Charge 5 Not Tracking Sleep Properly...

[GuruChaz]

My sister has the Charge 3 and she is getting accurate readouts of her sleep schedule...even when she takes periodic naps.   She showed me her readouts.

I have been using the Charge 5, which is the newer model, and my sleep schedule is not being tracked properly.   I notice that it is worse when sleeping in a recliner than in a bed.   I have slept in my recliner just to test it out and it will say I only had 1 hour and 48 minutes of sleep.   It's just really weird.   I've also had it not have accurate information when sleeping in a bed.   My sister's old model displayed way more information in completion than mine did.   

Is anyone else having issues with the Charge 5 not recording sleep properly?    Maybe it needs a firmware fix.  (shrug)

[Charlieamp]

I’m having the same issues! I just bought the charge 5 a month ago and never get the readiness score accurately/consistently. It keeps telling me to wear the watch for a few more sleeps (I’ve worn in every day and every night for the last month). I have gotten the readiness score about 5 times sporadically. This is getting frustrating as I bought this for sleep/readiness tracking more than anything. I reached out to customer service and they didn’t offer any help. I’m getting to the point of returning it and buying the Apple Watch. 

[GuruChaz]

Hi Charlieamp.  I appreciate your response.   I actually purchased an Apple Watch before getting my Fitbit 5.   I could wear my Apple Watch all day but by the time you go to bed, it needs a recharge. So, you couldn't really wear it to bed.   If you did, you would need to charge it up again before bed and then again before you go to work.   It was just such a hassle in that regard.

The reason I bought the Fitbit Charge 5 was so I could wear it all day and all night and not have to recharge for several days at a time.   Last night, I completely reset my Charge 5 back to factory default and re-setup all my information.    It didn't track one bit of my sleep last night at all when I synced it this morning.   I am at a loss on this.   Like I said, my sister has an older model Charge 3 and hers records and reports sleep automatically and accurately with no hassles.   This product is only doing maybe 60% of what it's designed to do.   I am not happy with it at the moment and the technical team needs to look into this and fix the sleep tracking issue.

[Charlieamp]

Hey Guruchaz,

I actually switched because my Apple Watch cracked and I decided to give the Fitbit a try and what sold me was the charging aspect that you mentioned. But like you said what’s the point of having a watch and membership when half the features don’t work. Super frustrating! 

[GuruChaz]

So, I was reading around on the forums and one poster said they changed their clock face and it broke sleep mode.   I had also switched my clock face.   I just installed it back to the default Continuum and I will see if it works tonight.   I also found this video on YouTube about setting the sleep schedule.

https://youtu.be/9azIrTfUxTc

I'm just experimenting around.

[GuruChaz]

https://youtu.be/xXZUE2XXOS0

[GuruChaz]

My final assessment of this product after trying everything above is that the sleep tracking is not working.   It didn't even record anything last night.  I have reset.  I have walked through videos setting it up.   The only thing I haven't seen is Fitbit taking some real action to fix all these common issues with the Charge 5.   How can a product get worse with a later model?    I am not happy.

[GuruChaz]

Buy a Garmin vivosmart 4 instead.   Fitbit doesn't want to fix their products to work properly.

[Goldbryant]

I have a 3 day old Charge 5. I got sleep stages the first night, but not the last two. Just sleep quality.  Yes, I did ALL the things, many times. I reached out to customer service chat and he said that it will not collect/reflect sleep stages if you select Begin Sleep Now in the phone app. The Charge 5 device has to detect you sleeping automatically?! Has anyone heard this? Then why have this feature in the app if when you select it, it stops detecting? 

[Trinie80]

I'm having a similar problem.. I've been talking to my boyfriend in bed for the past 2 hours and on my phone scrolling Facebook and my fitbit has me as sleeping the whole time.. I'd of thought the charge 5 would be the most accurate.. but my old charge 2 did a better job 

[Goldbryant]

Update: not touching Begin Sleep Now on the phone seems to have made it work correctly, and just let it detect when I am falling asleep. 

[brandon05w]

My Garmin broke (my fault) so I decided to give Fitbit a chance as I have owned other Charge models and do enjoy their app and community. I am however extremely disappointed in my new Charge 5. The onboard GPS never works correctly and it doesn't count floors climbed like my old one did. The reason I bought the Charge 5 was for onboard GPS and it's not dependable at all as it's always connecting and when it does connect it's in/out which gives me inaccurate readings. I reached out to Fitbit but all they do is recommend I wear my watch loose and don't walk under trees or near tall buildings lol. Keep in mind I exercise in an area that is very open. Luckily, it tracks my sleep fairly well.

[DebbieAP]

Ive had mine for 2 weeks, and I have tried everything I have read. Still no sleep scores or stages. Now took it back and another charge 5 straight out of the box. Still the same issues