My Fitbit Blaze Review
Reviewing the Fitbit Blaze
One of my jobs at Bye Bye is to review. I will also share some of my findings on here.
My Verdict
The Fitbit Blaze is more Smartwatch than any other Fitbit on the market. For beginners and long-time users alike, this is a great watch with some fantastic new features which makes this model standout.
Notable new features are the touch, colour screen, something every other Fitbit has lacked until now and the addition of FitStar means you can now have on-screen workouts on your Fitbit meaning you have a greater access to workouts at all time.
There are many other fantastic features to explore but a notable absence is the built-in GPS which was introduced with the Fitbit Surge. With many Fitbits, you can still access GPS through your smartphone which connects seamlessly, also as well as the usual smartphone connectivity with your music, messages and calls from your smartphone, Fitbit Blaze now has social media notifications. This has not been achieved by any other Fitbit to date.
The new additions are very welcome and you have a very well designed watch which feels more like something expected of a smartwatch. A Fitbit is usually something that tries to separate itself from the smartwatch market but the Fitbit Blaze is a much more successful attempt at creating something similar than its previous attempt with the Fitbit Surge. This model will still be familiar to current Fitbit users and still be basic to setup and you can start enjoying it almost instantly.
What I liked
- Stylish
- Comfortable and secure
- You can change the style to suit you.
- Touchscreen
- The only Fitbit to have a colour screen.
- On screen work-outs with FitStar
- You can receive social media notifications
- PurePulse Heart Monitor
- It is cheaper than the Fitbit Surge on Amazon.co.uk for UK and Amazon.com for USA
- Smart Track
- 5 Day Battery Life
- Auto-sleep monitor
- Multi-Sports mode
What I would like to see
As packed full of features as the Fitbit Blaze is, we are missing the GPS as added to the Fitbit Surge. This is the only feature really missing but has been sacrificed for size, comfort and battery life. This would be a great addition once Fitbit creates a way of you having music without your phone, until then, I will always take my phone with me on my run.
Taking the Fitbit Blaze for a test
- The Fitbit Blaze is very comfortable
- Sleep tracker and silent alarm work very well.
- The on screen work outs are fun but a bit difficult to follow.
- Social Media notifications is great.
- Casually the Fitbit Blaze batter does last 5 days.
- Very secure on my wrist
- Screen visable when running
- Music control works very well
- If you do not want to take your phone, GPS is missed
Putting on and setting up the Fitbit Blaze was an enjoyable experience, it felt more like a Smartwatch, more than any other Fitbit and sits comfortably on my wrist.
Apart from playing through it and exploring the Blazes pre-installed apps such as FitStar, my first test though was its sleep tracker. The beauty of the Fitbit Blazes sleep tracker is that it is automatic as well as the vibrating silent alarm which woke me up but not my partner, which comes as standard on my Fitbits. I am not much of a watch wearer in bed but I did forget I was wearing it when falling asleep.
Social Media notifications is a much better feature than I thought, I never missed it before but really enjoyed having it.
It tracked my day well and I did test it, walking up and down stairs, walking around and just sitting down. I was happy with the results. The screen is not permanently on so you need to give it a tap to wake it up and see your results, this was fine but sometimes it chose not to unlock out of sleep mode. More on that later.
My plan was to just wear the watch for a couple of days and try some it’s casual features but I was excited by the addition of FitStar, an app on the Fitbit Blaze which will suggest workouts based on your fitness levels.
It was time to test the Fitbit Blaze on the road with some running. The Fitbit Blaze recognised I was running without me having to tell it which is a good feature that seems to be a permanent fixture to Fitbit.
It was comfortable to run with and using the features of music from my phone was simple.
I did like it and the results were accurate. As mentioned above, the watch was not always responsive to tapping the screen to wake it up out of sleep mode. This was frustrating when wanting to glance at my progress mid-run.
As the Fitbit Blaze is supposed to be a 24/7 wearable product, I would like to see something I can swim with. I would like to track my heart rate during this, more out of curiosity.
The app was a good feature but it’s hard to look at your watch mid-sit up and maybe a voice coach would have been a good addition but we are still in early days. Like always with a new Fitbit product, we are on early days.
As a 24/7 casual user I did like the watch and the battery last 6 days rather than the 5 advertised.
Conclusion
The Fitbit Blaze outshines other Fitbit models in every way, most notably for value, it is an amazing product. On Amazon UK and Amazon USA you can purchase the Fitbit Blaze cheaper than the Fitbit Surge. Fitbit claims that the Surge is a higher performing Fitness tracker but as a Surge user, I have been converted.
With new features, such as FitStar, the Fitbit Blaze is a clear improvement on previous models. Other new features such as the colour screen and new design, the Fitbit has tried to produce a smartwatch without letting go of anything that makes the Fitbit, what it is.
If you loved the GPS of the Surge then you will miss it here but in comparison the Fitbit Blaze has so much more.
As a user, the Fitbit Blaze held up to all its test, it felt comfortable and secure on my wrist and I could wear it for 24 hours to track my day. As fun as it is playing with the Fitbit Blaze, it is also very practical when not touching it. The watch automatically detects when I am doing more physical activity and even when I am going to sleep.
In conclusion, this is most probably the best overall Fitbit on the market. With every aspect, the fitness tracker is fantastic and is a complete Fitbit upgrade.
You should have no problems setting up and getting to grips with the interface and I am excited to see how Fitbit progress from here.
Against other Fitbits, I would rate this a high 9 out of 10.
Comments
Post a Comment