How long does a fitbit normally last you?

[SunsetRunner]

How long does a Fitbit normally last you? I've gone through 3 in the last 2 and a half years?

[KarenWS]

I'm very frustrated.  This is my 4th since 2016. Phone support was no help, plus I was disconnected three times after waiting 20+ minutes for a representative.  I love the concept but can't depend on them

[izlikedat]

Unfortunately that’s true. There app is 10 times better than Apple but the reliability is why I switched to Apple. They should sell the app. But I don’t know if that would work since google now owns Fitbit

RF

[mek1651]

Hello SantiR, I read the thread because I have the same situation now, in 2020. I bought the first Ionic in 2018, got a replacement in 2019 and another one in March 2020. And now my Ionic is broken again, starting with wrong time and after reset to manufactorer setting my mobile doesn't find the Ionic.

[regaverse]

I had a Fitbit Alta. Given to me as a birthday present in March 2017. Basically I wore it 24/7 as I needed to monitor both exercise activity and sleep periods for health reasons. On average , the battery lasted 5 days. Battery has slowly died over the last three months - May-July 2020. In all that time I had little to complain about. The wristbands were replaced on average every year, more so later as I just bought cheap after market Chinese replacements. Twenty four hour sweat and wear got to them all.

Based on the feedback in this discussion thread, I had a good lifetime for a Fitbit, only cut short by the  non-replaceable battery. Ive seen the Youtube battery replacement videos, but where I am in New Zealand, the cost of importing just the battery does not make it worthwhile. 

Ive replaced it with another Alta bought 2nd-hand.

[Amy4950]

I've had my IONIC since January 2017 - it broke down in 2019, but I had it under warranty. It was fixed.  However, now it is definitely on it's last legs.  I can't delete messages anymore and the touchscreen works sometimes.  3 years... time for a new one.

[izlikedat]

I would agree however Apple watches it’s don’t break down. I loved the ionic but is it worth 100.00 a year?

RF

[SunsetRunner]

I like my iconic, but third one in 9 months.  While I appreciate the support and replacements, it is losing it's appeal. Pebble which you bought out seemed to run until Fitbit shut it down. Is Fitbit ever going to provide an Iconic or other model that will continue to run like Pebble and other sport watches? At the current price it's not really cost effective. Not counting the downtime and setting up a new one each time it crashes. There just seems to be a bug in the software causing all the issues with it crashing. Thanks

[Bje117]

2 years at most. Sometimes if you let them die and sit for a while you can recharge and get them to work again. I am getting a Garmin next time. They cannot fix the Fitbits and you only get a thirty dollar rebate off a new one. 

That five day battery life was only ever food for three says and if you use GPS it's about 23 hours.

[izlikedat]

No doubt I have to that just went out in a drawer. No mention of a new model. They all seem to have the same issued

RF

[izlikedat]

I’m suprised they didn’t just sell the app. Probably the greatest fitness app ever.

RF

[SunsetRunner]

I really liked my old Pebbles (still alive) and my Alta HR all-black version that died spontaneously a year after purchase this past February.  My wife's Alta HR is still going, but will probably die soon.  I replaced my Alta with an Ionic three months ago and the 5ATM IPx7 device waterlogged in 2-3 feet of water near the shoreline.  Fitbit are telling me that my warranty expired 2 years before I even bought my device, and I'm not even sure how that can make sense.  Suffice to say, unless they come back with something meaningful to offset disappointing QC, I'm outta here.  Looking at Garmin, Whoop, and maybe hold out to take a peak at next Apple watch in a month.  If I were Google I would cancel Fitbit offer and just create a new untainted brand of fitness tracker with a simpler and better quality device, that is free and upgradable with a long term subscription (like the Whoop model).  I don't think there is much value in the Fitbit name if they won't stand by their disposable products and are determined to erode their own longstanding customer base with repelling support negotiations.  Nobody has time for this annoyance.

[Iain_K]

Got about a year out of this replacement Ionic pebble before the touch screen when a bit hit and miss and then the screen died.  It was still recording steps, but thats not much use as a smart watch with no screen.  This one was itself a replacement for one that bricked on an update. 

