Two of the most popular fitness trackers are the Fitbit Charge HR and the Fitbit Blaze. The Fitbit Blaze is pretty sharp looking, a big step up cosmetically, and looking a lot more like an Apple watch. The Fitbit Blaze is also quite a bit cheaper than the Fitbit Surge. So … is there a catch? Which one is the better deal? Which one will work for you as a cyclist? Here’s an indepth comparison to help you choose between the Fitbit Surge vs the New Fitbit Blaze.
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Table comparing Fitbit Blaze vs Surge
This table shows you all the key features of the Fitbit Blaze vs Surge, so you can decide which one is right for you.
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| Continuous heart rate monitoring? | Yes, with an optical heart rate monitor, so you don't have to wear a chest strap | Yes, with an optical heart rate monitor, so you don't have to wear a chest strap |
| Simplified heart rate zones? | Yes, so you can see at a glance how much of your workout was in peak HR zone, cardio zone, and fat-burning zone | Yes, so you can see at a glance how much of your workout was in peak HR zone, cardio zone, and fat-burning zone |
| Date and time display? | Some of the clock face choices include date and time. All include the time. | Some of the clock face choices include date and time. All include the time. |
| Automatic sleep monitoring? | Yes - accurate and very helpful. Very useful for anyone with sleep issues. | Yes - accurate and very helpful. Very useful for anyone with sleep issues. |
| Calories burned | Seems to be accurate. Works with METs (metabolic equivalents) and lets you know all day long how many calories you have burned (even if all you have done is napped!) | Seems to be accurate. Works with METs (metabolic equivalents) and lets you know all day long how many calories you have burned (even if all you have done is napped!) |
| Silent alarm | Yes | Yes |
| Caller ID? | Yes | Yes |
| Built-in GPS? | Yes, and the GPS function is excellent! You do have to select "Hike" "Walk" or "Ride" so it knows to switch the GPS on. | No, but syncs extremely easily and fast with the GPS in your smart phone |
| How long does the GPS take to pick up satellites? | I was happily amazed at how quickly the Fitbit Surge connected to satellites - much quicker than my expensive Garmin Edge bike computers | Connects with the GPS in your phone at lightning speed - very impressive! |
| Can you link it to your Strava account? | Yes, you can link it up, and then it automatically uploads your bike rides to your Strava account. Excellent! | Yes, you can link it up, and then it automatically uploads your bike rides to your Strava account. Excellent! |
| Does it have a multi-sport feature? | Yes, you can tell it that you are now about to Hike, Bike, Walk, Workout, etc. It then records this time as active minutes, and records the activity in your daily record. You set up your favorite exercises in your dashboard. For activities such as Run and Bike, you can also record the route you took. | Yes, you can tell it that you are now about to Hike, Bike, Walk, Workout, etc. It then records this time as active minutes, and records the activity in your daily record. You set up your favorite exercises in your dashboard. For activities such as Run and Bike, you can also record the route you took. |
| Sensors and components: | Optical heart rate monitor, 3-axis accelerometer, 3-axis gyroscope, altimeter, digital compass, vibration motor, and ambient light sensor. | 3-axis accelerometer, 3-axis gyroscope, optical heart rate monitor, altimeter, ambient light sensor, and vibration motor. |
| Does it track active minutes? | Yes. The default is that elevated HR does not count as exercise until you have had an elevated HR for 15 minutes. 2 minutes of elevated HR is probably just you trying to update Windows, not a workout. You can change this default. Also, by default it won't track GPS for all active minutes. You have to tell it that you are starting a workout that has a GPS symbol. Once you tell it you are starting a bike ride, for example, it starts searching for a satellite. Once it finds it, you press the start button, and it will record both active minutes and a map of your ride until you press stop. This will use more battery power, of course. | Yes. The default is that elevated HR does not count as exercise until you have had an elevated HR for 15 minutes. 2 minutes of elevated HR is probably just you trying to update Windows, not a workout. You can change this default. Also, by default it won't track GPS for all active minutes. You have to tell it that you are starting a workout that has a GPS symbol. Once you tell it you are starting a bike ride, for example, it starts trying to connect with the GPS in your connected smart phone. Once it finds it, you press the "Let's Go!" button, and it will record both active minutes and a map of your ride until you press stop. This will use more battery power, of course. |
