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Charge 5 Issues and User Recommendations

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‎12-11-2022 18:48

‎12-11-2022 18:48

Hey all, here are my 2 cents about Fitbit Charge 5 and how disappointed I am in this product. 

 

I bought my Fitbit Charge 5 for $175 on February, 2022 and have been using it ever since. I chose Fitbit over apple watch because I liked the supposed long battery life and its fitness oriented design and utilities. Issues began to arise after 2 months of use. Now after 10 months, I have had 3 warranty replacements and a fourth one coming this week. Please understand, I don't scuba drive or rock climb or any physical intensive/dangerous activities. I used to go to the gym a few times a week and swim and play tennis. Most of the time, I am in the office or at home relaxing. My point is that there is no way that I am experiencing all these issues because of incorrect use or user activities. Here are a list of issues/recommendation that needs to be addressed: 

  1. Water Lock function: the screen is to unresponsive for activating or deactivating water lock. I have to forcibly tab on the screen multiple times before it locks or unlocks. In the shower, sometimes, just the water drops could deactivate it.
  2. I have noticed that in the shower, water can swipe through the apps on the watch and activate applications like "exercise", "timer", etc. Very often, the screen would get stuck on "timer" such that I cannot return back to the clock face nor get out of the timer screen. The only fixes are resetting through a power chord or changing the clockface on the Fitbit application through my Iphone.
  3.  After a couple months of use, if I use my Fitbit to the point that the battery runs out, there is a good chance that it never turns back on again. Resetting it with the power chord does not work; changing the clock face does not work; leaving it alone for a few days does not work. 
  4. My 3rd Fitbit replacement, which I have had it for 2 months now, is now experiencing severe battery drain issues (less than 18 hours per charge). No idea what is triggering this now.
  5. Fitbit should let me uninstall some of the useless apps on the watch such as "notifications", "payment", "timer", etc. Why is the "notifications" app the first app when I swipe left?? If I want to have a watch for notifications or entertainment or multiple functionalities, I would have bought an apple watch! Fitbit is branded for fitness and health, so focus your product on those! Plus your hardware is already buggy enough, adding more functions only wears down on its performance and indirectly affect battery life and responsiveness. This is the definition of trying to do too many things with a product.
  6. Your mobile Fitbit application is a mess too. When I call customer support through the Fitbit app, the call blocks some of the functionalities of the app so much so that I cannot navigate to parts of the application where I need to troubleshoot the watch. 

These are just a short list of the long problems and frustrations that I have and experienced with this product. It needs some serious improvements and redesign! The only nice thing about Fitbit has been its customer support department. Not once have I experienced a customer support agent being rude to me or giving me a hard time for a warranty replacement. For the last time I called (2 days ago), I really wanted a refund, even a partial refund, because I have had enough with the troubles of this watch. But it was not possible since I had purchased it from BestBuy. So this fourth warranty replacement will be the last for me... 

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5 REPLIES 5

‎03-11-2023 11:20

‎03-11-2023 11:20

This is exactly my experience except it's been less than a week!  I'm getting a Samsung Galaxy Watch!!!  Take a chance and get taken!!!

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‎03-31-2023 05:58

‎03-31-2023 05:58

I've had the exact same issue with two Charge 5s that I bought for my daughter and myself. I had mine replaced under warranty 3 times within a yr and 2 months after the yr was up, I had to buy a new fitbit. I went with the Sense this time. Now, it's 4 months after the warrant is up on my daughter's and hers is dead and won't charge. I've had Fitbits for over 10 yrs and have never experienced this. I'm considering an Apple watch for my daughter and moving away from Fitbit. 

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‎03-31-2023 07:42

In response to Prip0cilla

‎03-31-2023 07:42

I was loving my Fitbit until it became un synced. I then lost my data and my Premium account when trying to sync it. The polite support staff were not effective. Using support chat does not keep a record of the conversation and there is no longer email support. I feel at a loss about how to sort out my problem... Other than ditching my Fitbit...

 

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0 Votes

‎04-07-2023 07:43

‎04-07-2023 07:43

This is both me and my wife's experience! And now they don't even replace our fitbits. Nice technological scam!

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‎04-08-2023 14:45

‎04-08-2023 14:45

I’ve been using various Fitbit models since 2012 with very few issues, and the Charge 5 has been the worst experience. It was working great until about 90 days out of warranty. (I didn’t think I’d need a purchase protection plan because my previous fitbits lasted years)

 

the Charge 5 suddenly staged a very dramatic, tortured death over the course of a few days this week. First it stopped catching heart data during sleep - which it has done before and resumed after a good cleaning or a tightened band, so I didn’t think much. A day or two later  it started showing a wildly inaccurate heart rate. I charged it up and restarted it, tried again. Next up, the EKG and 3 minute (can’t see what it’s called because tracker is now a brick) scans stopped working. They would loop, show very raised “beats,” and freeze the device. So I let it keep looping for a day until the battery died and it had a chance to think about its poor behavior. I dug out my old Inspire (1) which works just fine even after many years and 15 months of no use. Charged up the Charge again and it seemed to be working normally for 2 days other than heartbeat info, but now we are back to glitchy data. I burned 2100 calories and took 6000 steps while on my couch at 9am, which is an impressive feat even for my anxious legs…

so I’m back to the Inspire, which is pleasantly less data to look at anyway, but still a little livid about purchasing the Charge 5which might as well be advertised as a disposable tracker you pay $10/mo or more to enjoy for one year or less. 

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