Blaze dead at 15 months

[SunsetRunner]

I bought a Blaze on March 4, 2017.  I loved it and immediately bought others for my wife and both my parents.  I use it everyday.  earlier this week the battery life was suddenly dramatically reduced. Then, this weekend it died altogether.  It won't charge at all.  I tried cleaning the terminals, restarting, and using a different charger and outlet.  No luck.  Fitbit support indicates my warranty expired 2.5 months ago and offered me a discount code.  A discount is nice, but it feels stupid to buy another product from Fitbit after this experience.  Apparently the design life is about the same as the warranty period.  Very disappointed.   

[Rich_Laue]

Sorry to hear about your buddy, this sounds like a battery problem.

[Julia_G]

@SunsetRunner, unfortunately all rechargeable batteries have a limited life.  How limited that is depends very much on how it is used.  For modern lithium ion type batteries, such as in all Fitbits, deep discharge should ideally always be avoided, as each deep discharge will reduce the battery's life.  Ideally your batteries should be kept between about 30-80 % charge -- with Fitbits it is okay to exceed the upper number (because it is protected against overcharging), but it is much better not regularly to allow your device to go completely dead.  

Of course, I do not know your charging habits -- just offering my understanding of best practice.

Fitbit's warranty period, like most company's, is designed to reflect the minimum period a device should last -- it is not the expected period.  But all users make different demands on their devices, and use them in different ways.  My personal opinion is that offering a discount count after warranty period to loyal customers is pretty generous.  I don't thing my washing machine manufacturer is going to be doing that -- when the warranty is over, I am guessing I am on my own!  Just my opinion...

[SunsetRunner]

Thanks, Julia. I understand your point. I think I generally did keep the battery between 30 and 80%. I don't think I was unusually "hard" on it. And I didn't expect the Fitbit to last forever. I did, however, expect a $200 device to last more than 15 months. The discount is a nice consolation. But I have fundamental questions about the quality of the product after this experience.

__________________
Matthew T. Brown
504-782-4447

[Julia_G]

@SunsetRunner, well, if you don't feel you allowed your Blaze battery to discharge regularly, then it may be that you got unlucky that yours only lasted 15 months.  I appreciate your exoectation that it should last longer than 15 months -- I was only suggesting one possible reason why it might have failed, and also saying that I am quite sure that the warranty does not reflect the expected life it is the minimum life.

Mine is going quite well (touch wood!) and I have had it since about a month after it first launched.  I don't work for Fitbit, but I am active in the forums, and the Blaze is definitely not one of the devices I tend to hear many quality complaints about.  You mentioned that a couple of your family members also have Blazes.  How are theirs going?  I know it isn't much consolation to be told you got unlucky, but in this case it might just be that, rather than a fundamental flaw in the quality of the product.