Charge 5 died again ....is any Fitbit model durable?

[ej-running]

I am super frustrated. I bought a charge 4 3.5 years ago...after about 11 months, it died. They replaced it. 8 months later or so, that one died....I upgraded to the charge 5. And now I've had THREE of those die, and I think it's just not even worth replacing it again (even for free, I mean). What a waste, to make something so badly and then just keep placating people by sending new/refurbished ones. 

I don't swim (or shower with it on). I'm not hard on it in any way. 

Is there any Fitbit model I could get that's known to be durable? I'm thinking of moving to Withings instead, though I'll wait for a sale...

Moderator edit: clarified subject.

[Chemjedi]

I just had my 4th Charge 5 fail and screen went dead or had a white X with red circle on screen when not dead.   I called Fitbit Support and was given a pre-paid shipping label to send it back to be evaluated.    It was delivered on Monday and now waiting for them to  send me a new Charge 5.     Very unhappy with the slow support provided and my continuing bad experience with Charge 5.

I also take good care of my Charge 5s and never let them get wet in the pool or shower.   I clean it regularly and don't drop or let it hit anything.     

I have been a Fitbit user since 2016 and previous Charge devices lasted several years with no problems. 

My four Charge 5s have not lasted 6 months before failing and 3 failed within 3 months of use....totally unacceptable!      

I am convinced the Charge 5 is a defective and error-prone device based on my experience and from reading your post and other posts in this community.   

I will see what Fitbit /Google does regarding providing me with a new Charge 5, but I think once my Fitbit Premium membership expires, I am going to switch to a Garmin Fitness tracker.   I already use their S62 Golf  GPS Watch and Edge 530 Bike GPS with no issues so far and past Garmin devices had no issues and I like the Garmin Connect App to connect all the devices.

I have lost all confidence with Fitbit......enough said!

[ej-running]

thanks for the confirmation, sorry you've had the same issues. it really
sucks. when they realized it was so failure-prone they should have taken it
off the market, and they should be offering us something that isn't....

[Jag25]

Stopped working , then said it had a 40 min software update , then drained the battery and I got the dreaded red circle white x inside (what’s that about) . Customer chat said contact them back if problems lol . 

[Nads543]

My charge 5 wont sync, and has the fitbit logo on the face. I tried resetting ( pressing the button on the charger cord), even tried changing the clock face, to no avail.

Fitbit chat rep just sent email saying that not covered by warranty although im a premiun member...2nd fitbit device. Charge 3 "died" also. I think the company purposefully kills them with firmware upgrades just after the warranty expires, or when newer product roll out.

Well Im done with FitBit now....waste of money if wont last more that a year.

[Chemjedi]

Sorry to hear all the bad experiences with the Charge 5.

I like the Charge 5 appearance, color screen and functions, but its performance, reliability, and very high failure rate is terrible and totally unacceptable!!.

Has anyone in this community had a good experience with a single Charge 5 lasting at least one year without issues and replacement?    Obviously all of us responding have bad experiences.     I am curious what is the failure rate of the Charge 5 to last 3, 6 months and 1 year without issues or failure with input from all Charge 5 users.  

I agree with ej-running.   Fitbit should remove product from the market and/or give anyone a full to partial refund for Charge 5 and for the Fitbit premium membership to the app so each person can make better choices for their fit tracking device and app.