Charge 2 heart rate monitor regularly fails

[Rdavis184]

Spoiler

I got my Charge in March, and I wear it almost continuously except to charge it. It has worked fine up until now. Last week,the heart rate function stopped: no flashing green LEDs even with a full charge on the battery. 

I found a partial solution on one of the threads here, which was to connect my HR to its recharging cable/power, and depress and hold the HR  side button until the Fitbit logo appears with the software version number. This fixed the problem, but only temporarily. The same failure has occured 5 times now, usually less than 24 hours later.

[JuanJoFitbit]

@Rdavis184 It's great to have you aboard in our Fitbit Community! Sounds weird that your heart rate is not being monitored consistently. The restart process that you did is great to have this issue fixed. However, since the issue persists even though you have restarted your tracker, I'd like to know a couple of details; are you wearing your tracker differently than before? Have you tried turning on the heart rate and turn it back on? In the meantime, try setting up your tracker as a new device and see if the issue gets sorted out.

Looking forward to your response my friend! 

[Rdavis184]

Hi JuanJo,

Thanks for getting back to me so soon.

I have not changed how I wear my Charge 2 since I got it in March. HR
monitoring works accurately and well while it functions, since I check it
with a finger probe SP02 monitor while I exercise.

I've tried turning off HR monitoring through the iPhone App Fitbit
Dashboard, waiting a few minutes, and then turning it back on and
resynching, trying both "Auto" and "On" settings. I have not tried setting
my Charge 2 as a new device. I'll try that now if you think that will help.
It's not clear to me how much historical info is stored in the device
versus in the Fitbit cloud. Will I lose all of my historical information,
particularly things like V02 max if I set this existing device as a "new"
device?

FYI, I reset the device at 8AM this morning after it failed sometime while
I was sleeping last night, and it failed again 3 hours later on a 90%
battery charge. The time between resetting and failure seems to be growing
shorter.


Thanks for the help,

I tried reintroducing my Charge 2 as a new device, and I still have the same failure with heart rate monitoring. Please note the I incorrectly referred to my Charge 2 as  a Charge HR. This problem is happening on a Charge 2.

Since our conversation yesterday, I've found 3 others with the identical problem, as well as many others who have complained of failure to record detailed sleep information, which is a symptom of no heart rate detection. Many of these problems appear to be coincident with the latest software release. I strongly suspect that this release has introduced a bug in heart rate monitoring, and would appreciate your escalating the issue to the developers.

This is not an "accepted solution". None of the suggestions or recommended measures here provided a working fix to my problem of HR monitoring failure. 

Fitbit customer service contacted me, thanked me for troubleshooting as I did, and is shipping a replacement Charge 2. Their customer service reps were very nice.

Moderator edit: merged reply

[dwinstonb]

I have a similar story.  My Charge HR heart rate monitor stopped working over a year ago, (no green lights...)  This had been purchased to replace a Fitbit that would no longer charge.  Tried all the suggestions and nothing seems to work.  The Charge has the same usage, I tried a reset which had no effect, and I deleted and reinstalled with no effect.  None of the forums had a solution that I was able to get the Charge to work.  

If you have any further suggestions, I would appreciate them.

[Rdavis184]

My Charge HR showed the same symptoms- no green LEDs - but it always resumed working after a reset. The length of time it would function after a reset, varied from a few hours, to perhaps a day before it quit again.
I described these symptoms to the support people, and they sent me a new device. The replacement Charge HR has worked very well, and it’s now some 18 months old. I have no complaints with it.

Sorry I couldn’t have been more help.

Sent from my iPhone

[davebmit]

My charge 2 will not respond to any attempts to restart heart rate.  It worked continuously for two years without any prompts or restarts, but after one successful restart, it will not work at all. Ever.  no recent changes of band

Dave B

[dwinstonb]

I had the same problem.  Could not find a resolution.  Eventually replaced it, which I am still using...

[Sedworrall]

Did updates now stop working charging connecting whatever I bought a paperweight can you tell me how to fix it

[Rdavis184]

My problem with this was resolved with a replacement HR2 from Fitbit. The replacement has worked fine for two years now. 

[Sedworrall]

I'm not sure what you on about this is what happened to me. It's asked me
to update. Now nothing is working don't know why. So there for I don't know
how to fix it. I'll give you a call but I'm in Australia so one week or I
say stuff it and like my money back. I that is Australian laws. I so have a
nice day

[SunsetRunner]

This is largely because Fitbits are garbage. My wife's Alta failed within warranty and the replacement is now failing again. My heart rate packed up, it frequently won't sync with my phone, notifications on screen have long since stopped working. I am binning mine and will never buy another Fitbit again, nor will my wife. Both been thoroughly disappointed at the rubbish hardware and clunky software. I will be researching and then buying a proper smart watch from a company that can make hardware that lasts more than 5 minutes before failing to work as advertised.

[davebmit]

I never even got a replacement. They just kept asking the same questions over and over: how old is it? Where did you buy it? Was it a gift ??? What’s wrong with it?
I would answer, and they would repeat. “Lather, Rinse, Repeat”.
My only possible conclusion is that they just want customers to go away. They can’t possibly want repeat customer’s. My watch lasted well over a year. Maybe two. I would have gladly paid for a (discounted ? Replacement, but they just kept up the delay tactics.

OK I’ll go away, Fitbit. You may have just sold another Apple Watch.
—Dave

Sent from my iPhone

[SunsetRunner]

Yes, has pushed me towards almost anything else (but not Apple not keen on
those!).

[S804697]

My heart rate has been failing to register by the Charge 2 fairly regularly. This morning I have done 45 mins HIIT outdoor under 32°C heat and sweat like a pig, still nothing. This current Charge 2 is actually a replaced unit, and frankly it is disappointing. 

[Vivek_k]

You think people are dumb - to suddenly not wear it properly. Please own the fact that the Fitbit device has a sub-standard heart rate component.

This issue is not resolved. On multiple forums the support team says RESOLVED just to report good metrics on issues. There is a bug that caused heart rate to die out after updates. And they won't admit it. I have tracked 15+ people who had this issue and all were after updates. My wife delayed updates for 6 months and was fine - until she finally updated, Then it hung up and gradually died out. No amount of resets and factory setting help. It may come on for few hours/a day then again die out.

Moderator edit: merged reply