New Charge 5 Heart Rate Monitor Fails Spontaneously

[WesNeuetc]

My new Charge 5 heart rate monitor started failing almost immediately. Whether tracking a walk, or just throughout the day, heart rate indications and heart rate spontaneously disappear, not coming back again until I do a power cable 'restart' (just restarting from the tracker menu doesn't fix the issue), which gives me about a day before failing again. The failure occurs in all modes that display heart rate - my default clock face, scrolling to the heart rate display page or when tracking heart rate during a walk. This is very frustrating - especially since I upgraded from my several year old Fitbit Iconic, based on the glowing reviews of the Charge 5 (including that it provided accurate heart rate data, unlike the Ionic). I'm not willing to routinely 'restart' my Charge 5 (like daily) just to get the feature that I needed most!

Also worth noting, this spontaneous failure to detect and record/display heart rate occurs regardless of how the tracker is attached to my arm (I've tried looser and tighter) or which arm I've attached it to. Dosen't make any difference; once the heart rate function has failed it continues, regardless of how it's attached.

This failure mode continues until I do a 'restart' using the charging cable that came with the tracker. Following this 'restart' I typically several hours or perhaps a day until the problem recurs.

Fortunately, I purchased my Charge 5 from a source that allows 90 returns or exchanges, so I have that option, but if this is a common Charge 5 problem exchanging won't be worth considering.

[DavideFitbit]

Hello, welcome to the Fitbit Community forums, @WesNeuetc. 

Thank you for sharing that you've been experiencing this inconvenience with your Charge 5 and that you already tried a few troubleshooting steps.  

From what you mentioned earlier and what you mentioned in other threads, it seems that you already tried all the basic steps shared in the forums to resolve problems with heart rate tracking. If you already tried all the steps suggested and you continue to experience the same problem, I recommend that you get in touch with the Customer Support team for further assistance with this. They will let you know how to proceed. 

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. 

Thank you for taking the time to share your feedback about the product as well. The team of developers continues to work to improve the quality of products and services. 

Have a great day. 

[WesNeuetc]

Pleased to report that following Davide's advice (which previously included all the pertinent troubleshooting steps) I contacted Fitbit support, via the Live Chat page and after about 15 minutes of chatting with a support person (which basically was just confirming that I had followed all the troubleshooting/correction steps Davide recommended) Fitbit agreed to send me a replacement Charge 5, at no cost.

I'm impressed!

-Wes

[DavideFitbit]

@WesNeuetc That's great news, thank you for sharing this update! 

Have a great day.