How long did your Flex last before it died?

[RoboMofo]

I was wondering how long do fitbits last before they die, in terms of steps and length of ownership.

I currently own a Fitbit Flex for about 18 months and have logged over 5.5 Million steps. I'm on my 3rd band. I was thinking about upgrading to a charge HR since they have a $50 trade in promotion at the microsoft store. I like the automatic sleep function on the Charge HR, but don't like that you can't change the band.

Moderator edit: updated subject for clarity. 

[BWRider360]

Thanks, for the reply, I hope someday, the product becomes more reliable Thanks for the response!

Sent from my iPhone

[lumpypotatoes]

It seems this post and our comments fall on deaf ears. If you aren’t ready
to try a tracker from another company, look out for yourself and your
wallet by:

1. Buy 3rd party insurance. I did that on my last purchase and got my money
back on my broken fitbit a year later.

2. Purchase it with a credit card that doubles the warranty and file a
claim through your card when the fitbit inevitably fails.

In total my family/extended family has gone through 10 various models of
fitbits. Most didn’t make it much longer than a year. Some were
replacements under the original warranty. At any rate, based my family's
experience and this post...it is clear you want additional warranty
coverage.

[CoffeeNell]

Yours might be the exception. What model and where did you buy your FitBit? Do you wear it daily? Do you work for FitBit?

[lumpypotatoes]

Hi CoffeeNell,
It is unclear who your post is directed to. If it is me, I would say none
of my experience is an exception. The shoddy quality of 10 fitbits my
family has experienced matches most in the group.

I posted more details in the past.

Me:
1. Charge band bubbled up and stopped holding charge lasted 6 moths
2. Replacement charge from fitbit died 5 months looked brand new, just
stopped working
3 Charge HR died after 6 months. (Replacement had wonky battery)
4 . New Charge 2 band fell apart, fitbit replaced band, band broke again
after 1 year warranty and battery started to fail. Filed claim with
Brookstone. They gave me my money back under warranty.

Wife:
1. Charge, band bubbled and died 5 months
2 Replacement charge from fitbit died 2 months later
3. 2nd replacement Charge from fitbit also died, no longer under warranty
4. Charge HR died at exactly 1 year.
5. New charge 2 so far still operating not under warranty, HR functionality
is dicey.

MIL
1. Alta died after 4 months. Replacement was a Charge 2 which I am
currently using since my other one was returned to Brookstone warranty. HR
functionality is dicey.

I left out the flex which is the only one that seemed to stay functioning
for a reasonable amount of time. Fitbit did replace the band.

In all case we wore the device daily. As posted before, after my Charge
started bubbling up, I never wore any other fitbit in the shower or even
used them when washing dishes because I don't believe that they hold up
well to water.

None of us are serious athletes. I am a cube dweller by day and often hike
or walk on weekend. Wife is an avid hiker as well and works in retail.
MIL a school teacher.

No I don't work for fibit. If I did, I'd likely get fired for telling them
to fix their product.

[CoffeeNell]

Sorry that message was for the women who said hers lasted for 8 years. That is kind of unheard of. Sorry for the confusion.

Get Outlook for iOS

[BWRider360]

No this is good for the Fitbit consumer, I’m glad I found this site

Sent from my iPhone

[YojanaFitbit]

Hi everybody, thanks for sharing your feedback.

Sorry for the issues with your Fitbit. Thanks for the feedback, it's very important to us to have your thoughts in regards our product and your customer support interactions. Fitbit is always trying to provide great products and customer experience. Each scenario is different, but I think that you can use the option available according to your warranty information, as it was mentioned by our support team. 

We don't want to create frustration in our customers. Fitbit has been designed to provide motivation and help you to reach your daily goals to success. Please know that we provide feedback to our team based on community posts and we are always working on improving our devices and overall environment based on what you share here.

See you around! 

[TheBoxThatRixx]

@RoboMofo wrote:

Thanks for your response, but I was not referring to the battery dying. I should clarify, that i'm referring to the fitbit's lifespan. I'm trying to get an idea of how much longer my fitbit will last. This question is really for community members that have had a fitbit past the warranty period or had to throw out a older fitbit. 

