Charge 5 experiences/reliability

[KingAndrew]

Looking for thoughts on Charge 5 reliability or your experience so far.

I bought Versa 2’s for my wife and I a little over a year ago. Hers had one warranty replacement and I should have done one for mine several times but have since missed the window. I had several charges through the years with no issue, but the Versa was an absolute trash product. 

thank you 

[shimsim]

@EastBeast @Tskuan appreciate sharing this information, whenever I have questioned the quality, I didn't get too much feedback in the past, so it's somewhat comforting to know it's not just me.

I do hope my 4th replacement hold out but I'm now out of warranty (as of today) so if this fails in the next few months, I will be following up here.

[BurntOrange]

I purchased a Fitbit Charge 5 during Black Friday of 2021.  It worked well for about 6 months.   During a swim workout, the screen went blank.  It would work, track my steps and connect to my phone, but the screen was blank.    I eventually received a replacement, but customer service made me take a video of the blank display and upload it.  They did not like the Apple video format, so I had to convert to another format, etc.  It was a pain.

The replacement worked well for about a month.  After a firmware update, the battery drained in less than a day.  Received a replacement under warranty, and it did the same thing.  That was enough.  I bought a Garmin.  Garmin Vivoactive 4 has been working well for about 4 months.

[Xenasmommie]

Fitbit doesn't have updated software which will allow pairing with several Galaxy phones. They also don't know when the issue will be resolved. My Charge 5 doesn't even keep time now. Fitbit won't refund our money for our two Charge 5s which are barely over 6 months old. After much runaround they told us we need to get our refund from Costco as that is where they were purchased. Of course we cannot get a refund from Costco since our purchase is outside of the 90 day return period. Now we have spent hard earned money on this worthless purchase.

[DPUT]

Charge 5 points of failure after ~ 8 months.  1) Battery - never more than 3 days on a charge after 1st month, 2) Band - knob that seats into the adjustment holes itself seats into the band mechanically in a way that over time will fail as the band becomes stretched out from wear, 3)Multi-Purpose Sensor - just fell off along with a rubber gasket.  I didn't lose the parts, and the parts appeared undamaged, but unable to reseat the sensor.  After sending photos, customer service required the unit to be returned before sending a replacement.  They will send replacement bands if you send in a picture (I think up to 4 replacements during the warranty period).  I Anticipate about 3 weeks of down time.

[MarcusDaly]

OK so here is mine;

Bought a Charge 5 in Jan 22.

Not a heavy user (mainly steps and sleep) so found a weekly charge was fine - usually drained about 10% per day

Then December 22 - wtf! (was this connected to updates?)

Add card notification kept appearing

Started to lose display for periods of time (app still updating ok)

Tried all suggested options - reset button, forget device, re-pair device, restart phone, relaunch app etc

Kept prompting updates but not sure if they installed properly

Seemingly randomly the display would reappear

Then 90% drain overnight

App still updating

Contacted customer support in late December (have a 2 year guarantee) and talked through experience 

They agreed to send replacement which arrived on Thursday - early days but so far so good.

Maybe these things only last 12 months?

I have a probably unconnected minor issue with the Fitbit dashboard display which is logged on that message board if you are interested.

[ultipost]

I am quite happy with the features of the Charge 5, but reliability is definitely an issue for me. Now in the 11th month the product died for the second time. Customer service was professional and courteous.

I am lucky to be in the EC where the warranty is 2 years. Otherwise the next time (I'm almost counting on it...) I would have gotten the $35 discount offer. Now I hope that within the next year Fitbit will have located the issues and improved it. Daddy Google has the resources hereto...

----------

And... is #4 still working?
 

[shimsim]

@ultipost could not agree more, great product, questionable reliability. My 4th is still working (touch wood) 😛

Well, looks like I just went and jinxed it, went to check the time, screen wasn't turning on, thought that was a bit strange because I know I had at least half a charge, but OK, maybe it did run down. So, got home, attached the charge cable, screen flashed for a second but then would not show it was charging. Now I knew something was up, so I tried the restart (button 3 times) still nothing and that's it .... DEAD .... AGAIN .... 4th time

What's also interesting is that I left it to charge (in the hope it might help) but now it started getting hot, not warm, HOT, like it was going to be dangerous if I left it any longer to charge. I was half tempted to leave it longer and see if it exploded or smoke would come out, I'm sure that would have made a nice video but alas, I don't have time for video editing 😛

I really don't know what to make of this, this cant just be happening to me, can it? this product is a joke in terms of quality, its literally junk. How can 4 of them fail in this time span, each of them failing in a slightly different way?

I just pulled out my Charge 2 from storage and guess what, I plugged it in, the screen turned on .... it still works, so that rules out environment or usage. The Charge 2 has been in exactly the same conditions with identical if not more usage (because I was definitely training more intensely a few years ago) and it still works.

There is really no excuse for this, I'm utterly disappointed with the Charge 5, when it works its great but the reliability makes it one of the worst (if not the worst) watch/smart device I have ever owned. 

So, here we go again, l will contact support and see what they have to say this time around 

[KingAndrew]

I love getting emails about replies to this thread. Definitely makes me glad I didn’t spend another $1 on their products. I do miss the app though. 

Moderator edit: word choice 

[Tskuan]

Yes their quality control is suspect. 2 out of 3 charge 5 of mine are dead. And their customer support is making me jump through several hoops for a known issue which I have reported once. I travel a lot and when I'm in the USA they refer me to my Singapore customer service rep which is 15hours behind and operate only during workhours... I am about to write off the costs of these 2 fitbit as my warranty is running out. Disappointing!

