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?

[tsl14]

I got my Charge 5 two days ago (Tuesday night) and have been struggling with battery life from the beginning.  The ONLY change I made to the device from the default settings was the Clock Face (I switched to Runliner).  I charged it to 100% immediately.  Since then, I had to recharge the next night because it was down below 20% (it stalled at 99%).  Afterwards, I took my dog for a walk then slept for 9+ hours and 14 hours later, I'm down to 57%.  I just changed Screen Wake to Manual (from Auto).  What is the problem?

[Cdnfit]

I wonder if there may have been a bad batch.  I received my charge 5 two weeks ago (the gold colored one), and my charge lasts and I’m very pleased with it.  However I do not use the always on feature and only use the gps with my phone (except once). But then, even though I wear it everyday and only sometimes at night I’m not checking it all the time.  Maybe contact them and see if you can get a replacement.  Good luck.    

[Philus]

Yes, except that mine has absolutely no issue whatsoever during the day and
even for the first week.

My first full battery lasted 8 days as advertised.... then one night, in
the middle of the night, it went from 70% to zero.

Full charge after that incident... after 4 days it was at about 75% and
again, in the middle of the night while I was sleeping, it completely
drained the battery to ZERO.

Screen wake disabled, SPO2 uninstalled, GPS to dynamic...

something happens at night that drains the battery.... never happened when
using BLAZE or Charge 4 for the last 5 years.

[Ravaflav]

I have taken to just rebooting mine before bed each night. I've woken up to only marginal battery drain since.

It could be hardware but it's just as likely there is a bug in the firmware that's poorly managing use. Either way, worth a shot to see if doing the same helps; at least until a patch is released.

[Ivana30]

@SilviaFitbit Hi! I did everything on what was on the link. It's only been 4 nights for me, yet, I wake up with my fitbit almost drained out. 

The ad says battery life up to 7 days! It doesn't even reach an entire 24 hour period. What if I go out for a multi-day hike and do not have my charger with me? This is a waste of money and the ad is definitely false advertising. 

[DavideFitbit]

Hi, thank you for sharing that you've been experiencing the same problem with the battery that is draining too fast, @jones2000 @SunsetRunner @Alway @SE-LOSW @Pablo2949 @Cdnfit @tsl14.  

Before considering other options, please make sure that you've exhausted all the troubleshooting steps in this article to improve battery life. The Charge 5 should have a battery life of 7 days, and although battery life is affected by use or other settings and actual results may vary, it shouldn't last for only 1 or 2 days. 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).

If you already followed the recommendations to improve battery life, considering how some features affect it, and you still consider the battery is draining too fast, I recommend that you reach out to our Customer Support team for further assistance. The best way to get help for this problem is to chat with us online or give us a call. Click here to get connected. 

Have a good day. 

[SunsetRunner]

This is not the first issue I had with Fibit products. I did exhaust all
these options, after my own research to find the fixes, which did not
work. The product is in return mode and I have already purchased another
brand.

This new watch has been in use for close to three full days and still
holding a charge.

I would suggest on future products that more quality texting is done to
insure all options work fully.

Thank you.

[Cindyfit4life]

What is AOD? My GPS is off unless i manually turn it on. For the money this fitbit cost the battery is not as good as the Charge 4. I may be returning this.

[tsl14]

My Fitbit Charge 5 was losing battery power at an alarming rate out of the box (lost 30%+ overnight, battery was at 12% after less than 24 hours).  But I read a suggestion in another thread, which I tried yesterday and appears to have worked.

Solution:  Restart the device (Settings-->Restart Device).

After charging it fully (my third time in 3 days), I restarted the device while still on the charger.  And 15 hours later, with the same amount of "use" (basically walked my dog and slept overnight), it's at 94%.  Give it a shot.

[jones2000]

Thanks, I have amended some of my settings and will see how long the charge lasts now.

I might also add that on my last few walks where I had GPS activated the whole walk was not mapped - does this mean that my steps weren’t recorded?

Thanks

Moderator edit: personal info removed

[Alex_Lane]

Hey there. The steps would have been recorded, just not your route (so the map). Also - try to reboot your device (in the Settings menu on your Fitbit). Early days, but it seems to have done the trick for me (last charge = Saturday, and still got over 20% remaining).

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[tamirice71]

I just bought my Charge 5 last night around 8:00 and fully charged it to 100%. It’s now 11:18 am and I’m at 98%. From the sound of these reviews I’d have to guess there is a major issue with some. 

-------------------------------

It’s not all. So far, mine is good. 2% down from last night. Email for an exchange maybe?

[Cindyfit4life]

How long have you had it? I’ve had mine for a week and it has needed charging every single day. I’m not impressed. I’ve tried all the fixes and none of them work. My Charge 4 worked better. I do love the color and the looks of the Charge 5 but if it doesn’t do what it’s supposed to it’s quite useless.

[DebbieWy]

I returned mine today…was also disappointed this version didn’t have the option to count stairs 😢

Sent from my iPad

[Cindyfit4life]

I returned my Charge 5 today and re-activated my Charge 4.  The charge 4 stays active for 6-7 days without having to charge it.  It may not have a colored screen but it does what it's supposed to without having to charge it daily.  

[gamefreakwizard]

After a week of using the Fitbit, the battery life magically improved. I think letting the battery drain twice might have helped. Not sure.

On another note, Fitbit support emailed me letting me know that they are seeing normal battery life without me contacting them back. Very disturbing that they have this much targeted visibility.

[Gorro52]

I had the same issue when I first got it, went from 90% to 50% in 9 hours and then dropped 30% while I was asleep. I charged it back up to 100% and it was still dropping fast (3% in an hour) so I restarted it through settings. It is now working great, has dropped 20% over two days. I can see it lasting around 6-7 days on one charge.

[SunsetRunner]

I shipped my Charge 5 back with their label via Fed EX 2 weeks ago today and according to the tracking info it has yet reached it destination. At this rate it'll be a month without it. Ridiulous.

[RohanJacob]

I had abandoned my Charge 3 (and went back to my Charge 2 which still works fine) after the famous screen issues. I basically need a device with Charge 3 or later functionality for swimming. I note with concern some of the comments posted on the Charge 4 & 5. I had determined to get another device when the Charge 2 needs replacing but given all my data is on Fitbit and exporting and then importing it on another device can't be smooth I wanted to request the views of the user community on whether to get the Charge 4 or 5 or look elsewhere? Thanks for any feedback!

[SunsetRunner]

The Charge 4 was great. Never had an issue except it was difficult to see outside. We'll see about the Charge 5 whenever I get a replacement sent to me.