Alta HR Battery short life

[kaylamatias]

My Fitbit battery used to last a week before charging. It has been depleting faster than I am able to use it. It now only lasts between 9-12 hours if I'm lucky.

I contacted Fitbit, and I was told there is no fix to the battery depleting & my watch has surpassed the 1 year warranty by 3 months therefore it no longer is eligible for a replacement. They kindly enlightened me of my "best options" being 1 option of a 25% discount on my next purchase. 25% off a $230 watch is no compensation for a product failing. I spoke to support associates and a supervisor via online chat. The supervisor repeated the words previous associated had said. I felt like i was talking to a robot reading the exact same sentences with no understanding or sympathy for my frustration. 

I have to say I am really disappointed in the service provided and quality of my Alta HR, for the price they should absolutely last more than a year, and not depreciate so quickly. I

After reading multiple threads on the depleting Alta HR battery, I do not recommend this watch for purchase there are many other companies who are willing to keep their customers happy.

Moderator edit: Updated subject for clarity

[NellyG]

@kaylamatias I am sorry your tracker has failed. The tracker contains a lithium ion battery which needs some care to extend its life as long as possible. I dont know what you charging practices are but here is some information which may help with future devices with Lithium ion batteries you may have

https://help.fitbit.com/articles/en_US/Help_article/2004

http://batteryuniversity.com/

[LizKM_Ireland]

I have exactly the same issue, and equally disappointed. I charged my fitbit yesterday and it died this morn. I recharged it this morn, and it died again when I got home from work. I have it charging now, and it seems awake & fully charged, but when I unplug it, it goes completely dead. These fitness trackers should last longer than this for sure. 

[KErrante]

I had the exact same problem, after owning it just over a month. I still had all the original packaging. So I took it to Target where I had purchased it. They gave me an even exchange. I hope this one works better.

[kaylamatias]

Good luck!! With all the problems with the battery it’s beyond me why they haven’t come up with a solution 

[NellyG]

@LizKM_Ireland  @KErrante

Try restarting your trackers several times in a row. That usually fixes battery glitches. Let us know how you go 

Restart your tracker

[KErrante]

I had tried restarting my tracker many times, which I learned about here on the forum. I also recharged it over night. It worked for a minute, the screen went blank, and I was not able to get it going again. Since I had bought it just over a month ago, that is why I returned it to try another. Last night I read these new posts, so I hope this one works better. I did read the suggested article here on extending battery life. If we bought a product because of its features, it should not be suggested that we turn those same features off to extend the battery life. Mine was working fine until the battery just quit. I didn't even sleep with it on.

[LizKM_Ireland]

Same here ... I'm checking out Garmin watches now ..think I'll have more luck with one of those ....

[Kb123]

I experienced this exact same issue today. Since my device was activated in mid-May, which surpassed the one year mark, I was offered the 25% off to use towards purchasing a new one. So incredibly disappointed. You would think they'd have a customer service platform that parallels with Amazon. Clearly not. The messenger feature took incredibly too long and led me to believe I was actually getting a replacement only to be disconnected and routed to another tech who informed me of the "incredibly generous offer" of 25% off to purchase a new device. Get your act together FitBit. You should be better than this.

[FerdinandFitbit]

Hi there guys, good to see you in the Fitbit Community Forums! 🙂

I'm sorry to hear you're having problems with the battery on your trackers not lasting as it should 😕

@kaylamatias, I was able to see that our Support Team already offered the available options for you. Let me know if you need more help!

@LizKM_Ireland, I'm sorry about this. I can recommend putting your tracker to charge and once it's fully charged, take it off the charger and put it on. Sync it and use it as you would normally do. Make sure to sync it frequently after this (every one or two hours at least) so that the battery levels are recorded on the app logs and once the battery dies, let me know so that I can take a closer look and then we can move forward with other options to get you back on track.

@KErrante, I'm happy to hear that you were able to get your tracker replaced at Target. If you need anything else, let me know!

@Kb123, Thanks a lot for your feedback! When you're already out of warranty, our team will offer a discount on the purchase of any other tracker depending on the available options. If you'd like to take advantage of this, let me know!

If you guys need anything else, I'm here to help!

[KErrante]

Ferdinand, Thank you for responding. My new tracker is working well so far. I hope that all goes well from now on. I really like the features on this site, with the different community groups, help forums, challenges, and fitness/wellness articles. I bought the Fitbit Alta HR for its features, and its size for my small wrists.

[FerdinandFitbit]

That's awesome @KErrante! 😄

I'm glad you're liking the great features on the Alta HR! If you need anything at any time, I'm here to help!

[LizKM_Ireland]

I have tried that. It won't work anymore.

 I'm disappointed that Fitbit don't make replacement batteries for their fitness watches, not leaving much options for staying with them.

They do not appear to have factored that into their longterm strategy.I hope for their future customer base that they develop fitness watches with a replaceable battery.
Quite disappointing too that although I have my notifications set up for alerting me to low battery, these ceased to be sent for quite a while. It's a known pain point regarding the depletion of the battery, Fitbit need to address that, and/or make replacement batteries an option.

I'm a marathon runner and I've recently moved to Garmin, and specifically the Garmin Forerunner 35, which I'm using for tracking my runs. 

[DarthDad1979]

Hi Ferdinand Fitbit- my Alta is less than 2 years old (started using Dec 24 2016) and the battery life has been terrible the last 3 months.  It lasts only 1-2 days now (compared to one week when I got it).  Can you advise of options to have battery replaced?  Is this covered under warranty?  Thanks!

[NellyG]

@DarthDad1979 Unfortunately the battery is not replaceable. Whether your Alta HR is still under warranty or not depends on where you live. Most places waranty is 1 year, but it is 2 years in Europe.

[KErrante]

Izoo12, I agree with you. So far, my Fitbit Alta HR is working all right. This is an exchange replacement, since my first one only worked for a month. I've had this one since last June. Since I don't sleep with it on, and have stopped using some of the notification and tracking features, I only have to charge it about every 4 days. However, as I stated in a previous post-- if you buy a watch for it's features, you shouldn't have to stop using some of those features in order to extend the battery life. A replacement battery should definitely be available. It's also very hard or impossible to read it outdoors in daylight, except sometimes in the shade. I want to wear it when walking outside, but can't track my progress along the way.

My son has a Garmin with many features, which he is very happy with. I will probably switch to one of those when my Fitbit dies completely.

[JackieSo]

My AltaHR has just failed in the same manner.  It was working great until 1 week ago...battery charged lasting nearly 1 week.    Now it will not last a full day.  My device is 15 months old.

Like others,  I expected a device at this price point to last much longer.  

Very disappointed.

[DarthDad1979]

Hello NellyG - Greetings to you!  Not sure I understand why it would be different in one region or another.  I got my Fitbit some new life for a bit by disabling all the reminders and extra functionality, but now the battery is completely dead.  Going to be hard justifying spending money on a new Fitbit knowing the battery life is so short and can't be changed.  Will look at other brands to see what else is available.

[Gillw399]

I agree, I’m so disappointed that my Fitbit just died and reading these threads there is no battery replacement.

[Ibiene]

Hi I have similar battery issue, which fed up with and I'm past my warranty period. so I placed order for Inspire HR today April 5, 2019, but was not aware of the discount. what do I do to get the discount.