Charge 3 display corrupted

[Fruch]

My Charge 3, which is about 6 weeks old has developed a dead horizontal line about 1/5 of the way down the screen. It's like a dead pixel, but extends right across the screen and always remains black. It's not too much of a problem; info is still easy to read, but it's clearly a fault and may get worse. I intend to return it for an exchange, but am posting to let other users know about this issue.

Moderator edit: subject for clarity

[Dolphin56]

Not from the comments I have received. I don't know if anyone asked for a
refund, but I am sure it would be a pro-rated refund, or perhaps partial
credit towards a replacement. Mine was out of warranty when it died, so I
can't speak personally, but others said they were given refurbs that also
went bad. I was given a discount to buy up. They might replace with new if
it is within a month or so, but it usually takes longer than that.

[Jaci1]

Sad but true 🤷‍:female_sign:

Sent from my iPhone

[Gsdfan]

I have the same issue: several black lines across the display. I called customer service and they walked me through the reset. It didn’t help. Since I’m just past the warranty expiration (one year) I’m SOL. Fitbit offered a discount on a new model, which I can apparently expect to last only 12 months. I chose against spending more money on a faulty product. I’ve switched to a Polar HR monitor. I’ve had them in the past and worked for years. Hopefully their products continue to excel. 

[SunsetRunner]

Yeah, Fitbit Customer Service is bogus in their actual support, which is why I'm stating that I've already tried the recommended restart procedures (because I did) and that those didn't resolve the issue. I'm all for the "have you tried turning it off and on again" first step, but turning it off and on again isn't going to fix a fried display unit. 

I got the Charge 3 on a discount when my Alta died (due to software issues) because they offered to send me a replacement of the same model or a discount on a different model. I didn't want to go with the same model and risk encountering the same issue six months later, so I opted for the Charge 3 hoping it would fair better. There goes my money down the drain all of five months later. I want my money back. This is ridiculous. 

[Dolphin56]

I get it. I went down to an Inspire, so if it crapped out I wasn't out as
much. If this is the case again, I will be done with Fitbit as well but.
Perhaps we need to be really hoping for Google to take them over, so that
there is some level of concern for quality.

[DaiWalker]

Seeing the posts here I'm starting to this NK there are different issues. For example, I've worked out why my screen appears to corrupt and 'fixes' itself after a restart. The lines on mine go across the top and I think they are actually a written warning about battery level which gets lost in the clock face graphics. Restarting/charging the Fitbit obviously gets rid of the issue. However, having seen the other pictures of bold lines going down the face of the Fitbit it's clear that is a separate issue. Fitbit would do well to differentiate between the two. The issue with lines going down, I would GUESS are due to water damage.

[Dolphin56]

Charge 3's are designed to be worn swimming, so water damage shouldn't be
an issue. It is never mentioned in the troubleshooting guide. My fine line
across the screen was not a warning, but a loss of pixels. It is just a
poorly made product that Fitbit doesn't seem interested in bringing up to
snuff.

[NickyPlant11]

I have a Charge 3 that has developed one and sometimes two horizontal lines missing in the display about 3/5 down the screen. I have tried rebooting it three times, as suggested. The first time it made it worse (7ish  lines) now there is still one line missing.  How should I proceed as I'm concerned it will get worse. The device was purchased through Amazon on17th October 2019.  Nicky

[Dolphin56]

You will have to contact the company. They will have you try an extended
restart, and if that doesn't work they may offer to replace it with a
refurbished unit.

[DaiWalker]

Hi Nicky, I'd be intrigued to see what happens on your device if you change the clock face (via the app on your smart phone). If the same pixels are dead then the screen is goosed, if not then may be a software issue.

[Hwoodward84]

Mine is also doing the same with a restart not helping either.

[SunsetRunner]

Beyond contacting customer service and asking for a reply replacement, I'm not sure what else to suggest. 

I've have to replace three Fitbits in three years due to product malfunctions, so they've lost my brand loyalty with that. I'm taking my money elsewhere. 

[Gsdfan]

Did that. They offered a discount on a new one. That’s when I knew I was done with Fitbit.

Sent from my iPhone

[SunsetRunner]

I have a charge 3 where the whole display is too dim to read 99% of the time.  It is all there but the overall brightness is so low that the bottom line is not visible and the step count is barely visible - even in a darkened room.  Three re-starts did not improve this issue.

If anyone has an answer please advise.

[SunsetRunner]

Hi All - I swim often and sometimes for prolonged periods, often in salt water.  I have not had a problem with water affecting the Charge 3.  Bad pixels will not be affected by a reset, these are display issues.  I have seen them in smart phone displays as well.

[Charlac33]

I ask only because you didn’t mention it.... Did you try the settings
feature for adjust the dimness on the Charge 3?

If not, Swipe right 3x to settings, then touch the brightness option for
adjusting it.

Fingers crossed for an easy fix!
--



-- Charla--

Do not be concerned whether you have good or bad experiences. Be only
concerned about your attitude towards these experiences. --Sayadaw U
Tejaniya

[SunsetRunner]

Oops - that just made it much worse.  I found the settings screen but it was so dim I could not read it.  I tapped blindly and that made it even dimmer - so I could not read it at all in any mode. 

I did a short reset and a long reset and was able to see the display again.  I set brightness to 'normal' - it is slightly better than when I first tried the setting but it is still dimmer than it should be to be able to read it normally.

Thanks for the tip.

[Hellylou82]

I’m now having this fault with my replacement that I received last summer 😢

[Gsdfan]

If you’ve had it >1 year you’re stuck with it. Fitbit products are junk. I’ve switched to a polar HR monitor for exercise. This is what I used years ago. They work great and last forever. If you want to know how many steps you’re getting and own a smart phone, plenty of free apps will give you that info.

Sent from my iPhone

[SunsetRunner]

I'm shopping around for other monitors. I like being able to track my sleep and heart rate along with steps/swim strokes, so now it's become a matter of finding a band that offers those functions and also has an app that allows me to enter more than just "walk/run/bike" for exercise because I do more activities than just those step based exercises. 

I've tried the Honor Band 5, and while I like the band, the app doesn't allow me to log exercise the way I want to. The description of the product said I could log other activities, but what that translates to is there is an "Other" category in the automatic recognition log, and it breaks your tracked activities into categories. That would be fine if I mainly ran or biked, but I don't. I do strength training workouts, too, and I want to be able to count those activities towards my daily goals. Apparently it can be linked to Google Fit, which does allow more variety with activity logging, but the data isn't transferring or isn't transferring correctly. Since I have my phone with me most of the time, I suspect Google Fit is getting step data directly from the phone's gps and my actual step count, which is always 1,000+ steps ahead on the band, isn't actually syncing. Ideally, I want to just be able to use one app and not be bouncing back and forth like I am now to check data.