Charge 5 battery draining and no altimeter

[mcgaposchkin]

I want tor register my serious disappointment with my (new) Charge 5. My (adored) Charge 4 had come to the end of its valiant life and I naturally replaced it with the newer version. My principal frustration is that it depletes its 100% charge in 36 hours.  This has caused serious problem. I have turned 'off' all the relevant things recommended to me in this article

https://help.fitbit.com/articles/en_US/Help_article/2004.htm

which has extended it a little bit but not much.  Besides the point of the fact that it needs to be charged every day (and I cannot in fact charge it every day, and wear it to bed for sleep stats), what is the point of having new bells and whistles if they need to be turned off for use.  Secondly, I am disappointed at the disappearance of the Altimeter, which was a feature much more important and useful than either the ECG or EDA scan.  I'm extremely frustrated and want to register my complaint to someone who will see this. Please can I trade this in for a Charge 4?

cecilia

Moderator edit: subject updated for clarity

[glitterjig]

I am also seriously disappointed with the Charge 5 and want my 4 back. But it’s irreplaceable band is broken. The 5 is so unreliable and frankly it seems very inaccurate with both sleep and heart rate. 

[mcgaposchkin]

Just to add, on the website it says "Battery life of up to 7 days. Use of the always-on display and SpO2 features will require more frequent charging. We recommend charging your tracker every few days to ensure you are always tracking."  This is patently untrue. 

[Honesty830814]

i too an disappointed with my charge 5.

Mine won't let me add friends(I keep receiving a error code, unless I go to ppl profile and add them that way) however I thought we would be able to see more on this then what it does. The Charge 5 doesn't have much for really good styles of clock faces or even apps etc. Next time I'm getting myself a different one all together 

Moderator edit: format

[AliDawn81]

I’m disappointed too. I left Fitbit for apple years ago but got my 9 year old and ace 3. I’ve been envious of her battery life for things like sleep tracking. I finally broke down and after 5 years got another Fitbit. By day 3 this thing is a piece of trash  and tech support just tells you to charge it. It randomly shows my heart rate at 168 while my Apple Watch does not. It doesn’t track sleep anymore. I restarted it no less than 8 times yesterday for it to act right for a few minutes after each restart. Very very disappointed 

[mcgaposchkin]

Update: If you turn off and delete the app for Sp02 app, the battery life seems to be operating normally.  I've done this, and I'm not sure what the Sp02 app does or what it's worth is, so it's no loss. The fact that this isn't explain anywhere is a sign of something weird going on at Fitbit (weird decision making).  But its no loss. There are lots of bells and whistles on this that I don't care about. Fitbit should concentrate on core functions users want.  Please develop a device that deals with the core (including altimeter, which was a feature I really loved). Or add GPS function to Luxe. (do fitbit developers read these?).  I want: steps, miles, floor, sleep, calories, GPS, Timers (countdown and up), clock, ability to track workouts (treadmill, run, swim, etc.).  Notifications fine but not critical.  The rest is a waste. I'd have bought a luxe if it had had the GPS functioning.  I'm turning off most of what this has. I don't want a smart watch.

[NonnieG]

I titally agree with you.  The charge 5 is a piece of junk.  I have been a fitbit user for YEARS and my charge 3 finally works with my app but unfortunately the screen is all white and unreadable.  I have contacted fit bit with no results and have done everything they suggested... restarted turned off GPS and use my phone but the battery does not last more than 24 hours...I just charged it yesterday and when I was exercising on my bike it gave me a message that my batter was low down to 16%...Ridiculous...Fitbit says they are aware of a Bluetooth issue and are trying to resolve...Guess I will start to research other products and return this one since i have only had it for several weeks.

[Wolverine_X]

Forget the fitbit spo2, it would suck your battery faster than vampires do blood. Get a $30 Huawei band 4 gives you instant SpO2 reading anytime, not only when you wake up

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charge 5: I just had mine for less than 60 minutes before realizing how stupid I was choosing this product. A lot worse than the ionic the discontinued. my gosh what are they thinking... no altimeter which has been with fitbit since charge 2

[NonnieG]

Yes l loved my charge 3.Sent via the Samsung Galaxy S8, an AT&T 5G Evolution capable smartphone

[mcgaposchkin]

As I wrote about, it turns out that if you turn off and delete the app for Sp02 app, the battery life seems to be operating normally. I've done this, and I'm not sure what the Sp02 app does or what it's worth is, so it's no loss.  Still, I'm very sorry for the loss of the Altimeter.

[NonnieG]

Spo2 app is only for the smart watch not charge 5Sent via the Samsung Galaxy S8, an AT&T 5G Evolution capable smartphone

[rafeit]

The Charge 5 is my first Fitbit. And last. Most annoying to me at Xmastime was that, after buying the thing for $179 in Nov, they kept sending me emails (that, to my mind, were taunting and "Nyeah nyeah!") to buy the Charge 5 at $50 off. Like every day an email like that. It's even cheaper now.

