Fitbit Blaze Review - Review 2022

The $199.95 Fitbit Blaze is a fitness tracker that looks like a smartwatch. In improver to tracking activities, exercises, and center charge per unit, it has a colour touch on screen that displays conditioning guidance and notifications from your smartphone. With upward to v days of battery life, it certainly lasts longer than smartwatches similar the Apple Watch. But if you're looking for genuine smartwatch functionality you'll be disappointed, as in that location are no apps or other smart features to speak of. And if you already own a capable fitness tracker there is little reason to upgrade. That said, self-quantification newbies will find a lot to like here.

Design

At a glance, the Fitbit Bonfire ($229.94 at Amazon) looks similar to the Apple Watch, with a rectangular, Gorilla Glass-covered, 240-by-180-pixel color impact screen. But the similarities end in that location. The Blaze'due south screen is smaller, at 1.25 inches, while the Apple Watch Series 2 measures 1.34 or 1.53 inches diagonally depending on the size you choose. The Bonfire'south display is likewise dwarfed by a chunky blackness bezel, and flanked by two large gaps between the screen and the octagonal frame.

The Blaze features a modular design in which the tracker portion easily pops into and out of a frame attached to the band. The master reason for this pattern is so that yous tin can quickly switch from a workout-friendly, sweat-resistant elastomer strap to a more than fashionable leather or stainless steel link ring. The frame measures 1 by 1.58 by 0.five (HWD) inches and weighs a light one.44 ounces (including the band). There are three buttons on the frame; i on the left side and two on the right side. It makes for an interesting look that we oasis't quite grown to love. We much adopt the sleek, gapless design of the Apple tree Watch, or fifty-fifty the bracelet-like form factor of the Fitbit Alta Hr ($112.lxx at Amazon) .

Out of the box, the Blaze comes with a black, bluish, or purple elastomer strap, while the premium bands sell separately every bit accessories. Black, camel, or gray leather bands come with stainless steel frames for $99.95, and the stainless steel link band and silver frame toll $129.95. We reviewed the base of operations $199.95 model with a black elastomer strap. Fitbit also provided a gray leather ring for testing.

Swapping bands is simple, cheers to easy spring release buttons. Only the bands themselves aren't terribly impressive. The elastomer ring is less comfortable than the Fitbit Charge Hour'south strap due to a rougher texture that tin can tug on arm hair. The leather band is softer to the bear on, but feels a scrap rigid on the wrist. That one should probably break in over time. After wearing the ring for a footling while, information technology's easy to forget that it's even on.

The Bonfire is rated 1ATM for water resistance, which means it's rubber from pelting, splashes, and sweat, but you lot can't wearable information technology in the pool or shower. You also won't want to wear the leather ring while working out.

Fitbit Blaze

Display and Bombardment

Yous can set the watch to wake when you heighten your wrist or printing the left button. The display itself looks crisp, and colors are vibrant. The Blaze is very responsive. We had no problem swiping and tapping through its various screens. All information appears brilliant and legible indoors and out, fifty-fifty in the sun.

On the main screen you lot'll notice a faint battery icon in the upper left, with the time of day and your active centre rate below. Y'all can customize this screen with different watch faces, though merely four are available at this writing. Depending on the confront you select, you can view the time of solar day, your steps, and continuous heart charge per unit.

Swipe left or correct and you'll see your calories, mileage, floors climbed, and steps taken, as well as shortcuts to fitness monitoring, FitStar on-screen workouts, and various settings (more on these features below). Nether Settings, you tin arrange the display effulgence to Dim, Normal, Max, or Auto. Swiping downwards on the main picket confront reveals a notification toggle (On or Off) and music histrion controls, and swiping up displays a notification timeline.

Fitbit Blaze

On the back of the tracker yous'll find the heart rate monitoring sensors and a charging port. The Blaze comes with even so another new proprietary charger that won't piece of work with your Charge 60 minutes, Accuse 2, or Surge ($218.90 at Amazon) . Despite a wide ecosystem of devices, at that place is no compatibility between them when it comes to chargers, which is disappointing.

The Bonfire uses a box-like charger with a lid that you have to plug into a USB adapter or laptop. To charge the Blaze you lot demand to open the lid, place the tracker portion inside, and close it. It takes most an 60 minutes to recharge the tracker'southward lithium polymer battery, after which it'south good for near five days. That's better than almost smartwatches, which commonly last up to ii days at virtually, and on par with other fitness trackers.

Pairing and Notifications

Fitbit Blaze The Blaze works with Bluetooth 4.0 devices that run Android 4.3 or later and iOS 8.0 or later, too as a number of Windows Phone devices. To pair, you demand to download the free Fitbit app and create a free account. From the side bill of fare, tap Devices, and so the Plus icon in the upper right. Then select the Bonfire from a list of Fitbit devices. We connected the Bonfire to a Samsung Galaxy S6 in a few seconds, afterwards which it automatically installed a software update. Once paired, the Bonfire automatically syncs with your mobile device whenever it'southward in range.

When connected, the Blaze displays incoming calls, calendar alerts, texts, and diverse other notifications. We were able to receive and read full messages from Google Hangouts, but text messages can get muddled. If you receive more one text from the same person, the letters become lumped into notes like "ii letters" or "3 messages," just you tin can't actually open them or read them. You lot tin can also accept or reject calls from the tracker, but this feature is express to iOS devices.