Of 6 Fitbits in my family, 4 have died.  Only my wifes old Charge 2 and my Daughters Ionic are still going.  Based on reported experiences though it probably wont be long till that dies;)

My other daughter had a Charge 3 that suffered a screen death after a little more than a year, fortunately my Visa card extended warranty paid out on that one, money that went on an applewatch 3 which works great for her.  I also had a charge 2 screen that cracked after a few years, but maybe thats reasonable?  

Anyway, I'm so totally done with Fitbit now, got myself a Garmin Vivoactive 3 music, factory refurbished good as new and warrantied for ~$150. It does all that the Ionic does (or should do) and more, with no fuss and no glitches. Notifications dont go missing, it has excellent golf tracking, I can see how many laps Ive swum while in the pool, music loads easily! plus I have access to my amazon prime playlists, with bluetooth audio that doesnt crap out.  Plus the Garmin Connect app seems to offer more in the way of workout analysis than Fitbit.

Early days yet, but so far so good. Should have ditched Fitbit years ago, their customer service attitude over updates affecting customer devices (not just mine, everyone elses) was the last nail in their coffin for me.  Lost a long term customer, well done.

[Martin_F]

Here's an update on my 8-month-old Inspire.  The display died a couple of days ago but a soft reset brought it back to life.  It's the second soft reset I've had to do.  The display froze once a few months ago and I had to soft reset it then too.  It's a little bit concerning that it needs such frequent soft-resets.  My Fitbit Flex only needed one soft-reset over its 3 1/2 year lifetime.

I still don't trust it in the pool for swimming but I do wear it for kayak polo practices during which it gets frequent dunks without any problems so far.  I don't wear it in the shower though.

I've turned off All-Day Sync because I prefer to sync manually and preserve battery and make it last a whole week.  I'd rather just recharge my device on Monday mornings when I'm starting my new work week.  For some reason that I haven't been able to figure out, my Fitbit Inspire no longer pays attention to my All-Day sync setting and updates automatically.  I've had to resort to turning off Bluetooth on my phone to prevent constant synchronization but our province's new Covid tracking apps require it so I'm in a quandry.

The most annoying thing is that the device loses time, big time.  It can be anywhere from 5 to 15 minutes slow which is a big problem for a device I also use as a watch.  A resync cures it so how does it lose that much time in one day?? I thought perhaps one of my other devices is synchronizing to my Fitbit and also running slow but I've checked them all and none of them fit the bill.  It's been happening for a few weeks now so I wonder if it's a bug from a recent update.

/MF

[GStrad]

over the last couple of weeks my ionic has started losing time, about 30 mins - hr over night typically. 

It's my 3rd Ionic in two years, my original lost a charging pin, my second died with a black screen, this one can't sync or tell the time reliably.

[TeriMRyan]

I’ve had horrendous luck. I got a Versa that lasted 5 months. It was under warranty so they sent me a replacement which lasted even less time—2.5 months. I thought maybe it was just the Versa so I took the 50% off deal to get a different model—got the Charge 3. It lasted—-3 Weeks. I am meticulous with mine—I clean it every day. I don’t shower or bathe in it. I’m not a swimmer. I just, ya know, sweat when exercising. I will NEVER buy another Fitbit. It’s actually cheaper in the long run to just get an Apple Watch. This whole experience has been a big joke. 

[izlikedat]

I agree. They are now removing my posts and I am not happy about that. Thank you for responding

RF

[izlikedat]

That’s what I did. I ended up going to Apple 

[Starlord1]

You're very fortunate. They're not built to last.

[wooslappoqzx]

New here an upgraded watch owner and wish I wasn't all over again


For alllllllllll the non Stop emails from you all which I do read thanks is
ot bad or am I goin to be **ahem**ed if I say im Fitbit was bought by GOOGLE
weren't they??? Im a long time google fan for the majority but...



Can we thank GOOGLE on this cant THEY help dang......but electronics I know
are tricky and to sync or not to sync or any of these new and nonstop
💩💩💩💩 thAnks be to them can THEY SUPPORT US OR ????
ive owned. Now this watch 2 days and dont want to even LOOK AT IT again or
even begin to work out hahaha


Back to sitting home on my **ahem** as of now. Good day Friends!!!

[Darnfingers]

I'm waiting on my 2nd replacement Ionic as I type...received the original watch for Christmas 2019, it died in May 2020 and Fitbit sent me a replacement, that died two days ago (Aug 2020) and they're in the process of sending me another one now.  If it dies I'm not going to bother asking for another replacement, I'm just going to buy something else.