day activity, provides workout summaries, and monitors sleep), while also incorporating smartphone-based qualities (syncs wirelessly, controls music from mobile playlists, and provides call and text notifications) - Apple Watch vs Fitbit Blaze.

[Rich_Laue]

The Blaze v apple they really are in different classes, do yo want a phone on your wris(apple salesman called it that) or a dedicated tea let with some extra funtions.
For me they blaze does what i want.

[rws381]

I have a Blaze, Flex and an Apple Watch. Lately, I've been wearing my Apple Watch and Flex.

For running and cycling, I have Stava linked to Fitbit and use the Apple Watch for tracking those exercises. Strava sends the minutes and calories to my exercise count in the Fitbit app.

Overall, this might be the best combination for me. Sometimes can feel a bit strange wearing both but then again, plenty of people wear a Fitbit and a mechanical watch so why not?

Have a Flex 2 ordered and am excited to have something a bit smaller, waterproof and with the technology of a more modern Fitbit than the original Flex.

This setup might be a nice option for you.

[Bunnybear_05]

I wore the flex around my ankle or in my shoe and my Apple Watch. My Apple Watch never counted steps right and I didn't want to give up my Fitbit stats and challenges. Eventually I sold the Apple Watch cause I got tired of two things and it was the first edition. So it ran slow...I wasn't that impressed.
Maybe the new Apple Watch will be better then what I experienced.

[bbarrera]

Glad to see Blaze getting real smartphone notifications, more watch faces, and reminders to move. Very nice additions to a solid tracker. Fitbit appears to be fixing some of the industrial design problems that plagued Flex, Force, and Surge (well, except for weird and 'one off' battery charging solutions). I've found the Blaze to be mildly interesting except it can't multitask, or answer texts or Skype, or take a phone call in a pinch, or pay for things when I'm out riding my bike without a credit card.

Like all Fitbits, Blaze is not very good at tracking *my* fitness routine - cycling, swimming, and weight lifting. Fitbit is really designed for step counting and the 'social' motivation of step challenges. I've worn Apple Watch for 15 months for those reasons, along with acccess to my sport specific apps, and customizable watch faces. I don't have battery issues, watch on this morning at 6:30am, tracked 3 hours of cycling, lots of notifications today, cooking dinner using stopwatch w/laps for timing on the grill - while at same time using 15 minute timer to know when to stop adding water to pool - while staying on top of a flurry of texts about early morning spin class and skipping thru a playlist on my garage speaker. Its now 11:30pm and I have 23% battery. Thats 17 hours and with 20 minutes on charger while getting ready for bed I could use it for sleep tracking - tried that with Fitbit Force, got the 'Fitbit rash' from wearing 24x7, and didn't find sleep data of any use. I don't sleep with jewelry or a tracker, and supposing I really wanted sleep data there is a very nice mobile app.

For the price, the Charge 2 looks interesting. I'm going to pick up an Charge 2 and play with it. I still think Fitbit MobileTrack (your mobile phone is tracker) and Fitbit One are best for most people, until they get hooked (upgrade time), or like many I know stop using tracker just like a broken new years resolution, or like me move beyond Fitbit's basic data and embrace the real fitness apps outside the Fitbit world.

[PieMavi]

You shouldn't.