Motorola Moto G5 (2017) can sync with Charge 2

[Dominique]

Just in case some of you are considering the new Moto G5 (5th gen. 2017): I received mine today and my Charge 2 had no problem syncing with it, although it is not (yet?) listed as a compatible device. Same with my Surge, btw.

For those of you in America, only the bigger Moto G5 Plus will make it there. However, I assume the internals (OS = Android 7.0 + Bluetooth) are the same as far as Fitbit is concerned.

[Scottyo99]

I find what works for me pretty consistently is this :

-close the fitbit app if you have it open

-go into your bluetooth settings, then 'more settings'

-select your fitbit device and choose 'forget'

-start the fitbit app, and then pull down to do a sync

it will re-connect to your fitbit and then sync very quickly.

This is what works for me almost every single time. 

[Scottyo99]

Motorola only account for roughly 2-4% of the smartphone market, maybe we're such a small part of the overall market that we're just not a priority for them.  Either way I would love for someone from fitbit to speak up and clarify what the hurdle is to supporting more phones so maybe we could understand and not have to guess.

Personally I have a hard time buying that it's anything to do with the phone. They all run the same underlying android OS(OS version aside), and some have a semi-custom GUI built on top of that but the underlying OS and program interface to the OS is the same. It has be otherwise most apps in the PlayStore would have issues running on various different devices, and they don't.  I've never had issues installing any app from the playstore and getting it run across a variety of phones.  Never had an issue that is until Fitbit.

And Bluetooth is certified to a specification (2.0, 3.0, 4.0, etc), so that all devices know how to talk to each other.  I've connected my phone to various other bluetooth devices and never had an issue. Even played music all day, all week, and never had a connection issue with anything but the fitbit.

If it's not the OS and it's not the bluetooth on the phone that only leaves one thing, the watch itself.

I love the fitbit but hate the lack of notifications and support.

[MSteun]

I'm having that trouble too!  Fitbit told me they are working on a new update. They sent me a new tracker but it wouldn't even connect at all. 

[azbowhuntn]

Maybe Motorola paid them to start interfacing with their phones. We'll see
what the next update does.

[Codiaker]

I gave up on the Charge 2 gave it to my wife she has a Samsung. I now use a
Garmin Vivosport works perfect syncs all the time on my Moto G5S Plus I
like it a lot better when I upgrade it'll be to a Garmin.

[Scottyo99]

LOL, you read my mind !

I've been looking at the Garmin watches for the past couple weeks deciding which one to buy.  My big thing is I don't want a fitness tracker I have to charge every night. The battery has to last 4-5 days and the more features I can get with that in mind (and at a reasonable price) the better. I'm torn between the basic vivosmart 3, or upgrading to a vivosport or vivoactive 3.

If you go on the Garmin website and look at the phone requirements / compatibility it calls for Android 4.4 or later, and bluetooth 4.0 or greater.   That's it !    No specific phone makes or models.  It's the same thing for Samsung and several other fitness trackers on the market.   I don't get what fitbits problem is, that they can't code for a broad spectrum of devices like everyone else in the market.

I won't ever buy a fitbit or recommend one again after this expensive lesson and I'd love to get my $179.00 back for my Alta HR.

[azbowhuntn]

Xmnuz, do you get call or text notification from the Garmin?

[Codiaker]

Yes and I get notifications for whatever I choose email phone, very similar to Fitbit except it syncs every time, All the time.

[Scottyo99]

I just wanted to post a final update and advice for anyone reading.   

I gave up on my fitbit and went and bought a Garmin vivosmart 3.   It's $150.00 vs the fitbit Altra HR I see is now retailing at bestbuy for $199.00?? in Canada.   The Garmin is substantially cheaper and it has WWWAAAYYY more functionality.   

The band is a soft rubber that is super comfortable vs my fitbit hard rubber/plastic. 

Notifications work all the time, every time, no delays.   And it does more than just text notifications,  you can choose whatever push notifications you want to receive, be it text, email, whatapp, etc.   I have it set to push me phone calls, text, and notifications from my security system.

Furthermore,  it has a touchscreen so you can read the entire text message and not just the first few words.

Other added features that are a huge plus:   

-I get the weather (and 3 day forecast) on my watch.

-it has a 'find my phone' feature that will make your phone ring at full volume (very handy)

-music controls which are great if you listen to music from your phone and exercise.

-alarms, stopwatch and countdown timers

-bluetooth disconnection notification option.  It can tell you if you get too far and lose connection.

-and all the usual step counting, sleep tracking, hr monitoring, plus more.

-battery lasts several days if you set the backlight to only come on when you touch the screen.

