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

[SunsetRunner]

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@N8teGee wrote:

So this is mine:

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To be fair, your bleeding is worse than mine. I’ve only got it on the top edge. 

I’d be interested to see the underside of the display because it may be a sealed unit in its own right and the light bleed isn’t a big issue if, and it’s a big if, the seals are working. I don’t know how badly aligned the ones that got water ingress were. In some ways I’m tempted to hold on until it breaks, or something more definitive arises.

[N8teGee]

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@SunsetRunner wrote:

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@N8teGee wrote:

So this is mine:

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To be fair, your bleeding is worse than mine. I’ve only got it on the top edge. 

I’d be interested to see the underside of the display because it may be a sealed unit in its own right and the light bleed isn’t a big issue if, and it’s a big if, the seals are working. I don’t know how badly aligned the ones that got water ingress were. In some ways I’m tempted to hold on until it breaks, or something more definitive arises.

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I'm guessing it is a sealed unit, this is the only picture I can find of the display out of the device. Haven't found any of the back of it.

[launton]

Has anyone tried videoing the screen edge and pressing it to see if the gap closes? Wouldn't that show if there is a seal error.  Anyway as said it's mainly speculative so I'm just gonna use it and claim a replacement if it dies. 

[SunsetRunner]

@N8teGee It makes me think that possibly the light bleed is from the edge of the glass, not from underneath, which is sealed. Perhaps the “blacking” is not perfect. Clutching at straws possibly.

[N8teGee]

@SunsetRunner I think that could quite possibly be the case. 

[bbarrera]

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@N8teGee wrote:

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Yes, at moment I have no idea if my device may fail if I take it for a swim. Seeing how the screen is secured and sealed could reassure myself and others.

Yes we could send it back but I really like the device, and at the moment I'm convinced a replacement will be no different to the three devices I've already had. 

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I don't envy your situation. Wish I had some insight into engineering change orders at Fitbit, I do know how it works at other companies. I'd like to think Fitbit would have more fully tested the design and manufacturing before going into mass production, however its clear the Ionic software was shipped before it was ready so not too surprising I guess.

[JustinAiken]

Another Ionic waterbricked... wore it for about 48 hours, went for a 40 minute swim, a few minutes after it turned off, and won't come back on. 

Didn't see this thread before, so not sure if there was light leakage or not... Going to return to Target tomorrow, will check replacement carefully for light.

[runwithnewmedia]

@JustinAiken Sorry to hear Justin. Will you take a picture and show us what the replacement looks like? 

And everyone else -- can we at least promise not to attach gate to the end of a word to describe the situation... like Gapgate. Let's not do that.

[Kwono1]

Fitbit have been nothing but supportive throughout this whole ordeal. Sure it would have been nice to have a working unit, but I'm more than glad to have such a responsive support team who have responded to me. I have now returned my unit. I'm going to wait for quite some time to purchase again. I love the look of the Ionic, but I just can't purchase something that isn't working as intended. 

[RL7]

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@Kwono1 wrote:

Fitbit have been nothing but supportive throughout this whole ordeal. Sure it would have been nice to have a working unit, but I'm more than glad to have such a responsive support team who have responded to me. I have now returned my unit. I'm going to wait for quite some time to purchase again. I love the look of the Ionic, but I just can't purchase something that isn't working as intended. 

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I agree.  I think in a few months we’ll have a better idea of where things stand and I will also purchase it again if things improve.  These forums have been great in moving things along in the right direction.  

[EMCee]

If I understand correctly by this thread, the bleeding of the light on Max at the top between the bezel and the screen is not necessarily an issue with the unit not being waterproofed/sealed thus possibly resulting in a dead unit if exposed to water? 

Is that a correct understanding of this thread?

[SunsetRunner]

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@EMCee wrote:

If I understand correctly by this thread, the bleeding of the light on Max at the top between the bezel and the screen is not necessarily an issue with the unit not being waterproofed/sealed thus possibly resulting in a dead unit if exposed to water? 

Is that a correct understanding of this thread?

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I don’t think we know, yet. There is much supposition.

[Kwono1]

Yes not necessarily but very, very coincidental. I personally know of 3 and have heard of 9 others who have had water problems. ALL had the bezel/screen misalignment (although one of them did not check the degree to which her unit was misaligned). Some of the others had performed the light test before hand

. Take that for what you will. 

[WavyDavey]

Correlation is not causation.

[SunsetRunner]

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@WavyDavey wrote:

Correlation is not causation.

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There might be a confounder but ...

[launton]

Just to say I had my 30 minute swim today and watch is absolutely fine with no signs of ingress. I'll use it as intended now without concern 

[SunsetRunner]

Hey. 

Additional note on this topic, I checked for light leakage last night and I have a slight 'halo' around all 4 edges of the Ionic. 

Went swimming this evening for the first time with my Ionic, no water ingress, no damage spotted, device fully functioning and no sensor condensation (so far...) 

Appears that (and I think another member mentioned this earlier) that leakage of light does not mean your ionic is not sealed. 

Hope that helps. 

[N8teGee]

Thanks for the updates, that's somewhat reassuring. @launton Did yours have the gap and light leakage, I can't remember sorry. 

[zapleahy · Accepted solution]

Hi everyone, and thanks for voicing your thoughts on this topic. We have relayed these concerns around bezel and screen alignment to our Quality Team, and they have confirmed that some border light leakage may occur at the optional high brightness setting in a dark room due to the clear adhesive used to seal Ionic’s glass.

The small gap you’ve observed between the screen and bezel is necessitated by design, and is sealed with a clear adhesive to ensure high screen visibility and a clean finish. This light leak won’t be noticeable under most circumstances, and does not indicate susceptibility to water leakage.

Every single Ionic unit we manufacture passes through water leak testing to ensure it meets our water resistance criteria. Each unit is also evaluated as part of the Quality Control process to ensure it complies with our specifications. After receiving one of the watches reported in this thread, our quality expert was able to verify that the device meets our specification.

Fitbit is absolutely committed to delivering high performance devices, and has numerous unique build tests and controls in place to ensure everything from individual component performance to cosmetic appearance. Taking special interest in this Community discussion, our Quality and Manufacturing teams have taken the action to revisit related requirements and inspection methods, in order to be completely confident that we’re achieving this standard.

We hope this addresses any concerns you may have had on this topic – let us know if you have any further questions we can answer.

[launton]

N8teGee mine had barely visible light leakage