Battery draining Blaze

[ASTHoneyBadger]

I have a Fitbit blaze that is completely dead. I cannot charge the battery and when I plug it in, the screen turns on like normal, but even after I allow it time for a full charge, the battery says it is completely dead.  I think it needs a reset or something along those lines, but I can't utilize any of the buttons or anything like that because the battery is dead.  Any suggestions?

Moderator edit: Subject for clarity

[jah732]

Add me to the list of folks with a Blaze that won't even last the day. I got the Blaze last summer as a gift, just as my Surge was dying (and the band was disintegrating) so I was glad to get it. The battery life seemed okay then but I still had almost all options turned off because that was how I had the Surge set up and saw no reason to have this one set up differently. I have turned off all day sync, notifications, music, etc., and the screen does not turn on until I press button. I keep on continual heart rate monitoring (I tend to exercise in short bursts throughout the day so need it to be on for those times). I have 2 silent alarms set that I could get rid of.

About 4 months ago I noticed the battery was not lasting more than 2 days. Then it got to the point where it would last just over 24 hours so I would charge it every morning while I showered and got dressed. Still, there were days when it would run out by 8pm, to the point that I had to buy another OEM charger to keep at work just in case.

I have followed all the suggestions about resetting, cleaning contacts, and so forth, but the Blaze is unreliable. Yesterday, as I was about to start my long exercise session at 8pm, I noticed it had turned itself off due to a low battery. Well, that is somewhat useless if it won't stay on when I really need it to track my heart rate. Someone said you should not charge to 100%, just to 80%, but when I tried several weeks ago, partial charging meant it would be off by 7pm due to low battery. I checked that the firmware is updated, and that my phone's app is current. 

I have not contacted customer service since this was a gift for which I have no receipt, and really, a discount on another product that is going to die after a year is not a good solution. So when this one finally dies, I will download all my data and move on to a different brand. It is a pity that this device is so poorly designed. I started with a Fitbit One (that is still functioning and keeping its charge for a week or more, by the way), moved to a Surge, and now the Blaze, but I cannot continue to hope people give me new ones as gifts every year, and I cannot afford to replace such devices so often.

[Lon99]

My blaze won’t turn on and won’t charge it don’t even show the battery icon 

[ginger1dog]

Mine is down to 8 hours of battery life after 16 months of use, so I guess I should be happy.  Any suggestions for any company that has similar functions but does not have battery issues????

[SunsetRunner]

Or how about the Fitbit engineers buy the user a new Fitbit out of their own pocket? I'll bet they would find a solution REAL fast!

[SunsetRunner]

Whoa! Are you kidding me?? 5% failure rate? That should be OK??

So tell me... if one out of 22 Cars on the road today had the engine completely fail just out of warranty, do you think every car owner should just expect that?

How about your refrigerator? Your furnace? Yes, those devices cost a lot more and are more vital to our everyday life, but to suggest that a 5% failure rate should be acceptable... you are delusional.

[Louie_two]

After three replacements I was told I was out of warranty and would need to buy a new device.    My first blaze worked great and I only took it off once a day for a half hour while I showered (since they are not water proof). and it lasted until I forgot I had it on and went swimming.    So much for a fitness tracker that will not track swimming.   Fitbit was great and replaced it at no cost to me.    My next two replacement blazes would show low batter in less than 24 hours and both were replaced by fitbit free of charge.     I received my fourth blaze and it did not hold a charge from day one with the same behaviour.   So I called in a week after receiving it only to be told that I was past the one year warranty.   Seriously?   A week old blaze is past the one year warranty?   So I am trying an Iconic, that of course I will not receive for four months as it is on back order, until then I guess I will have to take two hour breaks from activity or just manually update my companies tracking to get credit for it.....   Long story short, I am incredibly disappointed with FitBit and if I have one issue with my new Iconic, hi ho hi ho it is off to a competitor I go....

[sleder73]

This is my exact Fitbit history also, except I was supposed to have 3 months remaining on my warranty.  That fact was confirmed the 2nd time they replaced mine. Two weeks later they said it was expired.  I purchased straight from Fitbit and the receipt showed 3 months remaining.  They told me they didn't care, they only go by their records.  Defective product along with poor, uncaring  customer service is a bad combination. 

[cmonteath9]

Same experience Mel. Mine was with 1 Charge, and 2 Blaze units...one at exactly 1 yr, and the other in about 10 months. The second time Fitbit wouldn't replace and only offered a discount on a new unit. I suppose you have to make your money somewhere!

[cmonteath9]

Daniel, I have to start by saying I love your commitment and allegiance to the company. Unfortunately, consumers (particularly me) are getting conflicting reports. When I contacted support about the 2nd Blaze unit that had battery failure on me within a yr each time, I was told it was a common problem with the Blaze, but that the second one was not replaceable because it was beyond the 1 yr warranty of the originally purchased unit. How does that makes sense? 2 different units, received 1 yr apart, but falling under the same original warranty?? I previously had a Charge that lasted about 2 yrs before it started failing. I had little problem with that...it's a cheaper unit & lasted longer. After seeing review after review online, and page after page on the Fitbit community of people complaining about Blaze batteries doing exactly the same as both of mine, that would suggest it is indeed a systemic problem. Also, based on your numbers, 1 in 22, would not be considered high quality by almost any QA standard (and would fail Six Sigma), and my guess is that those odds are much worse for the Blaze. Do we expect more? Absolutely! Of my dozens of battery operated personal devices (particularly Apple...per your analogy) purchased over the years, not one has seen this level of failure within a year, let alone twice. All that said, I love the features Fitbit offers, so it's hard to move away from, but tough to swallow going 0 for 3 with my units so far. Because I'm not willing to spend the extra money on a new unit right now, I have to charge it every day, and sometimes can't get through the day depending on what features I use. That's my plight until i figure out where to spend my money now, since I can't get a replacement. The Ionic looks tempting, but will definitely need to research battery issues first.

