inaccurate Calorie readings and HR monitor issues on Blaze

[TerryFit]

Had the Blaze for over a year and two issues remain unresolved and annoying despite the many good things of the Blaze.

1. The calorie readings are way off any other calorie measurements (e.g from multiple gym workout equipment with calorie burn measurements).. in the main the Blaze shows from 40 - 50% less calorie burn than other equipment readings.

2. In the beginning the HR monitor readings were accurate and stable. Over past few months (I think the previous updates may be a factor) now the HR monitor is erratic especially at the beginning of any exercise and can take up to 15 minutes before it settles and starts to align with other HR monitor readings. I am fully aware of the often used excuse of not wearing the band tight enough or too tight or moving it up the arm etc and this does not improve the situation.... clearly something has changed!

[FerdinandFitbit]

Hi there @TerryFit. Great to see you in the Community Forums! 🙂

I'm sorry you're having problems with your heart rate readings and your calories not being accurate 😕

I'd say these two go by the hand as the heart rate readings will determine your calorie burn. You've mentioned that you've already tried putting your  tracker higher up on your wrist to no avail and to wear the band tighter with no success. I can probably recommend setting up the tracker as a new device.

Now, before you do that, go to your personal settings and here, make sure that all your information is correct, as you height, weight, age, etc. Once you've verified that all this information is correct, proceed to set up your Blaze as a new device.

For this, go to the Account section at the top right corner on the Fitbit app and select the option that says "Set up a new device". Follow the on-screen instructions and once you're done, your tracker should be syncing without a problem.

Let me know if this makes any difference!

[TerryFit]

Hi

Yesterday I took your advice and setup new device.

Today at the gym this was the result.........

For one hour on the exercise bike (which I use every time I am in the gym)
the HR readings from the Blaze had wild fluctuations compared to the
exercise bike readings.

At the end of that hour session the gym bike showed 800 calorie burn (which
is normal for me at the gym on these machines). However the summary
displayed on the Blaze after that session showed 377 Calorie burn.

When I synced the Blaze later to my iphone Fitbit app the summary of that
same workout shows it as 321 Calorie burn not the 377 that was displayed on
the Blaze after I finished that session in the gym.

So in summary the problem was not fixed with your suggestion of setting up
as new device, in fact it appears to be slightly worse than before.

What advice can you give me based on this please?\



regards


Terry



--
Terry Rimmer
*Photo Digital Solutions*

[TerryFit]

Hi

I have not received a reply to my last post. I took your advice and set up my FitBit Blaze as new device and it did not change the situation in fact I believe it is slightly worse.

What can I do?  

I have enjoyed the Blaze for over a year wearing it every day and night and at the gym approx 5 times per week... so I have had lots of experience with it and lots of opportunity to compare the Blaze HR and Calorie readings against other equipment.

If I can offer any more information on what is happening I can add that it appears that mostly the HR is way out and fluctuates wildly especially in the first 15 to 30 minutes of my one hour workout.  However often the HR readings then settle down and seems to stabilize with the HR reading very close to the gym equipment readings.  But this highly inaccurate beginning of the workout may be the thing that throws out the Calorie reading which is mostly 50% less than the gym equipment readings.

This wild fluctuations at the beginning of the workout has got worse over the year that I have had the Blaze. I think recent updates may have contributed to this but could it be the sensors failing over time?

If the Blaze is possible to read correctly with little fluctuations after 15 or 30 minutes of workout surely this shows that it is capable of reading accurately so why is it that the beginning period is the major problem?

It is almost as if the Blaze needs to be "trained" to my body or HR before it records HR correctly?  

What am I to do?  The situation appears to be getting worse?  Is this a problem with all FitBit products or only with Blaze... is there a Fitbit band that I could look at that would not have this problem?