| Counting steps | It is accurate during the day, but does this strange thing of showing between 100 and 400 steps when I wake up. After that, it counts correctly. Am I sleep walking ? It comes preset with a daily goal of 10,000 steps, but you can change this. | I find it to be very accurate. |
| Counting floors | Sometimes over estimates a bit. | I find it to be very accurate. |
| Tracking sleep | Does this extremely well and automatically. This is extremely useful for people dealing with sleep problems. | Does this extremely well and automatically. This is extremely useful for people dealing with sleep problems. |
| Can you use it to lose weight? | Yes, you can set up a weight loss plan on the dashboard. Fitbit will calculate how many calories you should eat to lose weight. Then all day long it monitors how many calories you are burning, against how many you are expending. You do of course have to input what you eat. Once you do that, it has an excellent database of calories that it uses for its calculations. | Yes, you can set up a weight loss plan on the dashboard. Fitbit will calculate how many calories you should eat to lose weight. Then all day long it monitors how many calories you are burning, against how many you are expending. You do of course have to input what you eat. Once you do that, it has an excellent database of calories that it uses for its calculations. |
| Operation | Better - three buttons and touch screen; it is effortless to swipe through to review stats on the go. | Better - three buttons and touch screen; it is effortless to swipe through to review stats on the go. |
| Display | Big display with choice of four screen formats; very easy to read even in bright light. Monochrome touchscreen LCD with backlight | Big display with choice of four screen formats; very easy to read even in bright light. Full color touchscreen LCD with backlight. |
| What's on the display | Much bigger face. It is able to give you caller ID notifications if synched with your smart phone, daily stats, and of course, time of day. It also gives you previews of your text messages. | Much bigger face. It is able to give you caller ID notifications if synched with your smart phone, daily stats, and of course, time of day. It also gives you previews of your text messages. |
| Resting HR measurement | Seems to be excellent; nice that you can check your heartbeat at any time, plus your stats over time. | Seems to be excellent; nice that you can check your heartbeat at any time, plus your stats over time. |
| Distance walked per day | Seems to be consistent and reliable. | Seems to be consistent and reliable. |
| Can you control music with it? | Yes. Just push the top right button for a second, and a screen pops up where you can stop and start music, fast forward and rewind. Very handy. When you first use it, you have to pair the BlueTooth on your Surge with your smart phone. Designed for iOS devices. Fitbit Blaze is also compatible with Windows mobile devices for music control but Fitbit Surge is not. | Yes. Just push the top right button for a second, and a screen pops up where you can stop and start music, fast forward and rewind. Very handy. If you have a compatible iOS mobile device running iOS 8 or above, music control will automatically work after you set up your Blaze. Fitbit Blaze is also compatible with Windows mobile devices for music control but Fitbit Surge is not. |
| What colors does it come in? | Black, blue, orange | A wide range of different colored and different textured watch straps. When you buy it, you choose from black, blue or plum as your starter strap. The actual watch is a good looking matte silver. |
| Does it measure active minutes accurately? | Seems to be accurate - it's fun to look back on the day and see a record of the times when you were active. | Seems to be accurate - it's fun to look back on the day and see a record of the times when you were active. |
| Automatic synching? | Yes - syncs stats wirelessly and automatically to your computer and over 120 leading smartphones. | Seems to be accurate - it's fun to look back on the day and see a record of the times when you were active |
| What is it like to wear? | It's quite a bit larger than the Charge, and can disrupt your shirt cuffs. It does have a very nice, quality feel against the skin, though. It is made of an elastomer material that is flexible, durable and lightweight, so it feels comfortable on your wrist. | It's larger than the Charge HR but slimmer than the Surge. It has a very nice, quality feel against the skin, though. It is made of an elastomer material that is flexible, durable and lightweight, so it feels comfortable on your wrist. |
