Preventive maintenance for heart rate sensor cover

[nblivin]

During a cleaning of my Blaze I noticed a small crack on the clear plastic covering the heart rate sensor in between the green led lights. This is after about 8 months, so didn't happen right away, but not something you want to find happening to a product that should last longer than that.

Now customer service had no problem sending me a new tracker only (pebble they call it) because I'm still within my warranty. That's all good until I'm past warranty and this clearly known design flaw gives out again!

The sensor would definitely stop working due to malfunction caused from sweat and dirt getting inside. My reason for posting here today is to ask if anyone knows of anything to prevent this from happening again? I wad thinking something simple as packing tape or similar item? Not sure if that would effect the sensor or my skin. 

Any suggestions or feedback based on your experience would be great. 

Thank you,

Landon

Hard to see the crack, but clearly the plastic is getting fogged over and will hinder the sensor useless in no time...

 Side note, I wish I would've know about this problem so I didn't need a replacement. Refurbished replacements are garbage! The replacement I received was broken, blacked out pixels and wouldn't even boot up! Not to mention the slowest possible shipping available. 5-8 days each way. 7 to me, 7 to return back, still waiting but expecting 10-14 days until it is back in my hands. Almost a month of tracking lost because of a 2 cent plastic part! 

Even more the reason to prevent this if possible.

Moderator edit: Format

[Sassy48]

Does it have an app to match?

[E.B.]

The sensor was cracked and caused the battery to overheat and kill my original Fitbit. I contacted customer service and received the offer of 50% discount on the same model or one of the older models or  the models with less features. I was told the discount could only be used on a "tracker" not a "smartwatch" dispite the fact that the Blaze was touted as their version of a smartwatch when it first came out. So I decided that instead of giving them more of my money, I would go with the second offer of the free replacement Pebble, which in the tracker portion of the Fitbit with no charger or bands. I did use it for about two weeks at the same time as Gear S3 to compare the two and found that because I mow the grass at least once a week and push mow alot of it, the sweat and sunscreen on my skin was causing the back to get moist and dirty where the edges of the tape are and I was changing the tape more often than I like and it was leaving sticky residue on it and cleaning that off to reapply more tape was a big concern for me. I was worried about the screen cracking from excessive cleaning and removal of tape so I put it in a drawer and have only been wearing my Frontier. My mom takes walks several times a week but I don't think she works up the same amount of sweat that I do and I think the tape will need to be replaced far less often so I'm giving it to her with a new band and a fresh piece of tape and hopefully it will last her longer than my first Blaze lasted me. 

[KB9WNS]

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@E.B. wrote:

The sensor was cracked and caused the battery to overheat and kill my original Fitbit. I contacted customer service and received the offer of 50% discount on the same model or one of the older models or  the models with less features. I was told the discount could only be used on a "tracker" not a "smartwatch" dispite the fact that the Blaze was touted as their version of a smartwatch when it first came out. So I decided that instead of giving them more of my money, I would go with the second offer of the free replacement Pebble, which in the tracker portion of the Fitbit with no charger or bands. I did use it for about two weeks at the same time as Gear S3 to compare the two and found that because I mow the grass at least once a week and push mow alot of it, the sweat and sunscreen on my skin was causing the back to get moist and dirty where the edges of the tape are and I was changing the tape more often than I like and it was leaving sticky residue on it and cleaning that off to reapply more tape was a big concern for me. I was worried about the screen cracking from excessive cleaning and removal of tape so I put it in a drawer and have only been wearing my Frontier. My mom takes walks several times a week but I don't think she works up the same amount of sweat that I do and I think the tape will need to be replaced far less often so I'm giving it to her with a new band and a fresh piece of tape and hopefully it will last her longer than my first Blaze lasted me. 

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What brand of tape are you using?

I am still on the original application of the tape fix from 3 months ago.

[E.B.]

