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?

[Bvsully]

Agreed! Or just admit you sold a bum product and refund people already.

[Denbo2022]

I have a charge 5 that I charge the Battery to 100%, sometime over night and it still will discharge in an hour. I called their Tech Support, what a joke, told me my Charge 5 battery was low and to charge it! WTF, they know about the issue and won't even try to help you!  

[WellnessMatters]

This forum has been beyond helpful. Good to know that it wasn't just my device, but that of others as well.

[ypevie]

Okay, I feel like an idiot. I’ve been reading the comments in this thread and realized something fairly quickly…c5 is supposed to las 6+ days!? I’ve never owned a watch like this so when I charged it Christmas morning and it didn’t’ need a recharge for 2 days, I thought that was great! Am I right in saying that it was a bum product right from the get go? 7 months later, it won’t hold a 100% charge more than 2-3 hours. I charged it all last night so I could wear it on my run this morning and now it’s on the charger again while I type this. We are heading for a kayak trip (3days) tomorrow and I won;t get any stat info from it. I read that the charge 4 didn’t have these issues. Is this correct?

 

 I was going to get fitbits for my daughter and Mother-in-law but reconsidering rapidly. And does this photo mean I’m actually up to date or do I have to have do something else; stand on one foot during an earthquake and do an Irish jog before the tsunami hits?  Answers (real ones) and advice welcome! 

[HeresHelen]

Totally agree! When my C5 was dying after a few hours, there was no clear & easy path to support or to return it. Instead I had to use the chat facility we’ve all tried , giving advice that didn’t work and promising to send an email with returns info, which never arrived. I strongly believe that a company proves its worth not when things are going well, but when things are going wrong. Their customer service is utterly appalling.
So although my C5 is now holding charge for 8+ days (with my own method of letting it die completely then giving it a 24hr+ charge) when I do need to replace it, it will NOT be with any other product from Fitbit. It’s too stressful.

Sent from my iPhone

[ypevie]

How long have you had yours? Apparently, mine didn’t keep a charge properly from the get go but I thought 2 days was the norm. Now it’s 2 hours. It was a Christmas gift. 

[HeresHelen]

@ypevie mine was a birthday present in February this year, so just over 5 months.

[kimmicocopuff]

Mine was a Christmas gift as well. Mine held a charge just fine until a month or so ago. My mother's held the advertised battery charge for less than a month. Hers has only ever held a charge for 48 hrs or less. 

[roberjw]

I remember reading about this issue back when I first got my watch and I felt fortunate to have not experienced it. Following the most recent update my watch has become completely unusable. As more days go by with the watch being unable to hold a charge and Fitbit being aware of the issue I am wondering when they will do the right thing and offer refunds for a known faulty device. I no longer want my Charge 5 after only half a year it is already unable to perform even the basic functions of a tracker due to this battery life defect. 

[shimsim]

@ypevie if you dont have the screen ON all the time and you are not using GPS tracking, you should easily get 6-8 days. The biggest drain is the screen being on and the GPS, all the other functions such as heart rate, spo2, do have an impact but DONT need to be disabled to get the advertised 'up to 7 days' battery life.

[Catbro22]

I wish this were true but sadly I have GPS set to phone and my battery still drains within a few hours. I have implemented every ‘tip’ and nothing works. It was fine for 6 months and then just crapped right out. I hope you continue to have a better experience.

Cathy Brown
Sent from my iPad

[JohnnyJo]

Mine won't charge to 100%. It stops at 99%. Then when I unhook the charger it restarts on its own, and says critical, at 1%. Makes sense.

Still waiting on a response from support.

[Stoney928]

It absolutely did not fix anything. In fact, I never had issues prior to latest update. Now since updating tracker, I’ve experienced the ultra fast battery drain, then black screen and inability to connect to Bluetooth.  I attempted ever possible reset / troubleshooting option available only for Fitbit to tell me there was nothing they could do except send me a replacement device. Customer support never even acknowledged that the latest update is the source of the problem. I am extremely disappointed and frustrated w Fitbit and their inability to make a quality product. This is the third device that has failed in less than 10 months… absolutely unacceptable.

[tcat007]

I've been getting either 10 or 11 days for past 2-3 months (without and with update).  Luck of the draw I guess.  Did have 1 week of draining daily (week of June 13th), but the reboot on charger fixed that ever since.  Have not rebooted since.

[WellnessMatters]

What Fitbit should have maybe done was offer people refunds or free upgrades after this issues had dragged on for too long. I bet that would have been cheaper for them in the long run than what they might lose in bad press, and more importantly, once-loyal return customers now switching to other brands.

I feel Fitbit as a company could have handled this better. Many companies deal with a product that sometimes ends up having some issues (Samsung and the exploding Galaxy notes for example), but it's how they respond to the moment that matters: speedy product recalls, replacements, refunds etc.

As a consumer, I've always accepted that once in a while, a brand, especially in tech, will stumbled with a product, but what kept me as customer was how they remedied the issue quickly. Fitbit has made this an exhausting and frustrating experience for many.

[Busy3]

Well they certainly didn’t offer to send me a replacement so good you got
one . But won’t solve anything if it is the Charge 5.

[Smccain1962]

I downloaded it, It is absolutely no help

I’ve only had mine for a week, and it takes 100% charge down to critically low in four hours!! All notifications are turned off, absolutely ridiculous! And the new update they promise will help doesn’t!!! Don’t Easter your time,,, money down the toilet

[Jillcle]

I have updated this with the fix above and have the same issue. I have only had this product 6 months and support has not been helpful here.., no value in a wearable that dies after an hour

[Insightist]

Well put

[AKLDave]

I totally agree, and I like how this post has been marked as resolved by a FitBit moderator when it is far from so, but that is how they have dealt with this and all other product issues in the past. However for me it is RESOLVED, as after over 7 years of having various FitBits I have gone to Garmin.