[cmonteath9]

I agree with that! LOVE it when it works. 

[Koaks01]

Thank you this was SUPER helpful!

[Ginofs]

---

@AlejandraFitbit wrote:

It's great to see you here @TinaA72 and thanks for the attachment. 

If you are seeing the battery icon, that means that your tracker is charging. It takes almost 2 hours to fully charge your Blaze. Have you leave it 2 hours charging? If you haven't, I recommend letting the tracker charge and them see how many days lasts a full battery.

Let me know the outcome. :smileyhappy

---

How can cleaning contacts and recharging help a problem that started affecting many people after a software update?  Notice how many people (including myself) mentioned the problem starting after a software update. Would it be possible for FitBit to push out a rerelease to revert to the previous update.  Whatever that update fixed can’t be as bad as causing many units to basically stop functioning.

My Blaze has a different way of not working. It goes dead after working for maybe an hour or two.  I charge it, and it immediately has a FULL CHARGE.  Nevertheless, after charging overnight, it still dies quickly in the morning. I had recharged it and reset it any number of times. 

When the problem first started, it was useable for a couple of days.  Ultimately, I gave up and bought a  FitBit Versa Special Edition, which is really fantastic!  I love using FitBit Pay on it. So this relieves the pressure about the failed Blaze.

I wonder if the Blaze update was developed in the marketing department to promote sales of newer models?  Sounds funny, but the lack of workable solutions or workarounds makes one wonder.

[ginger1dog]

I charged it all night, same short battery life...

Glenn Sanada

[Ginofs]

---

@ginger1dog wrote:
I charged it all night, same short battery life...

Glenn Sanada

---

After reading several tips here, I checked my Fitbit app settings, and found that “All Day Sync” was turned ON. I NEVER had it set to that!  My guess is the software update defaulted to “All Day Sync”, which apparently caused horrible battery life. 

After turning All Day Sync OFF, my Blaze was able to work for about 3 days so far, and it looks like it may get to 4 or more days. I used to get five in the past. 

So so it looks like turning OFF All Day Sync is an answer to the Short Battery Life Blaze problem.

HOWEVER, I consider this a WORKAROUND, as this shouldn’t kill the battery overnight, and it didn’t do that in the past. 

So try turning off All Day Sync and just Sync your Blaze whenever you need to. If you WANT to use All Day Sync, I’m afraid you’ll need to wait for a REAL fix.

[Denny877]

Am having the same problem but mine fitbit blaze will charge but as soon as I take the charger off the fitbit goes to a black screen and will not turn on but it if I put it back on charge it will say it is full. 

[Denny877]

---

@AlejandraFitbit wrote:

A warm welcome to the Community @ASTHoneyBadger and @WendyB thanks for stopping by.

If your tracker is not working while it is out of the charger, I recommend restarting your Blaze. Also, clean the charging contacts on the back of your Fitbit, since over time the contacts can accumulate dirt and debris that prevents them from making a good connection to the charger. Use a toothpick or toothbrush to clean the charging contacts; do not scrape them with anything metal because this can damage the plating and result in corrosion. And finally, take a look at the Tips to maximize the battery life of your Blaze post.

I hope this helps, let me know the outcome. 

---

Am having the same problem but mine fitbit blaze will charge but as soon as I take the charger off the fitbit goes to a black screen and will not turn on but it if I put it back on charge it will say it is full. 

[ginger1dog]

Please quit sending me these suggestions which I have tried 5 months ago when the problem first arose...these suggestions did not work then and that has not changed.

Glenn Sanada

[Ginofs]

---

@Ginofs wrote:

---

@ginger1dog wrote:
I charged it all night, same short battery life...

Glenn Sanada

---

After reading several tips here, I checked my Fitbit app settings, and found that “All Day Sync” was turned ON. I NEVER had it set to that!  My guess is the software update defaulted to “All Day Sync”, which apparently caused horrible battery life. 

After turning All Day Sync OFF, my Blaze was able to work for about 3 days so far, and it looks like it may get to 4 or more days. I used to get five in the past. 

So so it looks like turning OFF All Day Sync is an answer to the Short Battery Life Blaze problem.

HOWEVER, I consider this a WORKAROUND, as this shouldn’t kill the battery overnight, and it didn’t do that in the past. 

So try turning off All Day Sync and just Sync your Blaze whenever you need to. If you WANT to use All Day Sync, I’m afraid you’ll need to wait for a REAL fix.

---

I’m answering my own post to say that after turning off All Day Sync, the Blaze worked for maybe 3 days. However, the next day it was completely dead. Charging it brought it back to 100% charge right away, but after taking it off charge, it lasted maybe a day and then died. It won’t last a day now. It’s completely unusable.so there now seem to be no effective solutions. Good thing I have my new Versa SE, which works well.  

[Tammy1105]

My Blaze all three of them only took 30-45 Mins to charge , If it is
taking 2 hour's something is wrong .

they should not continue to sell the blaze. I loved everything about the
blaze c'mon I bought 3.

Now I am using the Versa and I love it. It was a gift from my son. He too
used the blaze for years. Buying a new one it would stop keeping a charge .


Tammy ~

[829Anita]

I'm having this issue now and it is about 8 months old - I charge it fully when its low and now my data is getting lost or not tracked because I'll charge it and expect to get a few days and then I see that the battery is dead and nothing has been tracked.  I have three different chargers - so I'm hoping it's just a glitch. It goes from dead to charged quickly, but as I'm reading I will leave it on there for 2 hours before I take it off.