@KB9WNS I use the Duck HD Clear Heavy Duty Packaging tape that you suggested several months ago. I live on a property with two houses and I live in one of the houses rent free + pay if I maintain the property which is on several acres. I can use a riding mower for a portion of it but I spend a good 7 to 8 hours over a two day period just  pushmowing. It's a 3 day process of 3 to 4 hours of those days mowing with a pushmower, mowing with the riding mower, and weedeating. Over that 3 day period I sweat a lot, use a lot of sunscreen, and a lot of Repel Max 40% bugspray. None of this even includes the time I spend outside walking around watering the flowers with attached hoses or just going out to reposition the sprinkler head throughout the day and I have to do all of this in the hottest part of the day because I have a night shift fulltime job and thus have to be finished with what I need to do for that day by 2pm so I can be back inside, showered, and in bed by 4pm if I  actually manage to stick to my established routine. Those 3 days of the week had that tape looking and smelling gross even with wiping it off after I finished mowing for the day. Especially with that deet bugspray, I had to make sure the back was very clean which meant needing to replace the tape atleast once every week I mow. I don't usually mow all the yard every week because the grass on my neighbor's side is thin and doesn't grow as fast in the front but in the beginning of the summer I was mowing atleast my side of the property and the front shared side as well as down at the road every week which meant changing the tape twice, the two weeks I mowed back to back. Now back in the winter time, I didn't have any issue because I would do a little walking at work but it wasn't even remotely close to the sweat I work up in the summer months. Bare in mind though I did take precautions when I was wearing my Blaze. I had a rugged band that I used strictly when I mowed to help keep it  protected from grass and dirt and I also used scotchtape to protect it from any flying rocks, mulch and  sweat and I always cleaned it thoroughly after every mowing day. The tape was continuing to stick, it just was getting gunk around the edges which were rolling up because of having to do wipe it down so often. Pulling that tape off as often as I need to not only was leaving sticky residue on the back of my Blaze which needed to be cleaned off before reapplying a new layer of tape, I was also afraid of the stress it was putting on that already fragile sensor just from the sheer force of pulling of the old layer of tape. If I didn't wear my Blaze while I mowed, I'd no doubt be just fine and the tape would of solved my issue but it wasn't working for me and my situation. I want to be able to sweat as much as I want to and wear as much sunscreen as I need to and not have to deal with duck tape and I refused to not wear my Fitbit while I was mowing. You should be able to wear a fitness tracker when you are outside being extremely active in the summer heat without fear of it being damaged by sweat and skin protecting chemicals.  Even with the tape, I didn't trust it to hold up so I am now using my Gear S3 Frontier with a tempered glass screen protector on the front as well as the back panel and when I mow, I tie a bandanna loosely over the top of it to protect it from grass and dirt. They make little rubber protectors for the body of the watch but I found that sweat was collecting inside the rubber so I don't use them for protection while mowing anymore. The Build quality between the two devices is night and day and no doubt it helps that the heart rate sensor on the back of the Gear is flat, where as the one on the back of my Fitbit is raised. Over all the Blaze is a great device, that failing sensor is the issue and though the tape solves the issue for many, it still wasn't cutting it for me. I think the tape on the back will work well for my mom though and she will hopefully be able to use my replacement Blaze without any issue and hopefully for considerably longer than my originally purchased Blaze lasted me.

[AlejandraFitbit]

Hi guys, thanks for all the feedback and information provided, your opinions are really important for us.

I just wanted you to remind you our Community Guidelines, please make sure you are following them so we can have friendly environment here.

Now about the issue you are experiencing, feel free to get in touch directly with our support team, for a faster response you can contact them via chat, I know they will be glad to help you out, since you can discuss your options with them. Also, I suggest taking a look at our warranty policy. For the ones that received a discount and are interested in using it, in this page you will be able to compare all Fitbit units, maybe there is one that meet your needs.

For the ones that have decided to not take advantage of this, if in the future there is anything else we can help you with, do not hesitate to post it.

Keep the stepping up! 

[JG1975]

Hi just checking if you been able to fixed I was thinking to do the same with my wife charge 2 or use a garilla clear glue but I am afraid this will affect the sensor hope your idea work 

[JG1975]

Hi do you find a way to fix it? I have the same issue and costumer service it's not very helpful

[Sassy48]

I caved and bought a new one 😏

S. Fitzsimons

[MDHolden]

I had the exact same problem.  But since out of warranty, no replacement for me. Very disappointing. 

[SunsetRunner]

The same thing happened to my blaze. There are scratches on the heart rate monitor sensor, which means I no longer receive an accurate heart rate reading or sleeping insights reading.

I’ve contacted customer service but they just gave me a coupon.

and there’s no way I’m sinking a +$100 on something with this design flaw.

why no spare parts?

why no repair center?

its frustrating and ridiculous

[Unhappy865]

I'm pretty sure no one in their right mind wants to use a discount for another faulty product.

[JRoden21]

I had my Charge2 for three years haven't forced it into charger cleaned it if  got really sweaty still plastic came off

[Sassy48]

I think they are cheaply made. I just had my whole pebble replaced because the screen cracked. Had it for 1 year.

[Phatnapp]

I'm onto my 2nd Ionic (the 1st was replaced due to crack on back).

Now 6 months later the brand new replacement watch (not a refurb) is cracked on the back too....

No more fitbit for me... Next watch will be far more rugged.

[Alta2018]

My Alta heart monitor stopped working on a hot day right in the middle of mulching at the church. I didn't do anything to damage it other then I was sweating. Is this something that can be fixed? It's teaching everything else still so I don't want to lose a month of tracking like this fella did. Not it sucks not having the heart monitor or sleep analysis.  I'm afraid to even try to clean it as to not want to damage it. 

[Kanyaspencer]

The versa does the same thing. I’ve had mine a year and a half and had to have it replaced due to the sensor going out. They sent a replacement and now the warranty is up and I’m having the same trouble with the replacement. I love my device but the company needs to figure out how to prevent this from happening. Good luck with the tape. I will try that next time.