Announced at CES 2016, the Fitbit Blaze is a high-end fitness-focused smartwatch. The Blaze is sporting a high-resolution, color touchscreen display, along with bands of leather, stainless steel or elastomer. The Blaze is also a modular device, meaning users can easily insert the tracker into a new frame instantly. Fitbit has been migrating their fitness trackers into more smartwatch-oriented devices over the last few years, and the Blaze is the perfect example of both fitness and functionality.
The Fitbit Blaze has a number of fitness-based features:
- FitStar Personal Trainer on-screen workouts deliver guided instructions and animated images to three of the most popular personal trainer workouts from FitStar: Warm It Up (8 minutes), 7 Minute Workout, and 10 Minute Abs. Each workout is free and can be accessed at any time with no app or smartphone required, offering a fast, effective workout you can do anywhere.
- Connected GPS helps you train smarter by delivering real-time exercise stats like distance, pace and minute-mile split times when connected to a smartphone's GPS. After each workout, stats sync wirelessly to the Fitbit dashboard to let you review your route, speed and elevation in more detail.
- PurePulse continuous, wrist-based heart rate tracking helps maximize any training routine with simplified heart rate zones to help you maintain workout intensity and better track calories burned during each workout. PurePulse also provides all-day insights into overall health, including resting heart rate and heart rate trends over time, all without an uncomfortable chest strap.
- Multi-sport mode lets you record specific activities like biking, cardio, running, weights, yoga and more while providing relevant, real-time performance stats to help you get the most out of each workout. PurePulse is enhanced while in Multi-sport mode for even better heart rate tracking, especially during high intensity workouts.
- SmartTrack automatic exercise recognition automatically recognizes and records continuous movement activities like biking, hiking and running, with general categories for aerobic workouts (i.e., Zumba®, cardio-kickboxing and other dance classes) and sports (i.e., tennis, basketball and soccer). It gives you more ways to stay motivated and get credit for your workouts by effortlessly recording them in the Fitbit app and automatically adding them toward weekly exercise goals.
- In addition, the Fitbit Blaze will offer "call, text and calendar notifications" along with music controls and automatic sleep tracking. The battery life is supposed to last up to five days and the watch is compatible with over 200 Android, iOS and Windows applications.
The Blaze is available from Amazon, Best Buy, Target and other retailers. The optional elastomer bands are $29.95 each in black, blue and plum, and the smartwatch's leather bands and stainless steel frames sell for $99.95 each in black, mist grey and camel. Finally, the Luxe stainless steel link band paired with a stainless steel frames will run you $129.99.
