Is Fitbit Ionic Waterproof?

[malakai]

Have to say I have had an Ionic for precisely 3 weeks - waterproof....went for a swim in the sea for a couple of hours and then it stopped working - not waterproof then.

I spoke to support and went through all the reset options, even sending them a video to show what I was doing......no good - please return and we will send you a new one.

They received it last Friday, they have confirmed they have received it and yet they cannot send me another until their warehouse confirms receipt.....up to 5 days.....but they confirmed they have received it!

So in short 2nd new fitbit returned to them.....100% failure rate then and awful customer services - which I had stayed with Garmin

Moderator Edit: Updated Subject for Clarity

[JP_Mul]

Agh! Brought it into the swimming pool again this week and it died!

Moderator Edit: Format

[Rich_Laue]

And what has Fitbit said?

[SilviaFitbit]

A warm welcome to the Community @JP_Mul! Sorry to hear that your Ionic died when you went swimming with it. I've shared your post with our Support team and they've mentioned that you already have a case with them, please continue the communication via email, any solution they will provide will be based on the Fitbit Warranty. 

Thanks for the advice @Rich_Laue. 

I'll be around if you need further assistance. 

[JP_Mul]

contacted fitbit and they told me to try a reboot using the buttons,...it worked! It's great to have it back working but my faith in the Ionic has been badly rocked

[lablover55]

I have not had issues with mine. Shower/Pool/sweat, no problem

[Jillyholli]

Well my screen is now falling off my watch so guessing I won't be taking it swimming any time soon. What a piece of rubbish it is. 

[SilviaFitbit]

Hey there @JP_Mul! I'm glad to hear that after you troubleshooted this with Customer Support, it's working now. 

Great to see you around @lablover55. Thanks for sharing your experience. 

Hey @Jillyholli. I've shared your post with our Customer Support and they've mentioned that you already have a case with them. Please continue the communication via email, they will continue assisting you on this matter. 

I'll be around if you need further assistance. 

[JP_Mul]

thanks Silvia, I'm happy that it came back to life after the reboot 🙂 Don't think I'll be taking back into the pool again though:-( It was purchased second-hand for me as a present so it's not covered under warranty...can't help thinking there should be a re-call or at least an extended warranty for devices that suffer from water damage. The fault is caused by a manufacturing defect.  

[wonrz]

These are some concerning stories I see here. I bought mine couple of days ago, with swimming pool in mind, but now I am afraid to wear it for that activity.

In case something happens how does a warranty procedure look like in Poland. I am scarred that if something like this happens to me the shop I bought it in will say it'not covered by warranty.

[SunsetRunner]

Mine didn't show any problem in the swimming pool but display got damaged under shower. Still works but the display is glitchy now.

[SilviaFitbit]

A warm welcome to the Community @wonrz. Your Ionic is intended to work on the pool, you can learn more about it by checking this article How do I track my swims with my Fitbit device?. 

If you have any issue with it while performing any activity, you may want to check the Fitbit Warranty. 

Thanks for sharing your experience @SunsetRunner. Have you restarted your Ionic? If it's still not working after this, let me know and our Support team can continue assisting you. 

Hope this helps! I'll be around if you need further assistance. 

[Dawgone]

Here is my sad story. Wife has used FB from the beginning. I swim so held off until the Ionic came along. Worked great for about 24 pool swims (and I mean old person laps and not power strokes) and then IT DIED.

No problem.. Customer service was cool but yea it was a process and I had gotten used to the tracker and had the usual tracker withdrawals. Same story about tacking it from me to ware house to where ever before  it was sent. I SHOULD BE happy RIGHT! WRONG.

This was a few months ago and I have been away from the Gym in my usual cycle of laziness so this replacement was not being worked hard and never wear washing or showering as no sense having the soap be an issue.

Today I went back to the GYM. Ran the elliptical with Ionic tracking, some weights with the Ionic tracking and then I went to the pool, set it to swim and less than 25 feet of just doing a warm up walk IT went black vibrated a few moments and got warm and DIED.

Wow.. not even a couple times in the water.. literally JUST ONCE in fresh pool water 4 feet deep. 

On the good side I guess either this replacement or my original was still under warranty so I got to choose between another replacement or 50% off of another type. 

Since I had $250 in this and the best they could do was another $100 plus for the comparable VERSA I went with a replacement. Maybe 3rd time is the charm.

I am happy to report that I was not put through the hoops of sending the totally non working Ionic back. I suspect it was a refurbished one and whomever refurbished it forgot to seal it as a one time failure was amazing.

Fibit really does offer so much more than others out there including the usual over priced made in the same place probably apple so I would be happy but I think it is time for the CEO to shake up something as they clearly had the edge and innovation but the interface does suck. I have a LAN connected PC and of course I have to put in a wifi dongle and a bluetooth dongle just to get my stats. DUH?