To use the Blaze for music playback controls, you demand to institute a second Bluetooth connection with the phone you're already paired with, which is a chip confusing. You just demand to follow the Music Control instructions in the app, but it took several tries earlier we got it working with the Milky way S6. Meanwhile, iOS users can control music through a single Bluetooth connectedness. Once the Blaze connects, you tin apply basic playback controls including Play/Suspension, Previous Track, and Skip Track. On the music control screen, you tin can use the buttons on the Blaze'southward right side to enhance or lower the book.

Features and Operation

The Blaze tracks calories, distance, floors, steps, slumber, and various exercise stats. Y'all can view all of this data in particular in the the Fitbit app, which remains one of our favorite fitness apps. The Blaze also makes it like shooting fish in a barrel to view bones data on its brandish by scrolling through its various screens: Today, Exercise, and FitStar.

Today is where you'll find your daily stats, including calories, continuous heart rate, floors, mileage, and steps. The Exercise screen lets you manually begin exercises, including bicycling, elliptical grooming, running, treadmill, and weights. You lot can also select other exercises, like hiking, soccer, and lawn tennis to appear as options using the Fitbit app. Each workout is accompanied past specific real-time performance stats on the display, followed past a summary of your conditioning at the end. You lot tin't open and view past workouts on the Blaze itself. To practise that, you need to refer to the app.

Fitbit Blaze

Exercises are also automatically recognized, only similar the Withings Activite Steel ($twoscore.00 at Amazon) , this feature wasn't reliable in testing. Subsequently jogging for five minutes, the Blaze didn't realize it, so we started a run manually under the Exercise screen. The Blaze takes about 15 minutes to recognize an practise (though you can lower the threshold to 10 minutes in the app), merely that's however besides long. What if you just want to do a quick jog?

Under the FitStar screen, the Blaze turns into a personal double-decker. Similar to the Moov Now or the Atlas Wearables Wristband, workouts appear right on your wrist without the need for a smartphone. Each workout (Warm It Upwards, 7-Minute Workout, and 10-Minute Abs) comes with a series of blithe demonstrations. Sometimes the picayune cartoons striking the mark, like when the fiddling figure does a push-up or crunch, but some maneuvers, like the open up hip squat, take some time to get used to. The FitStar characteristic is a fun, worthwhile improver, since many people can be clueless when it comes to actual workout regimens. We must acknowledge, we felt the burn in testing.

As usual, Fitbit'due south various exercise and heart rate measurements appear to be very authentic when compared with our ain manual observations. And automatic slumber tracking also appears to exist quite accurate, as the Blaze was able to detect a rather rough night of slumber to a tee, with unlike levels of sleep that you can view on the app. Y'all can set silent alarms correct on the Blaze, which you tin can dismiss or snooze by borer the screen.

Fitbit Blaze

From left to right: Fitbit Charge HR, Fitbit Blaze, Apple Watch

While tracking is solid, I'm disappointed by the lack of built-in GPS. Runners volition need their phones on hand if they want to rail stats like pace, distance, and mile splits (not to mention a map of your road). The Surge is Fitbit'south only device with born GPS.

Software Updates

Since we first reviewed the Blaze in Feb 2022, Fitbit has released new software and algorithms that helps better contextualize your data. For starters, you can now view your Cardio Fitness Level and be led through Guided Animate sessions, two features that were introduced with the Charge ii ($123.99 at Amazon) .

To mensurate your cardio fitness, Fitbit compares your heart charge per unit data with other users of the same historic period and gender based on VO2 Max and then assigns you lot a score. It's a simple and clean mode to contextualize the long-term data your Blaze collects. Meanwhile, Guided Breathing takes y'all through- two or v-minute breathing exercises to help salvage stress and get your heart charge per unit downward.

The update besides brings Fitbit's Sleep Stages and Slumber Insights features to the Bonfire. Introduced with the Alta HR, these features use the accelerometer and heart rate sensor to determine whether you lot're awake or in Deep, Lite, or REM sleep. You can and then view your 30-day averages, and see how well your sleeping habits stack up against other people your age and gender. Slumber Insights are contextual reminders and tips for getting a ameliorate nighttime'southward sleep, based on your personal routines. The more y'all rail sleep, the more customized the suggestions.

Comparisons and Conclusions

Despite a few drawbacks, we really like the Fitbit Blaze. But is there enough here to recommend it over the Charge two or Surge? If you're a runner in demand of GPS, y'all'll certainly desire to go for the GPS-equipped Surge, which can also deliver basic call and text notifications. The Charge 2, meanwhile, tracks about everything the Blaze does. Information technology just lacks a color touch screen, simply it costs $50 less. And if yous want a full-featured smartwatch feel complete with an app shop, you'll desire an actual smartwatch like the Apple Watch.

That said, if you're new to the earth of fitness trackers, or you're upgrading from a get-go-generation device, the Blaze is a solid selection. Information technology'south an accurate and reliable tracker, and the color screen is great for displaying the useful new FitStar workouts. If you're willing to spend $200, it's well worth because.

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