Is the Charge 5 really that bad?

[shane201]

I ordered a Charge 5 yesterday as it was on sale for Prime days , but am now coming across some really bad reviews. For example there are posts in this sub where people are calling it a huge **ahem** and advising people to return them. I understand there are issues with the built in gps. However , assuming I won’t use that (I will have my phone) is this still a good enough device ? Or should I return it. I will primarily be using it for tracking my steps , heart heart , mountain biking (with phone for gps), and sleep tracking.

[RiekoC]

@shane201 The Charge 5 has gotten a bad reputation due to several issues, some of which seemed to be related to firmware updates and frustration with support from Fitbit/Google.

I got my Charge 5 last year when it was on sale and it worked fine until I installed the latest firmware update, just shy of 6 months after I got it. Shortly afterwards, I experienced sudden drops in battery level, like 30% drop overnight. Several days of restarting the device multiple times seemed to resolve the issue for me. But soon after that, the screen on my Charge 5 became non-responsive. None of the recommended troubleshooting procedures returned my tracker to normal operation. Contacted Fitbit support. They sent a replacement tracker/pebble after they confirmed my device was defective and was still under warranty. So far, my replacement is working fine, even after updating the firmware. 

When my Charge 5 is working properly, it is a great health & fitness tracker for my needs. Occasionally, I have some metrics that don't record properly, like not tracking all my sleep in a night. But those don't happen too often for me and I just take those issues in stride. 

It would be helpful to know the percentage of Charge 5 trackers have experienced fatal failures so we would have a truer understanding of the device's stability & reliability. However, I doubt that we would ever see that metric. It does seem like that the Charge 5 has overwhelming issues and many people are frustrated & disappointed when their tracker fails, especially when you read the posts here. One thing to keep in mind is that users come to these forums to get help when they have issues. Rarely do users come here to share their positive experiences. If everything is working properly, there's no need to say anything. 

My advice is to give your Charge 5 a chance. The tracker you receive may be just fine. 

[Surfista]

My first Charge 5 was replaced in less than a year. It then failed again shortly after the 12-month warranty expired. I am hoping that, since so many people are experiencing this battery failure issue, Fitbit may extend the warranty to 2 years.