I was wondering the same thing and that’s why I created an account to respond to this question. I lost my first Fitbit when they had the janky bracelet a few years back. This time, I got an Alta HR last Christmas. It just died the other day. So less than a year! Disappointing but now I’m addicted to it so I had to buy another one. That’s how they get you!

Exact same thing happened to me with my Alta HR... lasted less than a year 

Moderator edit: Merged replies

[FerdinandFitbit]

Hi @TheBoxThatRixx, welcome to the Community Forums! 🙂

I'm very sorry to hear that the experience with your first Alta HR but I hope that all is going well with your new tracker. If you need any type of help, let me know and thanks for sharing your feedback with us!

[Betina]

I would bet you won't find anyone that has a FitBit that lasted longer than the warranty.  Their products are designed to break quickly so you buy another one. They just want your money and don't care about retaining loyal customers. If they cared they would replace defective units and not just offer a discount to buy another one. I am very disappointed in this company. :(Sent from my T-Mobile 4G LTE Device

Moderator edit: word choice

[DavideFitbit]

Thank you for your feedback about the product @Betina, I'm sorry to see that you've experienced some trouble with your Fitbit device/s. All comments received from users are helpful to continue improving the quality of products and services. 

[carshcap]

My Fitbit is not holding a charge after 15 months. How did you clean it to ensure a better charge? 

[jt_stl]

My first FitBit lasted 10 months. My second lasted 14 months. The first had serious problems. In the second case, I think the battery just gave out.

[YojanaFitbit]

Hi @carshcap, welcome the Fitbit Community! Sorry for the time it took me to respond. 

Thanks for taking the time to clean your Fitbit to make sure it is charging. Please also check the rest of recommendation suggested here: Why isn't my battery charging on my Fitbit device?

To charge your Flex we recommend plugging your charging cable into a USB port on your computer or other low-energy device. If necessary, you can use a UL-certified USB wall charger. Don't use a USB hub or battery pack to charge, and only use the charging cable that came with your device. And please restart it before trying to charge it again. 

You can see other steps to improve your Fitbit's battery life here.

@jt_stl thanks for sharing this information. You can also check these steps and confirm if this is working for you too. If not, please let me know. It will be a pleasure to request one of our representatives to get in touch with you. We're here to help.

See you around. 

[jt_stl]

My Fitbit has been cleaned, it is plugged into a USB port on my computer, it charges. I have reset it multiple times. When I disconnect the Charge HR from the charging cable the battery icon appears to be at 100%. A week ago, it went from lasting 5 days between charges to lasting a couple days, then a day, then a couple of hours. Now I don't think it lasts 5 minutes. I believe this conforms those steps did not work for me. When the charge lasted a day, everything worked as expected (until it ran out of charge), now I can't even get it to display the time.

[WanderlostMW]

My first Charge HR lasted me 8 months before it failed due to the band bubbling and falling apart. They sent me a refurbished HR to replace it. Which fell apart in another 8 months. My Charge 2 which I was given as a gift in October, 5 months ago has just died due to the screen no longer working. And since I got it as a gift from someone who apparently got it when their old one died as a replacement before they just decided to upgrade (still sealed in the package when i got it, they had kept it as a back up apparently) they will do nothing to repair replace beyond their "intensive troubleshooting" which is plug it in and then hold the power button to restart it.

[melinda24]

I have had several (with the first two being replaced by the company despite the second time being out of warranty).  I've been through at least 4-5 bands too.  

But a few days ago, despite being charged, I did not get credit for my steps all day and now of course it won't charge despite doing all the right steps.  I am so disappointed that once again, this product is completely defective.  I should not have to buy a new one just because the old one stops working!  It should last longer -- the Apple business model of making me upgrade will not work with me, there are so many other options now.  Fitbit, you really stink!

[SunsetRunner]

I have had at least 4 Fitbits, the last 2 being ChargeHRs. None has lasted more than 1.5 years, with some lasting less than a year. Finally done with this product. For price, durability is terrible. Moving on in more than one way.

[Suesewandsew]

My Fitbit just died yesterday. I have had it 2 1/2 years. I guess that's pretty good considering some of the other responses I have heard. I am buying the 3 year warranty for 10.99 on the new one I am buying. 

[Becky2234lk]

What could do when a Fitbit flex 2 die I try charging it and restart it but nothing