Damaged Ionic charging port

[mybearbrick]

My fitbit Ionic charging port is damaged.

• 1st the middle gold contact fell out (seems like not an isolated case). The charging pin cannot reach the inside of the middle hole where the gold contact fell out. 
• The remainder Gold contacts oxidize after every run due to sweat I believe. I maintain using IPA as recommended but still this happen. It is ridiculous to be cleaning with IPA after every daily exercise. 

I had emailed the support and different people asked me to send picture and eventually told me to buy a new device. 

Device is slightly more than year old and working well except the daily woes of having to clean the contacts.

I fixed the charging contact by stuffing a tiny foil into the tiny middle hole and trying to make the device charge. 9 out of 10 tries is a message "Not Charging. Not enough power from Source". 1 rare chance I get a continuous charge and I leave it untouched till full.

It is a pain and chore to do this to a 1 year plus device which I paid good money for. Considering the device holding its charge well for 4 days of GPS activities, it is a waste to chuck it in the bin.

Since when using Fitbit has such a painful chore....

I loved my Ionic and supported Fitbit. 

Despite being disappointed by Fitbit response that Fitbit are not serviceableand to make me chuck and buy a new band, I loved Fitbit. Hence I downgraded and bought a Versa 1 which is easier on the wallet, with the thought that it may die a similar fate of poor durability as my first Fitbit Ionic after a year!

If Fitbit's support is to make me support Fitbit by buying new devices, you have succeeded. 

I will still keep my Ionic and occasionally stuff it with foil and charge it. Bite the bullet and deal with the chore.

Because I loved the Ionic and I am not going to generate more E-waste as it is still working well if I get it to charge.

I hope there someone who share a similar problem can try my fix or recommend a way to service it externally, which Fitbit has simply chose an easier solution to replace it than fix it. 

[SilviaFitbit]

@mybearbrick Welcome to the Community. Thanks for the details mentioned and the troubleshooting tried. 

I truly appreciate the time you took to share your experience with your Fitbit Ionic and our Support team. Currently as you mentioned, Fitbit doesn't offer repaired services but your feedback help us to continue improving our services and watches. 

Hope you can continue using your Fitbit Ionic while you get your Versa. You may want to check the Versa Product Manual here. 

I'll be around if you need further assistance. 

[Kayla4289]

The exact same thing happened to my Ionic, and from reading other posts it has happened to many customers. This is obviously an issue, and they refuse to do anything because the 1 year warranty is up. I have not even had mine for 2 full years. This is ridiculous. Very poor quality and very poor customer service. Fitbit will not get one more dollar from me. I will be switching to a Samsung watch. They have more features than the Fitbit watches anyways. 

[mybearbrick]

Disappointed by the hardware support. 

Don't need an engineering degree to rig up a fix. 

Still works. 

I have also returned my new Versa and gotten myself a Garmin. 

Not looking back. Garmin has so much more smartwatch capabilities. 

 

[WendyB]

@mybearbrick  Do you ever clean your device? Could be your problem

[mybearbrick]

Yes daily. Maybe too frequent.

I guess it's my luck. 

Anyway moving on. 

[dennisusb]

Thanks for the posting, I have the same exactly issue, less than 2 years and the middle pin disappeared.

I will not be paying another $250 plus for another Fitbit so soon. I would expect to last at least 3 years. in any case, I liked your solution and I will be joining you in the Garmin family.

[Ddefreece]

I don’t know if my pet is damaged (it doesn’t look like it is and it looks clean) but mine will not charge either. 13 months old and at a price point of $250 I feel totally duped and stupid for making this purchase. 

Looks like it’s time to throw some money at the Garmin as I will not be giving Fitbit any more of my money if the product doesn’t last. 

[highpeakshiker]

I have had mine for 2 1/2 years and now have the same problem.  I loved the Ionic but will have to switch too.  I am looking at Garmin Active 2.

[dennisusb]

The same just happened to my wife's Ionic. This is the second one. I vowed to never buy Fitbit anymore. PS: I do like Fitbit, but I would be a sucker if I keep buying it.

[highpeakshiker]

I loved my ionic but bought a Samsung Galaxy Active 2 to replace it.

[purduemark]

Happened to me today, phone support offers 35% discount and to throw it away.  It was a mater of time, charging has been suspect,now I see the plastic degraded and the contacts coated with salt from sweating

[Robertlcc]

My 18 month old Ionic has now also bricked due to the middle contact breaking off. The watch is now useless. Quite shocked about the number of people with the same issue. This is shortly after having replaced the wristband which also broke. So many quality issues with Fitbit. Question is. Am I going to buy another fitbit? You must be having a laugh!! Will never buy a fitbit again, and will never recommend it. Have bought a Honor Watch 2 instead. Wow! now I know how overpriced and underperforming fitbit actually is. Farewell fitbit. Do let me know if one day you manage to improve your product quality....

[purduemark]

This will fall on Deaf Fitbit Customer Service Team. They may give you
some discount on another watch but that doesn't help and is only about
10-30%....you can get a used Fitbit for $30-$50 on ebay if you still want
to but absolutely Fitbit doesn't know how to create loyalty with its
customer that paid $200-$300 for their product! I certainly would not buy
another brand new fitbit considering they only warrant their product for 1
year due amd support is not there for obvious reasons.

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Moderator edit: personal info removed

[asurber]

My ionic is about 3 years old and had all the contacts ruined, it would not take a charge. I sent it to and they put a new back on it for $110, I don't think I have had a better experience doing business with anyone. Very good communication and they also sell refurbished electronics, I highly recommend them! Before and after photos attached.All fixed

Moderator Edit: Word choice

[FriedToast]

I'm here because my middle contact has eroded to the point that cleaning hasn't helped. I might try the tinfoil method to limp my Ionic along, but seeing so many people here with the same problem makes me think all my frustration until now is best served by moving to a different platform/company.

I had issues with my Blaze, but liked the options enough that when it started having issues, I went with the Ionic (~$300 here in Japan, IIRC). I also picked up an Aria Air to go w/ the Ionic, but I'm not impressed with it. I have to fiddle with it enough that just standing on a scale and writing my weight down is probably the way to go. So once the Ionic is done (99.9% there unless the foil works), I'll sell the Aria Air, too, as I don't plan on buying any other Fitbit products. Too much trouble over the years, too much frustration. I want something that just works.