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Tuesday, 6 February 2018

Tech Review: FitBit Blaze - Smart Fitness Watch



Due my excessive consumption of Energy Drinks and delicious foods, I find myself a little more rotund than I might prefer, therefore I have decided to become a healthy, well to-do and generally long living chappy, or not. I just want to shed a few pounds and I am always keen on a new bit of tech, which leads me to the FitBit Blaze. 

Choosing a Fitness Tracker

Now, FitBit are somewhat of the go to brand for fitness trackers and assuming its not just because they have "Fit" in the name, people seem quite keen on them. There are many options as far as Fitness trackers are concerned so the firs thing is to figure out which brand you want. 

If your an IPhone user then you might be tempted by an Apple Watch, however this isn't actually a fitness tracker and will set you back a whopping sum to the tune of £300-£400 depending on your preferences. If your only after a fitness tracker, I would discount all Smart Watches because they costs a bomb and come with a huge amount of features you wont use. 

The obvious choice for me was actually the Samsung Gear Fit which I'm sure would run nicely with my Galaxy S8, however, this is also a little pricey and it doesn't do a huge amount more than one of the higher end FitBit's (which are still cheaper than the Gear Fit). 

So, if you've decided to get a FitBit, you have a number to choose from. I won't bore you with the stats but as far as I'm concerned a fitness tracker needs to monitor your heart rate, so the more basic models are out. 

Next, if you only want a simple tracker of your daily steps , you could go for the Atla HR or in my opinion the better option Charge 2 which comes with a bigger nicer screen and the ability to track your exercise should you activate it. 

The FitBit Blaze

The Blaze is not much different in price from the Charge 2 and comes with two features I felt I needed. Firstly, it looks like a watch rather than a wrist band which I prefer, the screen is much bigger, colour and a full touchscreen rather than some kind of Tap-screen (if that's a thing). Having looked at the Charge 2, it wasn't particularly responsive to my taps. The other main feature of the Blaze that I like is that you can change the music track from the watch without having to get your phone out of your pocket which while running is both difficult and potentially fatal to you expensive phone. 


Review 

For my actual review, all I can really say is that it does exactly what it says on the tin. It monitors your steps quite accurately, it tracks your exercise (this can be automatic but it works better if you activate it and chose the type of exercise) and the app will tell you all the details you didn't want to know about how unfit you are. 

The main things to track are your calories, your sleep and your weight loss. Because it takes into account your actual movement in a day it can calculate roughly what you burn in a day rather than just an estimate based on your specifications. I like a scientific approach, so all I have to do is wear it all day , type in my calories to the App (which works just like my fitness pal with a slightly less foods programmed in) and make sure I'm always in a deficit of calories. 

Broadly speaking, one pound is 3,500 calories, therefore if your in a deficit of 500 a day you should loose a pound a week and so on. 

The sleep tracker is interesting as it will show you light, deep and REM sleep as well as telling you when you woke up. All this did was make me tired so I stopped tracking my sleep quite quickly. 

You can also link up with friends, to share motivation or something like that and work together or compete in challenges which, to be honest, is quite motivating. 

Summarise

All in all, it might not be the prettiest thing, or the most tech heavy and its definitely not a smart watch but it does have a few good functions and as far as your fitness is concerned it has most bases covered. Therefore, if your looking middle of the road, not to expensive, but with a bit more too it, I would recommend the FitBit Blaze.

3/5 Slices

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