The Rapid Decline of my Charge 5

[Durrrrp]

Here lies the timeline of my unfortunate experiences during the brief time that I have been a Fitbit user and Charge 5 owner. I hope it helps shed light on something for someone somewhere:

1. I purchased a Charge 5 from Amazon in June 2023
2. The free Fitbit "premium" membership expired in December 2023. I did not opt to pay for a continued "premium" membership. 
3. I updated my Charge 5 firmware in early January 2024. I didnt have a choice on this, it began the update when I openend the Fitbit app on my phone.
4. By late-January 2024, my Charge 5 needed recharging at least once per 24 hours and stopped reliably syncing my stats (e.g., O2, Sleep, exercise). I could previously go 4-6 days between charges.
5. I tried all the recommended tricks to try to reset, resync, and resuscitate my device and nothing made the smallest bit of difference. 
6. I contacted Fitbit support as my device is, fortunately, still under warranty. I began the process to obtain a replacement.
7. I decided to wait a few days to see if Fitbit might find a way to un-muck the mess we have all been experiencing.
8. On February 5, I updated my Fitbit app.
9. On February 6, my Charge 5 started needing to be recharged every 8-12 hours.
10. On the evening of February 7, I took my fully-charged Charge 5 off the charger at bedtime and climbed into bed with it on. When I woke up this morning, it was completely dead and unresponsive.
11. When I placed it on the charger, nothing happened. It did not respond to pressing the button on the charging cable, it would not sync with the app, the screen was black, and it began to get really hot.
12. I will be sending it back to Fitbit to obtain a replacement device but I dont have high hopes that my experience with the next one will be much different.
13. This is the first and only Fitbit product I have ever purchased after holding out on the "fitness tracker" trend for almost a decade.
14. I am unimpressed and disappointed that a company at the top tier of this industry has such uninspired customer service, especially when almost an entire class of device owners begin experiencing the exact same issues with their devices on the exact same timeline.
15. Unless/until something drastically changes with Fitbit and their response to these types of issues, I will never purchase another Fitbit and I will never purchase a wearable Google device.
16. It's sad that many customers have had a more reliable experience with a $25 knock-off than with a device made by an "industry leader". 
17. Shame on you, Fitbit. Do better.

[Durrrrp]

I received my replacement Charge 5. Of course, it is in need of a firmware update. I refuse to install the update. I also refuse to update my FitBit app. I will use it, as is, until my original warranty expires and then I will be purchasing a Garmin. 

I cannot believe that Google has refused to take any accountability for bricking all of our devices with the latest firmware update. Google should stick to search engines and selling our data; wearable tech is clearly not in their wheelhouse 🙃

[surrealchereal]

My first Charge 5 was messed up. I was sent a replacement quickly. The replacement kinda works, but the time and date is wrong it reads October 17th and the time is off by over an hour and 15 minutes. Flipping through the Charge 5 I found a new section and you could change the time, unfortunately  I didn't see a place to save it and it didn't update the time automatically.

I AM SO SORRY I BOUGHT THE CHARGE 5 AND GAVE MY CHARGE 2 TO A FRIEND.