No Altimeter in Charge 5???

[nittanytrojan]

I've been a loyal Fitbit user for almost 6 years. I've had a Charge 2 and a Surge--both have worked well for years. I bought a Charge 4 a couple of years ago, but it was a lemon, so I just went back to using my trusty Charge 2. No problem--I just kept buying new wristbands. But recently, the buttons on my Surge were getting stuck too often, so I decided to use a gift card from my boss to buy a Charge 5 for its GPS capabilities.  I like to hike, I like to track my floors. Lo and behold, the stupid Charge 5 doesn't have an altimeter. Huh??? Why on Earth would Fitbit get rid of a standard feature like that? I just wasted a gift card on this piece of junk. So if you count the useless Charge 4 I bought, plus this Charge 5 without an altimeter, I am one seriously unhappy customer. Fitbit keeps on adding more and more features that are completely useless, all the while, they're losing basic features like an altimeter. Ridiculous! I'm seriously considering the new $800 Apple Watch Ultra--sure, it's pricey, but at least it'll count my floors. Sheesh!

[LiJaHi]

One of the new features they added was a GPS, which you said you wanted and therefore is not completely useless. Another was an ECG - the ECG and onboard GPS are the reasons I chose the Charge 5. The product description is readily available before purchasing, so you can't really blame Fitbit for your lack of research.

[nittanytrojan]

GPS was added with the Charge 4, which was the reason that I bought it a few years ago, hoping it could replace both my Surge and my Charge 2. The Charge 4 didn't work. Oh well.  But nowhere on the product description page for the Charge 5 does it say "NO LONGER HAS AN ALTIMETER." Naturally, since my lowly Charge 2 from 2016 had an altimeter, and my Surge from 2016 also had an altimeter, I never would have suspected that Fitbit would get rid of such a basic feature. Floors are still a metric you can track on both the desktop dashboard and the mobile app--why would they make devices that don't track those metrics? 

[LiJaHi]

@nittanytrojan  I have just checked the Charge 5 description on the Fitbit website (https://www.fitbit.com/global/us/products/trackers/charge5). The specs page doesn't list an altimeter, which is needed to track floors climbed. However, the features page does include Floors Climbed: Automatically track floors climbed whether you're taking the stairs or walking up an incline. Maybe they forgot to delete that from the Charge 4 description, but it's a major oversight. You could argue to return it on that basis if you want to get something else.

[Edmond]

Fair point actually. I also only knew it doesnt have an altimeter after purchase. Fitbit is a bit weird in their product specs page e.g. there is no official product weight.

[nittanytrojan]

Thanks for pointing that out. That's definitely something they forgot to delete.

[Notforlong]

My new charge 5 arrived today. Missed that they'd decided to remove the floor count. I live on a mountain and it was probably my favourite metric. Charge 5 will be returned tomorrow.