It's unreliability, insistence on Premium features, completely ZERO "heart rate notifications" since I bought it, even while sitting still for 40 minutes w/my HR too high, and a bevy of other issues. And the company COMPLETELY comes across as out for money first, attention to complaints and features absolutely secondary. Nope. I'm done.

BTW, I don't have battery issues. It DOES last about 7 (or more) days for me. I let it connect to my phone GPS, and I (unfortunately) exercise very little. Agh.

[DavideFitbit]

Hi everyone, thank you for taking the time to share all your feedback about the Charge 5 and that you already tried a few troubleshooting steps to try to resolve some of these problems. 

As you mentioned earlier, there are some general recommendations in this article to improve battery life in general. However, the team is also aware of a battery drain issue affecting some Charge 5 devices in which the built-in GPS chip may remain active after ending a GPS-enabled exercise and they've working on an update to fix the issue. In the meantime, it is recommended to try a three pulse restart. Please note the following:

• If you use GPS to track your exercise, use the Phone GPS setting on your tracker to preserve battery life. For more information, see How do I use GPS on my Fitbit device?
• We’ll work to resolve it and hope to have a fix soon. Be sure to keep your Fitbit device and app up-to-date to ensure you receive the quickest resolution.

If you already tried all the steps shared in the forums, I recommend that you continue the communication with the Customer Support team for further assistance with this, as not all battery short life problems are related to this specific issue with GPS, but some users do have this problem. Keep in mind that some of the feature that can drain the battery more rapidly are: 

• Built-in GPS (Charge 5 can have a battery life of up to 4 day when using this feature regularly, or up to 5 hours if you use it continuously).
• Always-on display (Charge 5 can have a battery life of up to 3 days when using this feature). 
• Using an Sp82 clock face (Fitbit points out in this article that you may have to charge your Fitbit device more often when collecting SpO2 data).

Regarding the altimeter on the Charge 5, the Charge 5 includes many of the features available with Fitbit smartwatches at a more accessible price, but the option to track floors wasn't included with this specific device, as it doesn't have an altimeter. You can find all the features available with this tracker on the Charge 5 Product Manual and on the Fitbit Store. Although the possibility to include this feature on the Charge 5 is Not Currently Planned, I do recommend that you vote for these ideas posted in the Community forums: 

• Add an altimeter to the Charge 5.
• Use iPhone altimeter to restore Charge 5 floor count.

This is helpful for the team of developers to continue to track popularity and demand over time. Thank you again for sharing all your comments and feedback; this is always useful to continue improving the quality of products and services.

Have a good day. 

[NonnieG]

How did you turn off and delete the SPO2 app

[mcgaposchkin]

You need to do it on the app on your phone.  Go to you picture in upper right (to get to your account), pick your device [the charge 5], got to "gallery" , and then go t the "Apps" tab. Then scroll down to Sp02 and "uninstall".  That said, the battery still ins't great. It doesn't deplete in 24 hours like before, but it isn't as robust as my charge 4 was.

[NonnieG]

Thanks will teySent via the Samsung Galaxy S8, an AT&T 5G Evolution capable smartphone

[mcgaposchkin]

Thank you Davide for responding.  Do you work for fitbit, or are you in a kind of volunteer moderator position? I just really surprised at how disappointed I am with the 5. I've used fitbit since 2015, and am a pretty devoted user.  I am primarily displeased by the terrible performance of its battery life, and the loss of the altimeter.  I don't have a life where I can easily charge it every day and the battery life is deplorable. What is the point of adding all these new features that I have to turn off to be able to use the device. The new features (like the ECG etc.) are pretty useless - don't tell me anything.  I think both these were really bad moves. I would like a device with built in GPS, altimeter, steps, etc. The Luxe might be ok but it doesn't have the built in GPS and I often run without the phone. I think its an absurd that Fitbit brought out an new model which lost core features. That seems like a very bad business decision and certainly makes this user unhappy and looking for other options.  I'd like to trade in my 5 for a 4 -- backtracking - but I told that wasn't an option. 

[FitLyss]

I looked through the forums and found that if I log an activity using dynamic GPS, it then stays on and drains the battery. If I manually go in and switch the GPS back to phone and restart the fitbit, the battery life is normal. This is a pain, there is supposed to be an update to fix the issue.

[NonnieG]

HiI called fitbit they had me do a three pulse start with charge cable ...charge seems to be working okay only lost 15 % power yesterday and l did a run with my exercise mode...we shall see if it doesn't t hold charge more than 2 days they will replaceSent via the Samsung Galaxy S8, an AT&T 5G Evolution capable smartphone

[DavideFitbit]

Hi everyone, I'm sorry to see that many of you continue to have this issue with the battery life and I appreciate all the feedback you've provided about this problem. 

If you haven't done so already, and if you already tried all the troubleshooting steps suggested earlier in the thread and in the Community forums, please make sure to continue the communication with the Customer Support team for further assistance with this. 

See you around.