Yea.. this is long but I want to get all the details down as when the replacement arrives I will photograph it being charges, set up and will run right over to the pool to swim so that I can quickly find out if 3rd time is a charm. 

[SilviaFitbit]

A warm welcome to the Community @Dawgone. Thank you so much for the time that you took to share your experience with Ionic. Sorry to hear that you've had many inconveniences with it. 

Fitbit appreciates your feedback and comments regarding the interface that we offer. We are always improving and implementing features that could help you reaching your goals. 

Don't hesitate to get back if you ever need help, Fitbit is always here to help you and since each case is reviewed individually. The solution that they provide is based on the Fitbit Warranty. 

You can learn more about refurbished trackers by checking this post. 

I'll be around if you need further assistance. 

[Dawgone]

Thanks for getting back and the Link to the other ReFurb issues. Not sure
if mine was a refurb as it was never stated but since it actually died
first time in the pool I made a guess.
I had no idea it was not under a new warranty so I guess I got lucky with
my big purchase. This one is going into the pool immediately in case it is
a problem and I will get back.
Dawgone

[BruceUK]

Hi

My original fitbit lasted just under a year before the screen froze and the batery life dropped to 4-5 yours. I contacted fitbit and after going through a number of unsucessfull methods they recommended to fix the problem, they gave me a replacement. This one lasted less than a month. This time the screen went blank and would not charge. So I again contacted FB and they provided me with a second replacement. This unit has now died. Same blank screen and will not charge. I do use them in the pool but apart from that I have never dropped or damaged them in anyway. All three units look like new. Before the ionic I had a charge 2 which never gave me any problems. I wanted to use it in the pool (2 meters deep) but could not because the charge 2 was not waterproof. This is why I bought the ionic. I have contacted FB again but I am yet to get a response. The replacement units don't look like refurb but if they are they should learn to seal them properly. So if you are listening please can I have one that is waterproof as this is why I bought the ionic. I don't think it is too much to ask?!

Moderator Edit: Format

[SantiR]

@Dawgone Thanks for your reply and for sharing those details regarding this situation. Please do let me know how it goes with the new unit!

@BruceUK  Welcome to the Fitbit forums! Thanks for sharing all of the details regarding the situation you have experienced with Ionic not turning on. Thanks for contacting customer support once again regarding this. I'm sure they will provide a solution to get you back on track really soon. 

Keep me posted! 

[D_a_v_e_B_]

My 15 month old Ionic has also suffered a tragic death by being submerged in water. Although mine was a bathtub...depth, 1 ft. Fitbit's resolution was a 40% discount on a new Ionic that has no guarantee of dying in 15 months either as that seems to be the planned death for Ionic's, as mentioned numerous times here on the forums. Disappointing. 

[balute]

Hi, went in to the pool for the first time yesterday with my Ionic. It failed immediately. I called cs and went through my situation to no avail. My ionic is out of warranty..So cs said no replacement.

I am very unhappy. How can a product be advertised to be water resistant and completely fail after one swim in the pool...  The company knows that there are faulty seals in the manufacturing process and the quality control is not pickings it up. So they sell the watches anyway and hope for the best. and the rest they just turn their backs to the customer problem.  eventually this way of doing business will catch up with them. unhappy x fitbit user.

[ftarelho]

Wish I'd done some research before asking for an Ionic as a present, but thought of posting what happened to me here to increase the number of FB Ionic users suffering from a misleading advertising.

Ive had my ionic for 3 months now and been taking it to the pool 2-3 times a week. All was fine until last Monday night (after a swim) my ionic woke me up with constant vibrations. Noticed that the right side buttons were stuck, making it impossible to use the watch.

I got in touch with CS and "unfortunately you are in a country where we cannot do anything about it".

Getting home from work, here is what I did: drained the battery completely and, once the watch was off, I sprayed some "electronic contact cleaner" over the buttons and "brushed"  with a very soft toothbrush. I then waited a couple minutes for it to dry and turned it on. Fortunately, problem solved.

Aparrently, the leak happened only in the buttons, which might have accumulated some water (?) and oxidized the contacts? Who knows! Reality is the same as a lot o people out there: the reason why I asked for an ionic was just to use the simming functions, but now I am stuck to a "water unfriendly" device.

I have always regarded FB as a company that looked after delivering good quality products and keeping a good reputation (which prevented me from choosing Samsung's products), but, in the end, Apple is always the safest way to go (their products' failures are really exceptions).

Funny to see FB's representatives trying to cover it up acting as if all reports are exceptions (a lot of exceptions though).

Fabricio.

[Rich_Laue]

Make sure that no buttons are pressed while the ionic is in the water