18 Months and Unreadable

[ShortLife]

I have had my Charge 3 for 18 months and the screen has become unreadable with black lines.  I'm running the most recent version of the app, made sure it's full charged and reset the device at least a dozen times.  No change, other than the screen seems to be deteriorating day by day.  Device does continue to track data, but is unreadable.  

After 18 months, I cannot believe the Charge 3 is failing. 

Can this be fixed?    

[Lillybeanie]

I've had mine for about the same length of time and the screen has faded so much it is unreadable. I can make out the time, but that's about it. The rest just fades away. If I'm outside, I get nothing. And the battery doesn't last very long anymore, maybe a day or two if I'm very lucky.

I can't believe how fast this tracker went downhill. It was great and all of a sudden it was was crap.

[Mairsydotes]

Mine is the same, and getting worse.  It seems to have started around the same time as the recent update.  The display is set to Normal but Auto and Normal seem to make no difference.  There is a Dim but I just wish there was a Bright.  I've had mine since 1st September 2019 so it is just out of warranty.  I was using it as my watch, but can no longer read it at all outside.  This seems to be a common problem but I just wish they would give another update to fix the problem.

[LaineeM]

Same thing with mine. The screen is very dim. It started with a couple lines through the numbers/letters at the top a week ago. All of a sudden today everything is too dim to see in regular light. 

[LaineeM]

I went to settings and my Charge 3 was on “dim” not “normal”. I hadn’t knowingly changed it. 
Here’s the Charge 3 manual. Page 49 helped me. 😀

https://staticcs.fitbit.com/content/assets/help/manuals/manual_charge_3_en_US.pdf

[Linnyo]

I bought my Charge 3 a year ago and I’m on my 3rd replacement. The current replacement is less than two weeks old and has already developed faults. I had an online chat with a CS rep yesterday and they are refusing to replace this one as the problems with the Charge 3 are known and ongoing. Any replacement  will  have the same  problems. They cannot say when the necessary firmware upgrade to correct the problems will be available. 

[ShortLife]

This appears to be a pervasive product defect with respect to the Charge 3.  Surprised at FitBit’s lack of customer support on this issue.  I switched from a Garmin Vivofit that had been in constant use for over 4 years (and is still going strong) to the Charge 3 based on the additional features and recommendations.  I liked the Charge 3 and have recommended the devise or the new Charge 4 to several people, unfortunately it appears that this was a bad recommendation.  With the poor quality and durability of this product and the lack of support, unless there is a compelling reason to stay, and since this device needs to be replaced, I’m thinking about going back to Garmin.