The difference is night and day. It has a better bluetooth, a touchscreen, and way more functionality.  You can turn on or off whatever you do and don't want to use.  I'm not sure why the fitbit is more money, it should cost substantially less to make without a touchscreen, the cheaper bluetooth, and limited feature set (ie. cheaper software development costs).  Fitbit is overcharging for what they offer and just coasting along on their name.

Go buy a garmin vivosmart 3 or vivosport and don't look back.  I was able to export all my fitbit data and import it to garmin, you won't loose your stats.

Anybody want to buy my alta hr ?  lol

[Codiaker]

Good deal I did the same... no more fitbit's for me, can't read the screen
in the Sun, touch screen is iffy, Fitbit app has no satellite map, my Blaze
doesn't even make a good watch. I feel cheated. My Garmin Vivosport...
Works with me not against me.

Want to buy my Blaze? cheap.

[azbowhuntn]

Thanks, I'm happy to hear this. I am so tired of not even getting texts,
forget about phone alerts. I've got some Amazon bucks, hello Garmin

[Scottyo99]

My Wife had a Charge 2 and has an Asus Zenphone 2 Laser.  She also had major issues with notifications not coming through for months.  It was pretty frustrating for her because she works retail and can't answer her phone when with a customer, but she can look at her watch and make sure she is not missing a call from the kids school.  So I decided to give her my Garmin vivosmart 3 watch,  and then went and bought myself a Garmin Vivosport for $219, only slightly more than the cost of an Alta HR.  It's very similar to the vivosmart 3 I previously posted about with all the same features but a couple other nice additions.

-color touch screen and multiple watch faces to choose from

-GPS

-bigger battery ?

The big plus is the battery seems to last forever.   The GPS uses battery up fast (when its on) so I assume they drop a bigger battery in to handle that.   I will rarely use the GPS but I do like having the bigger battery for sure.  I can get a full 14 days between charges which is amazing.   To get the 14 days I set the display to light up only when i touch the screen, i turn off moveIQ (which analyzes your motion, guesses your activity and logs it), and I turn off the HR monitoring.   

I don't need moveIQ as I'm just tracking overall steps/activity level.  And you can manually start/stop tracking an activity right on the watch if I want to log it anyway.  And I don't care about HR as I find all wrist based trackers somewhat inacurate for me because you need to wear them tight, which I don't find comfy, and I have dark arm hair which interferes with the reading.

You get everything else I previously mentioned in my other post about the vivosmart 3 plus a color touch screen, different watch faces, GPS,  and battery that goes forever.   I don't think I've been this happy with an electronics purchase in a long time and my wife is thrilled too.

thumb down for fitbit, thumbs up for Garmin.  lol

[coolaide101]

Thanks for the info. I am leaning towards the Garmin as well- as I have about given up on FitBit-I am on my third one (Alta HR this time) and it is just another non-syncing Fitbit. What waste of $$$

[Codiaker]

I'm more than happy with my Garmin Vivo sport its got a color screen Touch
Screen Works flawlessly when I'm outside hiking or running I can see the
screen in bright sunlight. I should have known better I've used Garmin GPS
in my car for years for directions.

[azbowhuntn]

My hope is the Fitbit folks will get the message that there are a lot of
people who have the android version of phones.
--
*David Otte*
*480.390.0883*

[Codiaker]

You can hope in one hand........

[Scottyo99]

Why wait and hope for fitbit when there are other much better options out there ? Even if fitbit fixed the sync issue I wouldn’t ever go back to fitbit because Garmin offers so much more, and for less money to boot.
The best way to send a message to a company that has a lackluster product and fails to address issues with said product, is to not support that company by buying more of their product and giving them even more of your money. One bad fitbit was enough for me try someone else.
And likewise, a good product will always bring you back for more. I’ve had a couple generations of Moto G phones and they have all been fantastic at a far cheaper price than the iPhone and Samsungs of the world. I’ll always buy Motorola now unless they pull a fitbit on me. The value is outstanding. I just ordered my wife a Moto G plus (5th gen), snapdragon 625 cpu, 64 gig storage, 4 gig ram off Amazon.com (shipping to a u.s. address) for $209.00 USD. Do know what kind of phone you can get from Samsung for $209 USD ? A galaxy J7 with a slower processor, only 16 gig storage, and only 2 gig RAM ! It’s not even remotely close.

Every purchase you make is a chance to vote with your wallet. The one thing all companies understand is bottom line sales …. or lack of.

[Codiaker]

My Garmin VivoSport is on my wrist... my charge 2 is in the drawer, after I
came to the same conclusion you did. Now they come out with a watch named
after a junk car VERSA.

[Ajju]

Moto g5 plus is compatible with Fitbit charge 2 but it's not showing any calls or messages on the screen of Fitbit..

[azbowhuntn]

if you buy an iPhone, the phone calls show on your blaze..