Blaze died. Now is the Ionic worth the risk?

[MarshRunner]

My Blaze ceased to function properly after just a few months after the 2-year warranty (heart rate died, and now steps faulty). Same happened with my previous Charge HR. But fortunately, or so I thought, Fitbit offered a 25% discount to buy a replacement. No Blaze now, so Ionic is the natural choice, but the absurd situation is that they discount out it from a much higher official price, so the so-called 'discount' comes out higher than the standard price offered by official retailers (£179.99). In other words, the 'discount' is just just an insult. I've loved using Fitbit for the past few years, but I've if their products tend to not last much longer than the warranty, or less, is it really worth it? Anyone have good or bad experiences with the Ionic? Is it time to I switch to another brand?

[MAH68]

My charge died within warranty period so they let me upgrade to ionic for £50. However that has just stopped working after about 2 years. Waiting to see if they can resolve but I’d be cautious as life of these gadgets seems limited

[Kerlylocks]

Just today, I think I'm about to be onto Ionic number 6
All have be replacements because they have died.
My fourth one, I was able to purchase at a discounted rate because it was outside of the warranty period.
The recent one, I had only a couple of months.  This morning the screen was dim and the brightness setting was greyed out and inaccessible.  I did a factory reset and the unit never rebooted.
It now goes into my bin of failed ionic collection.

[MarshRunner]

Thank you. And sorry for your troubles. I think you've more than ably answered my question. Time for a change, then ...

[Odyssey13]

Hi @MarshRunner  everyone is different. I have a friend who has the original Ionic and loves it. He uses it daily and hasn't had any problems with it. He had a Charge 2, but prefers the Ionic. You'll get a lot of advice here, but it really is up to you to find the best solution. Fitbit has a good reputation and stands behind their products. On the forums, you'll get people who post about being unhappy, but then, most of the happy ones never post here. My friend never posts on the forums - he's too busy having fun.

[MarshRunner]

Hi Odyssey13. Yes indeed. Of course there are some who have no problems, and we never hear from them. But ... conversely, I've had several problems with devices, but this is the first time I've ever posted on this forum. I'm sure I'm not alone. But after a product fails soon after warranty, the only rational way to respond to the offer of a customer loyalty 'discount' that turns out to be a higher than the standard price for any new customer is outright rejection and annoyance. That's very poor customer service indeed. And especially when these products do seem to have so many problems. Also, and forgive me for pointing this out, while Fitbit has had a good reputation, I'm beginning to wonder if this is slipping badly now, and in particular I can't help but question your objectivity here. Your status is a 'Community Legend', and you've posted close to 29,000 comments here! Incredible! How do you have time for anything else in life? I'm assuming then, that while you're very knowledgeable and have certainly helped solve many technical problems for people on this forum, you must be some sort of paid ambassador for the brand? If not, then surely it's time to get outdoors ...

[Odyssey13]

Might be a good time for members to know which people posting on the forums are Moderators or Fitbit Employees.  click to learn how

There are also Fitbit Community Council members, but they are not employees of Fitbit, merely members, like everyone else, who keep track of their steps.  click to learn more about CC

@MarshRunner  I've been around these forums since September 2013 and it's fairly easy for posts to add up over that period of time. Forum ranks can be explained, too. You're a jogger now but once you've posted a bit more, you'll have a new ran and it's no different from any other forum.

[StarTrekRedShrt]

I haven't posted before either, and have been using my Ionic for years, but this time I came to this forum to gauge the safety of installing this update, and what type of "support" I'd get being out of warranty - not from the Community of caring customers, but the company itself.

Seems there are lots of issues with no official answers, and that's disturbing. 

While waiting for a better firmware release that's tested and proven, I'm researching other devices in case a switch is called for.