Better off buying xiaomi next time. Cost 2x cheaper and probably last longer 

[shimsim]

@KingAndrew Yeh, I've been getting updates too, thinking how lucky I am to finally get a reliable one lol. The timing is just amazing, I commented just 2 days ago that my 4th replacement was still working. I obviously didn't touch the right wood

[ultipost]

Sorry to hear this,shimsim. But given the history, it is hardly a surprise.

I am in high-tech electronics myself all my life and am well aware that
these issues will only stop once all user situations are 100% known and
analyzed. As long as you don't know exactly how it goes wrong, it can and
will continue.

My suggestion to Fitbit execs who read this is to send all just
out-of-warranty users a free replacement AFTER the problems are resolved.
If you don't and send them the $ 35 discount email, you would have created
disgruntled customers who will hurt you much more. After all, the users
generally love the features and I am confident they would find this
solution useful.

P.S. In case you are stuck in resolving the reliability issue, consider
getting outside help. Our EE team has resolved other reliability issues,
such as with e-bikes:

"
The (un)safety of e-bike batteries is a regular topic, where editors guess
what could/should be the reasons.

We figured out how exactly it goes wrong, especially with the Chinese
ultra-low-cost BMSs that have no protection circuitry (against spikes) AND
do not have a self-test so they do not notice when the safety function does
not work anymore.

Then you just have to wait on one of the triggers to get a fire/explosion.

Here are the problem and the solution:

https://www.bike-eu.com/45057/how-to-fix-e-bike-battery-safety-and-prevent-e-bike-battery-fires
With kind regards,
James Post
skype: jaap-james
"

[shimsim]

@ultipost I think I remained surprised because I can't believe there hasn't been a recall or that the replacements I have been sent have also failed. It implies a much bigger issue with the product and even worse, that Fitbit doesn't have a handle on this at all. With my last replacement they would have had at least 8 months of production to iron out all the issues, so for this one to fail after just 6 months and in such a spectacular way (zero warning, just went blank and is now overheating when plugged in) doesn't look good at all.

it's hard to leave an ecosystem when you get used to all its features and it works for you (when it works) but if they can't offer me a good explanation (not just a replacement) I may just have to find something else. So disappointing because the Charge 5 ticked all the boxes other than reliability.

[KingAndrew]

Of course there isn’t a handle on it

I had this happen on a charge from 4 years ago, multiple versas, both my wife and mine. I’m very glad I never bought a new one 

[shimsim]

Well I just had a chat with support, after explaining that the watch starts to get HOT TO THE TOUCH now when plugged in and there was no sign of life other than the potential risk of fire, I was asked to  ...... 'try cleaning the contacts and attach the cable again'    ...... I know support has to go through basic steps, but that made me laugh 

[wordtokyle]

Just wanted to add my experience here as well. Fitbit Charge 5 stopped working yesterday. It just had a black screen and was unresponsive. I tried the pulse restart method, but that had no effect. 

I chatted with customer support today. It was purchased July 2022 so I was still under warranty and they are sending a replacement. However, I'm concerned that so many people have had the same exact issue over the last 2 weeks. I'm hoping that the replacement doesn't just turn on and then immediately have the same exact problem.

[shimsim]

@wordtokyle that was me 6 months ago, I even asked the support rep "so what happens if this one dies again in a few months?" , I didn't get a reply. The only positive thing I can say about my experience was that I kept getting replacements when I was in warranty but that is hardly comforting. 

[Fitfit215]

I had two Charge 5s die since Dec 2022. They are now out of warranty and I was given a 35% off coupon for a replacement. Ugh. These are expensive gadgets that should not break in under a year. 

[shimsim]

So just to give an update on the 4th dead Charge 5, after a really painful back and forth with support both on chat and then email and having to send pictures not once but twice (seconds time with a handwritten note, because I guess they didn't believe my pictures are authentic), to show the device, cable and charger, I have to send the faulty one back after which my 5th replacement will be sent. This process differs from the previous replacements, this is the first time I've been asked to send it back, maybe because it was heating up when it failed but whatever the reason, it means a fair bit of downtime for me now, not ideal at all.

If anyone from Fitbit is reading this (and cares) I didn't get any response to my questions or concerns regarding reliability and whilst I hate to seem unappreciative of the positive elements of the support, nothing changes the fact that something is very wrong with the reliability of this product and nothing is being done to address not only my concerns but those of all the customers that are posting here in the community forum. Regardless of my own situation, people need to know why this is happening and what Fitbit is doing to remedy this, other than sending out multiple replacements. 

[Parkfit1921]

I am a long time Fitbit user. I have had Fitbit versa and versa 2 both I found very reliable. I bought the charge in may of 2022 for both my husband and myself.  We loved the simplicity. My husband has not had any issues but I had 2 that failed.  The original failed by October, black screen. I was sent replacement and that one managed to work 6 months as well.  Normal use. No abuse. 
customer service offered me a 30% discount as the replacement is considered spare parts and therefore the warranty is only 6 months.  
pretty sad a product won’t last more than 6 months with normal use and that the company will not replace a replacement.  
I wanted to stay with Fitbit but the poor quality and lack of adequate customer satisfaction led me to a competitor.  My expectations are high when purchasing a product from a company like Fitbit. I’m very sorry it worked out this way. I wanted it to be different. But clearly taking care of customers is not at the top of their priority list. 

save yourself the headache and DO NOT BUY A CHARGE 5

[Blankscreen666]

 I’ve used Fitbit since the charge 2. The charge 5 is my last Fitbit. The screen died after about a year and a half and Fitbit customer support said my solution was to buy a new charge 5😠

I am going to try a Garmin. They have better products anyway