| Sizing | Small! Choose a larger size than you might usually do. I am average size and needed a Large | Small! Choose a larger size than you might usually do. I am average size and needed a Large |
| Can you swim with it? | Absolutely not! It's splash proof, not water proof. | Absolutely not! It's splash proof, not water proof. |
| How do you monitor your activities? | On the go, you have a few basic functions you can review on the tracker - such as steps taken, current heart rate, miles walked today, calories burned today, and floors climbed today. You can review an indepth dashboard of all your activities on your smart phone and on your computer. The Fit.com connection is one of the HUGE strengths of Fitbit. It's a great way to monitor your activities and your progress. | On the go, you have a few basic functions you can review on the tracker - such as steps taken, current heart rate, miles walked today, calories burned today, and floors climbed today. You can review an indepth dashboard of all your activities on your smart phone and on your computer. The Fit.com connection is one of the HUGE strengths of Fitbit. It's a great way to monitor your activities and your progress. |
| How long does the battery last? | About 5 days - less if you use the GPS function. Manufacturer's specs: Rechargeable Lithium-polymer, up to 7 days for daily tracking and 5 hours for GPS running | About 5 days. |
| How do you charge it? | You connect it with a micro USB cable to your computer; it takes about an hour to charge. | You remove the clock face, put it in a little charging box, and plug the charging box into a power source. It takes about an hour to charge. |
| Challenge features | You can set goals, invite friends to challenges, etc. | You can set goals, invite friends to challenges, etc. |
| Does it cause you to make smarter choices? | Absolutely! It's very motivating. It also sometimes sends you an encouraging message when you are close to your goal, or congratulates you when you reach it! | Absolutely! It's very motivating. It also sometimes sends you an encouraging message when you are close to your goal, or congratulates you when you reach it! |
| Reviewing data | Gives you access to Fitbit.com, on which you can review a comprehensive dashboard of everything - steps, activity minutes, activities over time, heart rate over time, etc. | Gives you access to Fitbit.com, on which you can review a comprehensive dashboard of everything - steps, activity minutes, activities over time, heart rate over time, etc. |
| Syncing | No syncing problems experienced - it syncs well and automatically with phone and computer. | No syncing problems experienced - it syncs well and automatically with phone and computer. |
| Dongle required to connect with computer? | Yes - comes with a dongle that has to be plugged into a computer before you can sync wirelessly. It's a very tiny dongle that would be quite easy to lose if you carried it around, so this pretty much limits you to synching with just one computer. | No dongle required! So you can pair it with multiple computers, if you want to. |
| What can you see on your wrist? | Home (clock face); Today (Steps/HR/Miles walked/Calories burned/Floors climbed); Exercise (choose your activity to record); Fitstar (choose a built in workout); Timer (Stopwatch, Countdown, Timer, Alarms); Settings | Home (clock face); Today (Steps/HR/Miles walked/Calories burned/Floors climbed); Exercise (choose your activity to record); Fitstar (choose a built in workout); Timer (Stopwatch, Countdown, Timer, Alarms); Settings |
| Fitstar | No | The Blaze has Fitstar, which is basically two built-in workouts that you can follow. |
What Can a Fitness Tracker Do for You?
A fitness tracker can be a really strong motivator to exercise, providing you with goals, feedback, challenges, stats, records, and encouragement. Plus you can review your progress, activities and stats for recent days and weeks. You can see a complete overview of your activities, calories, sleep, steps, etc. on your desktop at fitbit.com on your desktop or laptop computer, as shown below.
Also note that for exercises such as recorded bike rides (and runs/walks), you are given a complete set of stats, which includes distance, time, average heart rate, maximum heart rate, average speed, top speed – and all of these are available right there on your tracker the minute you finish the ride! You can also review the stats of your ride afterwards on your Fitbit.com dashboard. Note that in this view on your dashboard, you can drag a vertical slider across the four graphs, and for example see what speed you were doing when your heart beat was at its maximum.
