As you might know, I’ve been trying to lose weight this year and was doing pretty well until (a) my motivation vanished and (b) I went on an all inclusive holiday and put some of what I’d lost back on again which was expected but demoralising all the same.
Monday is the day I’ve had in my head to get back on track so I’m getting prepared with my Slimming World meal plan and my new little gadget, the Fitbit Blaze is ready to help me get my motivation back.
When I opened the box and first saw the Fitbit blaze, I must admit that it looked very much like an Apple Watch although I now know that it’s not a Smartwatch as you can’t download apps to it as you can to the Apple Watch.
The Fitbit Blaze is actually a fitness watch and essentially works in a similar way to the other models in the Fitbit range but with quite a few added benefits. It really can do a lot to help you get into better shape but here’s the main features that I’ve been using on the Fitbit blaze:
Heart Rate Monitor – I love that you can monitor your heart rate just from your watch, you don’t need any chest straps or extra bits and bobs as you do with some others. I find it motivating to see when my heart rate increases during exercise as it shows I’m going in the right direction.
Step counter – The Fitbit Blaze is helping me with my main challenge at the moment which is to try and hit my 10,000 steps a day. I’ll be honest, I’m finding it really hard on a working day as I do spend a lot of time at my desk but weekends I’m getting close to it. Next week I’m going to set mini goals for a working day and make sure I hit at the weekend.
All day activity – I love seeing at the end of the day what I’ve achieved and the Fitbit Blaze measures all-day steps, distance, calories burned and active minutes so I can see how close I’ve come to achieving my goals.
Call, texts and calendar alerts – This is possibly my favourite feature because it can seem a bit rude to check my phone in a meeting or when I’m with someone but I can quite easily just have a casual glance at my watch to pick up a text or see who’s been calling me. Just don’t tell anyone that that’s what I’m doing!
Music control – I like being able to skip songs that I’m playing on my phone using the Fitbit blaze. Lazy, but convenient.
Multi Sports tracker – even if you don’t tell your Fitbit blaze that you’re going to do something more strenuous than walking, it’s multi sports tracker is trained to notice. I’ve seen other people say that it’s more accurate if you preselect as it will identify it as soon as you start doing the exercise rather than have to think about it first.
There’s even more features that I haven’t used yet as well….
Connected GPS – When I get back into running I can use this feature as it looks great. You just need to connect your Fitbit Blaze with the GPS on your phone to map your routes and see run stats like pace and duration. This is the thing I most wanted when I was running earlier in the year so I think I’ll love this!
On screen workouts – I *think* I’ll use this at some point but that may be me being extremely optimistic as I’m not one for organised workouts! Basically you can get step-by-step instructions and coaching right on your wrist with Fitstar.
One thing I can’t get away with is the Sleep Tracker function as I find the watch is uncomfortable if I try to sleep with it on. I’m OK through the day with it but it just irritates me at night so I can’t wear it. I’ve never been able to wear a watch in bed though so this isn’t a reflection on the Fitbit Blaze.
The Fitbit Blaze is pretty stylish as it is with it’s plain strap and colour touchscreen but you can also buy different straps for it if you want to change it up a little bit. They’re not cheap though but I suppose if it’s for something you’re going to wear every day then you can justify the expense.
The battery life is pretty good and I believe it can last up to five days but I’ve been charging it every three just so it doesn’t die on me – I want it to count every single step! 😉 I did forget once and I got a very handy little email reminding me to charge it!
As you can see from the photos above, I’m not the only fan of the Fitbit blaze. Master Frugal loves wearing it and it really motivates him to get out and do more which can only be a good thing. I let him wear it for a weekend and in that time, he went on his xbox for the sole purpose of inviting all of his friends to meet him at the field to play football and suggested a family trip to the beach to play football after tea.
As far as activity trackers and fitness watches go, the Fitbit blaze is definitely up there with the best and for someone like me, it does more than I would ever need.
I would like to see a slightly smaller version of it although I guess it would be a struggle to pack so many features into anything smaller and I’d also like to see some sort of belt clip or something so you could still track your steps and activity without having it on your wrist. Aside from that, I’m a fan.
You can buy your Fitbit blaze for £159.99 from Currys in a variety of different strap colours – I’m loving the plum personally.
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We were sent the fitbit blaze to review but the thoughts and opinions about it are all my own.
