Screen and bezel misaligned

[Kwono1]

Update:

Screen and bezel do not align. There is a considerable gap between the bezel and the screen which some here have suggested may affect the waterproof quality of the watch. Two of my three friends who have bought the watch have returned them due to water damage. They believe that this is due to this misalignment. From what I have seen both in this community and in person, many Ionics suffer from this issue including the demonstration models at the stores.  Other problems have included an inability to connect to the Wi-Fi, or not having the Wallet tile available at all. 

Luckily, Fitbit support got into contact with me and have asked that I exchange the product. I have now returned the watch and await for another one. I highly recommend that you test your Ionic. Maximize your brightness setting and simply enter a very dark area. It is important to manually maximize your brightness as the auto sensor will automatically set it to dim. Should you see light escaping the bezel as per the photos, then I would recommend that you contact Fitbit support immediately. 

Moderator edit: updated title for clarity

[N8teGee]

The trouble is it's highly likely the replacement will be the same. All three of mine have had this issue. What colour is your Ionic? Mine were all the silver one, I wonder if it's less visible on the darker one. 

[RL7]

Oh wow.  I did the test and I have a little bit of light escaping along the top.  While I haven’t swam with the watch I have gotten it wet while washing dishes in the sink and have jumped in the shower with it on.  It’s so comfortable I forgot I had it on and realized midway through the shower that I had it on. It also didn’t help that it was insanely early in the morning and I wasn’t fully awake.  

Anyway....

The watch is fine.  Everything seems to be okay.  There are glitches but these were present before exposed to water.  

Can anyone from Fitbit help with looking into this?

[Kwono1]

Here's what fitbit support said to me:

"Upon reviewing your case and since the the screen is clearly misalignment, please be advised that we want to address this issue as quick as possible".

Anyone know anything about a recall? 

[RL7]

Not seeing anything about a recall here in the forums. But if widespread, I’m sure Fitbit will replace the defective trackers ASAP.  They have great customer service from my experience.  

[Kwono1]

Agreed. However, I'm not too sure that the company would recall them given the hype and damage that the overhaul would do. Shares would drop, shareholders would not be happy, Fitbit reputation suffers, sharesdrop more. Alternatively, Fitbit can state that whilst there is a gap, it is something that will not affect the watch. This way sales continue, faulty units come in and are replaced, share prices remain stable. 

[RL7]

Excellent points and likely how it will play out if this is a serious problem. It’s a vicious cycle for sure.  

It’s worrisome when the replacements have this flaw.  It may take time for adjustments to be made to fix the issue. The first batch may just be bad all around.  

A shower or splash from the sink won’t do the tracker in, which may have saved me. But prolonged submersion in water will be something I will definitely avoid until we all learn more.  

[zapleahy]

@Kwono1 Appreciate you returning the device to us for closer inspection. I've updated the subject of this thread to reflect the issue you've described as the Ionic screen and bezel being misaligned.

Do you know if your two friends noticed the same displacement of screen to bezel? I'm not certain how much this issue impacts the water resistance of the tracker, but in the the light is certainly peeking through, and this is something that our manufacturing and quality teams will want to evaluate. 

@N8teGee Did you replace Ionic through a local retailer or Customer Support? Sounds like you're waiting to receive a device now. Thank you for the patience and understanding. Let our Community Team know if we can help to address anything.

@RL7 @Kwono1 We are tracking this very closely, including details like the frame type and production batch. At this point, it's important for us to get any units exhibiting this misalignment back so that we can more easily trace the issue to its root and take corrective actions. 

I have been swimming in open waters, salty oceans, warm chlorinated pools and showered with Ionic a hundred times or more and have not had any issues. The device is designed to withstand the toughest workouts in and out of the pool, we expect you to experience nothing less.

For newcomers to this discussion, if you have concerns about your device screen and bezel alginment or any other hardware issues, please reach out to our Support team directly through contact.fitbit.com, as this will help to expedite any damage inspection. 

[Kwono1]

Hi Alison 

Thank you for your interest in this matter. My friends had the same screen displacement as myself, however one of their units had more of a misalignment on the bottom left corner. 

The only thing that I have absolute faith in is the Fitbit team, so thank you for replying to this. It takes a load off my mind knowing that it is at least acknowledged. 

[N8teGee]

Hi @zapleahy

I returned the the fitbit purchased unit and then decided I wasn't happy with the replacement as it had a bent screen, I have since sent that back and am waiting for a full refund. I then purchased another Ionic from an authorised reseller.

Like I said though, they have all displayed this issue. Even the one I've got now. Dark room and full brightness and it is similar to what @Kwono1 shows in his picture.

I'm reluctant to get another replacement as like I said they all had the problem, and I don't want to swap for one that also has that problem and possibly another issue. I have zero confidence in the water resistant capabilities of this tracker at this point though. Fitbit really needs to look into this as it's affecting a huge amount of trackers. 

[AETBasingstoke]

Hi,  I picked up the Charcoal / smoke grey version from John Lewis last week and the screen is as it should be - flush to the bezel - and no light bleed. Wonder if this issue is effecting the Blue-grey/Silver grey production run?

[mrhide]

I aswell got the charcoal version (bought at Amazon in Europa/Austria)... I have the same issue, light bleed when set to max. brightness. Not happy 'bout that!

[ijob007]

I have just checked my second ionic and it has this too. Mine is the black/ charcole one.

[N8teGee]

I suspect there will be more with this issue then without it. I'm trying to find an Ionic teardown, but the closest I can find is the DC Rainmaker pictures. It's not clear from them where the seal for the screen is though.

Might have to reach out to JerryRigEverything.... 

[AETBasingstoke]

Seems hit and miss then, I wonder as a % sold how many have this issue

Sent from my iPad

[AETBasingstoke]

It would be good it Fitbit could identify the problem from serial numbers etc to minimise the problem and get replacements out to those with this issue.. Looks like they are on this already but does not say much for their quality control. I am lucky mine is as should be and so far very happy with it (subject to bugs and improvements from firmware upgrades and and apps being introduced).

Sent from my iPad

[N8teGee]

I gave up looking for one without the max brightness backlight issue, as apart from that this one seems good.

I've had one with a weird backlight flare across the screen, second one had a noticeable bent/crooked screen and this one seems to be good, well apart from the max backlight issue. All three have had that though so I'm reluctant to swap an otherwise ok one for something which may have more issues and still the back light leakage. This is not something that I can see under normal usage, so until fitbit acknowledge or issue a fix I will stick with this one for now. 

[GregJaxFL]

This is really sad as it looks like they have assembled all of the Iconics with this fault. You would think someone in QC would have noticed this problem. 

[SteviK]

I just looked at mine, turned the brightness to max in a dark room. I see the same effect, but to me it looks more like a reflection on the frame from the light on the screen. I don't think it's light bleed or a defect.

[ijob007]

After I noticed that I have the same , I wore it in the shower and had a wet shave, submerged mine in water and the watch is not letting in water.....yet