Cardio, guided breathing and new sleep functions
With the Fitbit Alta HR now out, Fitbit is turning its attention to the Blaze for some much-needed love. The watch has just got an update that brings aboard some familiar features, and a couple of new ones.
Cardio Fitness Level and Guided Breathing, which both debuted on the Charge 2, are now available on the watch through the latest update, which you should see live soon, if not already. Cardio Fitness Levels is a way to see your cardio fitness improving over time and compared to people the same age/gender, based on your VO2 Max.
Guided Breathing meanwhile takes your heart rhythm and then guides you through personalised two- and five-minute breather sessions – the idea being that you’re calmer at the end of each one.
Read this: Fitbit Alta HR review
Finally, as we mentioned in our Alta HR review, Sleep Stages is now available for Blaze users too. This uses a combination of motion and heart rate to infer your levels of sleep – light, deep, REM – through the night. Combined with Sleep Insights, also available in the app for all Fitbits that track sleep, you’ll get actionable observations of your sleep, guiding you to get better rest.
In our short time spent with the new sleep features, we’ve found the insights have encouraged us to keep a closer eye on our rest hours by putting the data in a little more context. This is something that Fitbit promises will get better over time, as it learns your patterns and how your activity and sleep levels intertwine.
The Blaze is starting to feel a bit old in the tooth, as we await the arrival of the much-anticipated Fitbit smartwatch. For those of you still enjoying the Charge 2, Fitbit has also released some new perforated straps that you can find on its store.
