Sometimes it feels like a company is reading your mind. I’m on the lookout for a new fitness watch but don’t want to tie myself into one mobile OS. Farewell Apple Watch. I want something with multi-day battery life. Another swathe of watches disappears. I want something that will deliver genuinely useful fitness information, whether I’m cycling, running or playing tennis. Goodbye Pebble. I want something vaguely stylish. Goodnight Garmin.
And enter, as you might have guessed, the Fitbit Blaze. I was lucky enough to attend its launch event at CES in Las Vegas, and even excusing the fact that Fitbit clearly designed this watch just for me, it does look amazing. It’s even possible that people other than me will like it.
Considering my evident special relationship with Fitbit, it was chastening to be told off by the guardian of the watches – “excuse me, sir, these units are for photography only” – when I broke the rules and slid a sample onto my wrist. I only had a few seconds of flicking through the screens, but even now, four months before its launch in May, it appears slick and stable.
I also spoke briefly to Tony Gonzalez, an ex-NFL star who now works for FitStar (bought by Fitbit last year), which has its services tied into the watch – for instance, workouts that you can see on the screen of the watch while you’re doing them.
He’s been using the watch for a day or two. While he’s clearly only going to say positive things, he assured me it was comfortable, whether he was wearing it in bed or on a run. He’s also built like a tank so I chose not to push the point.
Fitbit Blaze review: Design
I certainly agree with his comment that it looks great, and the swappable straps, while hardly new as a concept, mean you aren’t stuck with one look. The £160 retail price includes one “classic” colour – black, plum or blue – and you can choose the other colours for £20 apiece. Want a leather “luxe” band, in black, “camel brown” or “mist grey”? That’ll be £60. A stainless steel metal band costs £90 and I must admit looks tempting.
Style is something new for Fitbit, but it hasn’t ignored its traditional strengths. It ties in with its app and online tools so you can track exactly how you’re performing and compete with friends, and with a continuous optical heart-rate monitor (“PurePulse” to use Fitbit’s phrase) you can track your resting heart rate as well as how you perform when working out.
There’s no need to tell it what sport you’re doing either, with Fitbit promising that these will be automatically detected and recorded. It's the same story for sleep tracking, while a silent vibrating alarm can wake you up as necessary.
The downside of this watch – as opposed to Android Wear or the Apple Watch – is that you’re stuck with Fitbit’s choice of watch faces because it’s using its own OS. It comes with a few faces from the off, and no doubt more will be added in future, but it’s a potential annoyance.
Fitbit Blaze: Early verdict
Other than that, the Fitbit Blaze is exactly what you’d expect from a smartwatch: you get notifications, the ability to control music, at-a-glance summaries appropriate to your particular workout. The screen is crisp and clear, although I’ll have to wait until I get the chance to see it in daylight conditions before commenting properly.
One other word of caution: the watch doesn’t feature built-in GPS, just “connected GPS”. That means you’ll only be able to track your route (and indeed view information such as pace in real-time on the watch itself) if you’re carrying your phone with you. It’s definitely this watch’s biggest downside. Also, note that Fitbit claims water "resistance", nothing more.
Considering all the upsides, though, I’m willing to live with these negatives. First impressions: this is very nearly the perfect fitness smartwatch.
