Charge 5 battery draining too fast

[SharleneH]

I have had the new Charge 5 for 2 days. The battery discharges within a day. GPS is off, the phone is not set to always on. In looking over the troubleshooting instructions from Fitbit, it seems that you essentially have to disable all of the features that were selling points of this device in order to get decent battery life. Even my ancient Charge 3 got 6 days on one charge! Has anyone with this battery problem found a solution other than disabling everything?

[justletmepost]

Bought the Charge 5 for my wife two weeks ago and boom, battery issues - I didn't know about this thread before I bought it, otherwise we would have made a different choice (Garmin Vivo... )  Lesson learnt.

Thankfully we bought it from John Lewis, so our stance is, that if this isn't fixed before the end of June then we're just going to return it.

Following the advice here, we've managed to stabilise the battery life, at least for the past three days, but this meant turning most things off.  My wife didn't need/use a few of the things we switched off so no big loss, but this is shocking!  I've had buyer's remorse on a handful of items in my life and Fitbit accounts for two of them!  Constant syncing issues with my Charge 3.  I bought a Garmin Instinct 2 and it is a brilliant choice.

Watching this thread with interest.

From memory, here are the things we switched off...

Removed all apps, including SpO2!

Disabled exercise recognition, apart from walking, and running.

Manual screen wake

Sleep schedule for the screen (although we've found the Dim setting isn't exactly Dim!)

Removed payment feature

Switched off GPS on the online Dashboard and within each Exercise (this is a pain since we wanted to use it to track our walks/running) but that's when we first noticed the issue.

Disabled notifications (no BT connection - again, this is a PITA because we wanted to use that feature so we may try to enable it again)

I'm sure I've forgotten something so I'll edit this post if I remember anything else.

[PJWagar]

I agree. I have had my new Charge 5 for 3 days now and this is still an issue. It drained 65% in less than 24 hours. I am not using the built-in GPS, have the display on dim and not always on. I will try to restart once it is charged this morning. I am disappointed that this issue has been known for so long and it still is not fixed.

[O.Marley]

In my case seems like its about gps tracking is the issue that cause battery drain.

When i use gps to track for bike or run in exercise mode (i set to gps dynamic) after i finish my exercise i have to restart it everytime and the battery will be fine but if im not it will keep draining and only last for 1or2 days

but to keep restarting everytime i use a gps tracking is not a solution im still unhappy with   it , feels like they’re selling a device with a problem to me and they’re already know from the beginning that their device have this issue.

[rrrzzz]

I bought mine in February 2022. On days when I don't move around a lot the battery will last more than a week. But if I even go for a short run the battery will be dead by the end of the day. It seems any exercise that involves moving around triggers severe battery drain until either the battery runs flat or you restart the device.

So I'm not happy. It's a serious flaw that means most of the time when I go to check the Charge 5 it is dead on my wrist. And there's still no sign of a firmware update to fix it, it seems.

[JKOFFOTH]

They won’t even replace it so I suspect a refund is very unlikely.
Does seem like the problem should be covered by the warranty but they say wait for the software update.

[KathyJUK]

Seems to me that Fitbit are ducking their responsibilities, and state they will only refund if you ask within 45 days of purchase.  Anything over, we have to accept their repair or replacement with a possibly reconditioned device.  
Really sad state of affairs, as I really dont think they will fix this, but hope I am proved wrong.
Regards
Kathy

[Dstoneman60]

Of no help, unfortunately. I need a tracker, but clearly cannot keep this one- hard to use the sleep score function when you have to charge it EVERY NIGHT! Please advise anticipated date for the long-awaited fix for the battery life issue for the Charge 5, or I guess I'll just return it and find a  different manufacturer.

[Saryah]

Hi, do you still have this same problem? I haven’t been using mine properly since I got it. I’m frustrated… Any other solution than sending it back? Thank you.

[Dstoneman60]

Yes, I am still having the issue- I'm having to charge it every day, and
that is after turning the GPS and any other feature that uses battery OFF.
Since the easiest time for me to charge it is at night, that means I can't
use the sleep monitor either- very frustrating. I'm returning it- not sure
what I'm going to do for a tracker. Does anyone out there have a Charge 5
that is getting the normal (6-7 day) use from a single charge? Should I try
another one or are they all flawed?--

Moderator edit: removed personal info

[Baybeemon]

@Dstoneman60 I'm able to get 7 days usage in a single charge however I have yet to use any exercise with GPS. I use the workout exercise though and didn't turn off any functions. A few people are able to have a usage of 6-8 days too from what I read in this thread.

I think you can look at other options before you decide. If you really like charge 5 and they allow refund you can try again.

I watch a few YouTube channels that review about all these smart watch. You can watch: The Quantified Scientist, DC Rainmaker and Chase the Summit. They do quite a lot of reviews on different watches.

[Dstoneman60]

Thank you- very helpful.

[Rich_Laue]

@Dstoneman60 I easily get 5 -6 - 7 days with the Charge 5. The biggest battery hog is GPS and SpO2. Is your SpO2 enabled, mine is not. 

 Gps is always off until the user asks for it durring a run, walk, hike, bike events 

SpO2 is a function that should not be turned on permanently, unless the user has a precondition that would require this. If so I would recommend discussing with your doctor. 

As for the AFIB, this should not affect the battery life, since this is processed in the cloud, after the tracker syncs. 

It is also possible that you have a bad battery, and may want to contact fitbit. They can use their back end tools to monitor 

[JKOFFOTH]

We did contact Fitbit. They are saying wait for the software fix which I do not believe is not going to help.

Moderator edit: personal info removed

[Saryah]

Hi,

thank you. I’m not able to find my spO2 setting… please help.

Do you mean your GPS setting is ”phone” and ”on” only when you using your app, not always?

[Dstoneman60]

Thank you for the Intel. I have GPS turned off for all applicable exercises
and did discover and turn off the SP02 but it was still draining fast. I am
scheduled to return this to where I bought it- maybe I’ll try another one.
I gave it extra time in the charger last night and this morning, and 9
hours in it’s still at 97%, so maybe it’s improving?--

Moderator edit: personal info removed

[Saryah]

Same for me. But I don’t understand it. If the software was a problem, shouldn’t it have in all devices… Now some of them is working fine, some not. Someone wiser please explain. Mine doesn’t work at all, can’t use almost any features, still need to be charged every single day. Now it basically counts only my steps… is this what i wanted. No.

[LiJaHi]

@Dstoneman60 it shouldn't be taking over 9 hours to charge. It's slow, but not *that* slow. Mine takes a couple of hours.

Moderator edit: format

[GDSchulz]

Something changed.  My Charge 5 is seven months old (purchased October 2021).  Battery life had been great (6-7+ days).  All of a sudden last week something changed.  Battery now draining much faster.  Charge now lasts 3 days tops.  No changes to settings or daily routine.  GPS off.  Tried restarting a couple of times (no help).  Today fully charged about 15 hours ago.  Already down to 76% and dropping. Can't think of anything else to try.

[Rich_Laue]

If your using the charger for your smart phone, it should take less than an hour to charge. 

My phone takes 2.5. Hours and easily lasts 30 hours between charges. 

[Dstoneman60]

I believe if you scroll up from your main clock face you’ll see SP02. You
can also go into your app on your phone, touch your account in the top left
corner, touch Charge 5, then under Gallery apps you can actually uninstall

Moderator edit: personal info removed