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?

[Edmond]

@delawareBirder You are already on version 171? If i have to charge 4-5 times a day i would certainly get a replacement. Its not normal.

[delawareBirder]

Yes, I am on version 171 and have had numerous contacts with customer service and they tell me to wait for a firmware update.

[drewski]

I am. I even turned GPS back on to dynamic. About 10% / day drain

[AcrobatSolo]

I've had mine for about a month, and suddenly this week the battery drains in no time, whereas when I first got it, a couple days without a charge was no problem.   Got the new firmware 171.50 also, but the change in power is more recent.

I charged fully it on Friday in the afternoon because at noon I got an e-mail saying the battery is low.   I didn't use GPS all weekend.  I only did one workout on Sunday around midday, and by the evening I got another e-mail saying the battery is low.   The workout was an hour of martial arts at the gym, so no need for GPS.  I wore the C5 to bed both nights.  That's it!   One hour at the gym and two nights sleeping was enough wearing to drain the battery.   What's going on?

[WellnessMatters]

I was having the same battery issues as everyone else, then my screen went black. Someone from customer service was helpful enough to get a warranty replacement processed.

My hope is this new device will not have that charging, or that it might be on a previous version of the software. I will keep you all posted.

I do think at this point, Fitbit should allow free upgrades to the next model up, or a deep discount to new models on the way.

As I shared in a previous post, many tech companies deal with a product failing once in a while (Exploding Samsung Galaxy Notes, iPhone antenna issues etc.). Although frustrating, consumers understand that it happens. What becomes important is how quickly companies remedy the issue and by so doing, keeping their loyal customers. Fitbit dragged this out a bit too long.

I also feel bad for the customer service people at Fitbit. These are people who are often times not the decision makers, the last to know anything, and usually only able to share with us whatever they have been instructed to. Yet they bare the brunt of the customer's frustration.

[Angie0104]

Android user and having same battery issues.

[malbers75]

I am afraid to update firmware because I usually go 7 days without recharging. This morning I woke up and synced to see my sleep score, went on a run with gps (which did connect) and tried to re-sync to see map and run stats and it show showed auto-detected workout. No stats. Now I can’t  sync at all. Does this mean Fitbit won’t allow me to sync until I’ve done update?

[sean44]

When my watch doesn’t sync with my iPhone I restart it and that has worked every time for me.

Sent from my iPhone

[malbers75]

I’ve tried that plus disconnecting from Bluetooth and reconnecting. Also turned Bluetooth off and back on to no avail. My steps, miles, calories and active minutes update and it just won’t sync other info like hourly step completions and workouts. I thought it’s weird how it all that stuff updates but it won’t sync. 

[sean44]

Sounds like it’s broken to me. It shouldn’t be that hard. Sorry to hear that. I’d ask for a new watch or a refund.

Sent from my iPhone

[YojanaFitbit]

Hi everyone.

I'm sorry to see that many of you are still having issues with the battery life on the Charge 5. Please know that all your feedback is greatly appreciated. 

If you already tried all these steps mentioned here, I do recommend that you contact our Customer Support team so they can let you know what are the options available for you. 

See you around. 

[AcrobatSolo]

Good news---after reading some of the postings from earlier, I followed some advice about turning off the notifications.   That seems to make the biggest difference, and now my battery seems decent. 

[jenny05]

I've contacted support 3 times.  I've asked for a replacement twice and was denied. They keep telling me to wait for a new firmware update to solve the problem but they have no idea when it will be released.  So that's not an acceptable answer to me.  I am baffled that FitBit is still selling the Charge 5 knowing so many people are having the same problem.  At the very least give us a discount on a new model. It should not be this difficult to obtain a replacement.  No one should have to contact support multiple times and get the runaround.  I know it's not the employees' fault and they are only listening to what management is telling them to do/say but customer support is horrendous.  

[WellnessMatters]

So I got a warranty replacement yesterday (I was already having the battery drain issue, but my screen had gone black, which is what got the replacement in motion).

Anyway, it's been a day, and its at 95% and not draining in within an hour like my previous one was. When I received it, it was at 91% meaning that it didn't drained during the days of shipping.

But here is the catch. The Fitbit App keeps on asking me to update the firmware with the latest update, and I am not going to do it. I think that's why my Fitbit is working well: I'm guessing it was shipped without the later update which would cause the drain issue, and as long as I can avoid doing the update, it will work fine (until the update is pushed onto the device without me having a choice).

I know a lot of devices cannot be "downgraded" to an older software version once an update has been done, but I wonder if they have been trying to work on an "update" that "reverts" back to a version of the last firmware update the worked with no issues.

[TravelGeek]

> I think that's why my Fitbit is working well: I'm guessing it was shipped without the later update which would cause the drain issue

My battery drain issue started before I installed the latest firmware.  (installing the firmware update didn’t fix it)

[malbers75]

I have been putting off updating the firmware too but as of today, I cannot sync my info to the app. I am dreading updating it but it looks like I finally have to.

[WellnessMatters]

I can't sync my charge 5 either. Although weirdly the Fitbit App data is still updating along with the Charge 5. So, it might weirdly be syncing but saying it's not. 

[delawareBirder]

@WellnessMatters  You should be able to check on what version of firmware is installed on the desktop app.  Since it's asking for you to do an update, it's most likely not 171.

[malbers75]

@WellnessMatters mine finally synced up without any firmware update. It even corrected my auto-recognized exercises to the correct ones with the map of my run and walk included. Must have been an issue for all and not just me. 

[geniuseire]

My Charge 5 is an awful product having to recharge every 2 days.

Apps do not work correctly.

Syncing is a joke and a major time waster. What a load of stress.