Problems with charge 5

[Jg7151978]

I've had the charge 5 for awhile now and I must say I'm not all that impressed with it. I had a Charge 4 for almost a year and was fine with it until the band irreparably snapped. So I figured I would "upgrade." Well, considering the price I do not feel it is much of an upgrade. First of all, it is still terribly inaccurate when using a treadmill, and the inaccuracy varies wildly from workout to workout. It is very frustrating to try and track workout progress when you do not have an accurate representation of your day to day activities. Secondly, the Charge 5 no longer has an altimeter. I have no idea why this was eliminated from a device that is so much more expensive than it's predecessor, and was very disappointed to learn this after the fact. Thirdly, and most importantly, is the GPS and screen sensitivity issues. I live in the northeast and in colder weather still like to run/walk outside. This requires wearing long sleeves. And because the GPS is on the bottom of the device, when you are wearing long sleeves it often doesn't register. And because the screen is touch activated I find that when I am running or walking in long sleeves, the touch of my shirt will change settings, stop tracking, change what activity I am doing, etc. All this leads to a very frustrating and overall underwhelming experience with the Charge 5. I am considering replacing it with a different device. Really the only thing stopping me is the fitbit app, which I do like a lot. If anyone has any help or ideas on how to resolve some of these issues I would greatly appreciate it.

[DramaQueenDiva]

I really wish I could help with the sleeve issue, @Jg7151978!  I'm in the NE area, and every time I wear a long sleeve coat or jacket, it moves to a different screen!

[Tarabam]

I've had the charge 5 for awhile now and I must say I'm not all that impressed with it. I had a Charge 4 for almost a year and was fine with it until the band irreparably snapped. So I figured I would "upgrade." Well, considering the price I do not feel it is much of an upgrade. <snip>

And because the screen is touch activated I find that when I am running or walking in long sleeves, the touch of my shirt will change settings, stop tracking, change what activity I am doing, etc. All this leads to a very frustrating and overall underwhelming experience with the Charge 5. I am considering replacing it with a different device.

That's basically my exact story too. I'm amazed that simply brushing against my sleeve has gone through various parts of the end sequence of pausing the workout, finishing the workout and sometimes scrolling down and pressing the done button after the workout.

[Jg7151978]

It's pretty frustrating. And I have also found the GPS tracker to be pretty unreliable too (when it actually works that is...). And now when I go running outside and the GPS does what it is supposed to, at the end of my run when I go to look at my stats, the calories burned per minute graph no longer works. It just says not enough data. It still works when I am on the treadmill so I know its a software issue. I even spent a fair amount of time on the phone with tech support to have them tell me they had no answer. They said they would forward it to their "support team" and they would get back to me. That was almost 2 months ago. No response since then. My conclusion is that this thing is pretty shoddy for how much it costs.

[Bikepdxjc]

I've experienced these exact issues myself. I got my charge 5 as a half price replacement after the band on my charge 4 snapped at one year. Wish I'd opted for the free charge 4. It was SO much better in every way. 

[Jaydogger]

During my workouts, I find that the heart rate monitor is terrible. It worked great before the last software update. Now it is just a random number generator, if it reads anything at all. Funny, I find the monitor is accurate when I am not I workout mode though....

[Jg7151978]

I finally bit the bullet and bought a versa 3. The problems with the charge 5 just kept getting worse. 

[Jg7151978]

Yeah mine got more and more inaccurate. So much so that I finally got rid of it and bought a versa 3. The charge 5 is a complete waste of money.