You can also get information on your cell phone, on the Fitbit app, as shown below. I cannot get the whole overview into one screen shot – on your cell phone, you have to scroll down to see it all. Your cell phone app will also alert you when you need to update the software on your tracker, as you can see in the screen shot (the little red upside down arrow near the top right indicates an update is available). As you can see, you can also check the battery level (top right). And note that your Fitbit will text you when it is low on battery! Plus when it is fully charged, you will get an alert on your phone to tell you your Fitbit is now fully charged.
I find the dashboard on the cell phone app really easy to read and user friendly. And of course, you can click on any of these snapshots, to get more details. For example, as you can see in the screen shot below, you can review your activities over time.
Personally I have found that wearing my fitness tracker causes me to make more good choices. I choose to walk upstairs instead of riding the escalator; I choose to park further away from stores; I choose to ride my bike more; I choose to take more walks; and sometimes I even offer to walk the dogs in the evening if I haven’t hit my daily quota of steps – I really want to get to the point where my Fitbit congratulates me for hitting 10,000 steps!
This effect seems to be ongoing – it has not worn off after the novelty of my new tracker wore off. In fact, both Maggie and I found we quickly became very fond of our Fitbit fitness trackers, and that over time they continued to motivate us. There’s just something about your wrist catching your attention with a buzz, and then telling you something like: “You overachiever! You’ve exceeded your active minutes goal for the week!”
As an example, I used to take the dogs for a thirty-minute walk every morning, but I gave up that habit a while ago – out of sheer laziness, I guess. (And to be fair, it’s tough enough to get to work on time without adding in a walk.) But just this morning I started those early morning dog walks again. Why? Because it’s an easy way to help me meet my steps goal for the day. And I rediscovered how good it is for my mood to start the day with a walk in the park with two creatures who are always overjoyed to greet another day! It’s worth getting up 30 minutes earlier.
Aesthetics of the Fitbit Blaze vs the Fitbit Surge
The new Fitbit Blaze offers a full color clock face and menus, as compared to the monochrome face of the Surge. With both watches you can choose from four different clock faces.
You choose your clock face in Settings, and your watch face updates the next time you sync. However, there is no doubt in my mind that the Fitbit Blaze is way better looking with its full color as compared to the Fitbit Surge with its monochrome display. I found I got used to the monochrome face of the Surge and quite liked it. But then when I tried the new Blaze, I very quickly decided that I definitely prefer the full color Fitbit Blaze face and interface.
Also, with the Fitbit Blaze you can change the strap, so there are a lot more options of how your watch looks. This option is not available on the Fitbit Surge.
Call and text notifications on the Fitbit Blaze vs Surge
Both of these fitness trackers will buzz and show you a notification that you are receiving a call or a text. You can also switch this off it bothers you. With both of them, you can scroll down to read the text.
I find this feature really useful. I like to know if someone important is trying to communicate with me, such as my wife or kids. It also helps to be able to glance at my wrist while cycling and decide I am not going to interrupt my ride to take an unimportant call!
Of course, you cannot respond to texts or phone calls on either of these fitness trackers. For that you need a smart watch, not a fitness tracker.
Music Control on the Fitbit Blaze vs Surge
Both the Fitness Blaze and the Surge enable you to control your music from your wrist. I know that a lot of people don’t see the point of this, but I find it very useful. I often listen to books on my phone, and find that the controls with most Bluetooth headphones are sometimes a bit clumsy – so for example I will restart a chapter when I didn’t mean to. Also, the buttons on headphones are almost impossible to use with cycling gloves.
I find the music control function on both these devices really valuable when I am cycling or walking. Especially if my phone is in my pannier!
Silent alarms in the Fitbit Blaze vs the Fitbit Surge
With both the Fitbit Blaze and the Fitbit Surge, you can set silent alarms on your computer or cell phone. On the watch itself, you can switch these alarms on and off. I like this feature, as I find it a lot less jarring than an audible alarm. To be safe, I set the silent alarm for two minutes before my usual alarm. This usually wakes me up in time to switch off the audible alarm – thus avoiding at least one stressful event before I even get out of bed!
