Bests & Worsts Reviews from Amazon

I purchased the Fitbit Blaze because I wanted to keep track of my steps, workouts, heart rate, and sleep but I also appreciated the "smart watch" type features including text, calendar, call, and email notifications. I have it paired with an iPhone 6, and I get notifications for most of the core apps (calendar, calls, text, email) as long as you set the app on your phone to at least "banner" notifications. If you aren't getting at least a banner notification on your phone, you won't get any kind of notification on the Fitbit. Additionally, longer text messages, over a few sentences, will be cut off on your Fitbit so you will have to look at your phone to read them in their entirety. That said, let's get into the pros and cons. **This is NOT a paid or subsidized review. If you find this review helpful, please click "yes" - thank you! PROS: * Tough, comfortable to wear, stylish, and easy to get on and off. I was worried that it would feel like I had a fragile cell phone strapped to my wrist, but it's not like that at all. I've banged it into things, bumped it around, sweated on it, gotten dirt on it, and it cleans up and keeps on going no problem. * Great combo between a fitness tracker and a smartwatch - perfect for working athletes or busy parents on the go. * Heart rate monitor is tops - has no problem reading my heart rate in a variety of exercises and I don't have to keep the wristband in an uncomfortable position or strapped on too tightly. * Sleep tracker is surprisingly accurate. * Intuitive to use and pairs seamlessly with my iPhone 6. * Fitbit app is fun to use, visually pleasing, and a nice compliment to the device. * Long battery life, easy to charge (you pop out the black square device from the interchangeable wristband), charges quickly. * It's a nice bonus to get email, calendar, text, call and other notifications right on my wrist without having to keep my phone on me (as long as you're in Bluetooth range). Keep in mind that notifications only work if you're synched with your phone via Bluetooth. * All the fitness features - GPS synching, etc, work really well. * Ability to see call notifications and also accept or decline the call right from the watch screen. CONS: * Plastic wristband gets sweaty and, if you wear it day after day, can cause some skin redness in places. I recommend washing the band in soap and water daily, and taking it off for a little while each day. * For some reason, if I let the Fitbit automatically detect exercise, it will categorize a vigorous walk as time on an elliptical machine instead. You can go into the app and recategorize exercises, but it's still annoying. * If my hands are cold or too dry, sometimes it takes a few taps to get the touchscreen to recognize input. * When you're in the exercise tracking mode (note: this is a mode you enter manually, I'm not talking about the day-to-day tracking of steps) you can't access the rest of the device (in other words, it won't track an exercise in the background while still allowing you to still use the clock, step tracker, etc). You can scroll through screens while in the exercise mode to see the time of day and etc, but it's still annoying that the exercise mode can't run in the background. * Longer text messages (over 3-4 sentences) get cut off on the Fitbit screen. That said, I'd highly recommend the Fitbit Blaze to athletes, people with jobs who need to be out and about a lot (the notifications are great), and really anyone with an interest in tracking their steps while also enjoying some of the features of a basic smartwatch. I would buy this again.