Optical heart rate monitors in the Fitbit Blaze vs the Fitbit Surge
Both the Fitbit Surge and the Fitbit Blaze offer optical heart rate monitors, so that you can record your heart beat rate continuously without wearing a chest strap. They show up on the back of the watch as green lights. This enables both of these fitness trackers to automatically track your sleep. This is a great feature. I used it to confirm that I had problems with sleep, and showed my doctor a Fitbit printout of my erratic sleep patterns. On the basis of that, she referred me to a sleep disorders clinic. So I am not surprised to learn that Fitbit trackers are increasingly being used in clinical applications.
Multi Sport Feature in the Fitbit Blaze vs the Fitbit Surge
Both the Fitbit Blaze and the Fitbit Surge have a multi-sport feature – for example, you can tell it that you are now about to Hike, Bike, Walk, Workout, etc. It then records this time as active minutes, and records this in your daily record.
You set up these activities on your dashboard, and can arrange them in your own order of preference, so that your favorite exercise always pops up first.
GPS in the Fitbit Blaze vs the Fitbit Surge
For many cyclists, tracking rides with GPS is essential. I love to track my rides, and have been doing that with my Garmin Edge bike computers for years. For that reason, I was sure I would prefer the Fitbit Surge over the Blaze, because the Surge has a built-in GPS chip, and the Blaze does not. So yes, I was ready to give the Fitbit Blaze a big fail in that department.
However, I was in for a surprise. The Fitbit Blaze has an almost flawless and very fast sync with your phone, so that it can use the GPS on your smart phone to track your rides. Over a period of many years I have used a lot of devices to make GPS records of bike rides. I have to say that this Fitbit Blaze makes a really fast, impressive connection. A lot faster than most Garmin Edge bike computers I have tried (except for the 810).
The way it works with both the Fitbit Blaze and the Surge is that you swipe to exercise, tap on the exercise icon, and then scroll and tap to select one of the sports that you have set up as exercise shortcuts (see Multi Sport Feature above). If the exercise is compatible with GPS, it will have a little gear symbol on the bottom right. This is just common sense, really. Your Fitbit can only record a route with its GPS if you are actually going somewhere, which happens if you are cycling, walking, or running. It does not do GPS recordings for the “Workout” choice because walking from the stationary bike to the bench press machine is really not an event worth recording!
Once you have selected a GPS-compatible activity, one of two things happens. If you are wearing a Fitbit Surge, it will look for a satellite with its built-in GPS chip, and tell you that is what it is doing. Once it finds it, it will tell you, and you can press the start button. This happens pretty quickly. If you are wearing a Fitbit Blaze, it will look for the GPS in your phone, and tell you when it has found it. You then hit “Let’s go!” and off you go.
It seems to me that the Fitbit Blaze is consistently faster at getting connected than the Surge was. Don’t get me wrong – both are very fast. However, the Blaze seems to be a little faster. It may be that as the Fitbit Blaze utilizes brand new technology, it works better.
All in all, the lack of a GPS chip onboard the Fitbit Blaze is not a problem at all! In fact, it’s a bit of a plus, because it makes the watch slimmer than the Fitbit Surge. As long as you have a decent smart phone that is GPS enabled (and all of them are), you don’t really need a GPS chip in your fitness tracker.
And here’s the biggest upside – because with the Fitbit Blaze you are not paying for an extra GPS chip that you don’t actually need, the Fitbit Blaze is cheaper than the Fitbit Surge!
Strava Connection with your Fitbit
After your GPS-recorded activity, your Fitbit will quietly and automatically upload your ride to Strava – providing you have a Strava account and have linked it to your Fitbit. This is very easy to do. I love this feature. Sometimes I will get a text notification on my Fitbit, and it is a buddy giving me kudos on a ride I have completed just a few minutes ago. I didn’t even know it was uploaded yet, and I am already getting kudos!
Related content: Indepth review of the Fitbit Charge HR
Related content: Why every cyclist should use Strava
Battery charging with Fitbit Blaze vs Surge
Both will go for about 5 days on one charge; longer if you charge them while you are in the shower (a good habit to get into so you don’t accidentally take your Fitbit into the shower). The battery in the Fitbit Surge will run out much more quickly if you use the onboard GPS.
The method of charging is completely different with the Blaze and the Surge. With the Surge you plug a micro USB cable into the back of the watch and charge it with your computer. With the Fitbit Blaze, you pop the watch face out of the strap and put it in a little charging box. The charging box has a cable and a plug, to plug it into a power source. Both the Fitbit Blaze and the Surge take about an hour to fully charge. The Blaze will send you a text notification when the charge is complete (which you will receive on your smart phone).
Related content: Fitbit Charge HR vs Surge
Fitbit Blaze and Fitbit Surge – Two Excellent Fitness Trackers!
These are both excellent fitness trackers, and I can honestly recommend either one. You can get cheaper fitness trackers, but then you do have to give up the built-in optical heart rate monitor – which I am not willing to do. I want to monitor my heart rate, but I am not willing to wear a chest strap 24/7. Monitoring your heart rate is an excellent fitness tool, and also enables you to monitor your sleep patterns.
And note that these two fitness trackers measured my heart beat rate just as accurately as any dedicated HR monitor I have tried. In fact, Fitbit trackers are now being used in medical studies and trials. All in all, it is no wonder that Fitbit owns 75% of the activity tracker market. It’s hard to find anything that competes.
Bottom Line on the Fitbit Charge HR vs Surge
In most comparative reviews I end up saying that both products are good, and the choice depends on what you need. I am not going to say that here! In this case, I very definitely think that the new Fitbit Blaze is a game changer, and is a big step up on all previous Fitbits. It’s the clear winner vs the Fitbit Surge, for several reasons:
Size: There is quite a big size difference between these two Fitbit trackers. The slightly thicker size of the Surge is due to the built-in GPS chip. It’s noticeably thicker than the Blaze. So, the Fitbit Blaze will get caught up in your shirt cuff less often than the Fitbit Surge.
Aesthetics and choices: The Fitbit Blaze is a lot better looking, thanks to its full color face and generally very sharp design. I find it is a lot more appealing and just plain fun than the monochrome face of the Fitbit Surge. The Blaze also has a neat feature: you can pop the watch easily in and out of its strap, which means that you can buy different straps for it and achieve different looks – much like an Apple watch.
Price: The Fitbit Blaze is quite a lot cheaper than the Fitbit Surge. But both fitness trackers offer almost exactly the same features. Of course, the key difference is that the Fitbit Blaze does not have a built-in GPS chip. However, as discussed above, that turns out to be no problem at all. The Fitbit Blaze still records your runs and bike rides perfectly.
The Fitbit Blaze well deserves all the hype around its release. It’s great value for money, and looks great too. I get a lot of compliments on it. (Whereas no one ever seemed to notice my Fitbit Surge.) Out of all the fitness trackers I have tried, the Fitbit Blaze is definitely my top pick for cyclists – and it most certainly is my choice over the monochrome Fitbit Surge. The Fitbit Blaze is a great choice for anyone who wants a really good looking, multi-sports activity tracker. And the lack of a GPS chip should not put you off, because from a user point of view, it is just as easy to track your bike rides. Whether the GPS chip is in the watch or in your phone is irrelevant – both ways work well, and both are easy to do.
If you do decide to buy one of these great Fitbit activity trackers, please consider repaying my research and writing efforts by clicking through from this post to buy it. It’s the equivalent of buying me a cup of coffee as a thank you, and it’s very much appreciated!
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[…] that you can also use Strava direct from your new Fitbit Blaze activity tracker (if you have one). Here’s a post about how easily and efficiently the Fitbit Blaze measures your bike rides, and then automatically uploads them to your Strava account. So with this, you can contribute to […]