Is anyone satisfied with their Charge 3?

[kariweighsin]

I received my Charge 3 for Christmas and couldn’t wait to get it out of the box. Christmas Day I noticed I had over 7K steps and to say I was shocked would be an understatement since I didn’t start wearing the device until around 11AM and the steps had registered by 7PM and the only movement at that time was basting a turkey in the oven, driving to my destination, setting food on the table and moving from the dining room to the family room. 🙄

Yesterday, I was out running errands and noticed by about 3PM I’d racked up over 8K steps. Majority of my day consisted of sitting at the car dealership and browsing around Michaels and Target. If I’d had on my Versa, I know I would have only had about 3K - 5K steps which for me would have been accurate because it was a very lazy day. 

I’ve searched the forum (and topics) and have noticed so many posts expressing their dissatisfaction with the Charge 3 due to the inaccuracies which has me wondering if anyone is actually satisfied with their unit. I’ve had the zip, Charge, Charge 2, Flex 2, Ionic and Versa so I’m thinking I just ended up with a faulty unit (in defense of Fitbit, I purchased my unit at Target and when I opened the box I noticed how everything just fell out, almost as if it was a returned unit) and am considering swapping it out for another. 

[Kayoh]

I bought my charge 3 when it first came out in early October. I switched from a Garmin to Fitbit, with the hopes that I would love fitbit. False. I have had nothing but problems with the Charge 3 since purchase. With every new update it crashes. It got to the point I had to send it back to fitbit, so I have been without a watch for almost 2 weeks now. If you are looking to purchase the charge 3 I would consider waiting until they push out more updates to improve the overall functionality of the device and fix all the bugs. 

Issues I had include:

- It would just stop tracking my activity in the middle of my run. I would look down to see distance and it would just be a regular clock face, no activity screen. On sync it would only show about the first 5-10 minutes of my run. Really frustrating.  

- It would crash with every update and go to a black screen, green flashing back light (even with a full charge). How convenient for your watch to do this and the only way to fix it is with the charging cable.

- I would receive notifications from text/calls at 4:00 am that were days, if not weeks old.  Almost as if the watch was just now catching up to show me these notifications. 

- Endless issues with syncing.

Reasons I am not impressed with the Charge 3:

- No military time, no day of week display

- Limited clock faces, no ability to customize

- Back light is either way to dim (impossible to see in sunlight) or way to bright (blinding at night)

- Activity screen font size is extremely small and very difficult to read the distance during a run. No options to customize this screen.

- No automatic run pausing

- No heart rate zone alert feature

- Screen time out is very short, 3-4 seconds. During a workout you have to constantly wake your screen to display any stats. 

- constantly prompts for GPS. Makes treadmill running difficult. 

I am hoping that when I get my watch back these issues will be resolved. In the meantime I will continue to wonder why I left Garmin in the first place! 

[Benoitgphoto]

Not satisfied at all.  I just packed it and shipped it back to Amazon as I was still into my return period.

This thing counts steps pretty accurately when walking but it counts steps while sleeping, driving, sitting, scratching head, brushing teeth with the other hand etc.  It is like Fitbit did not bother to design an efficient algorithm to count steps accurately but went for the most simple algorithm: feel a vibration and count one step.  Plus the SPO2 function is still not available and no word from Fitbit for an estimated timeframe.

Also, why did they remove clock faces in the last update?  Why just adding new ones and make previous faces still available?  It goes beyond me.

It was my first Fitbit product and it is the last.

[sinkcar]

Before the update, my Charge 3 seemed to be quite accurate. I compared it
to my husband's charge 2 and with similar schedules, we did get about the
same number of steps. I compared the heart rate with a chest-strap heart
monitor and it did just fine - as opposed to my Alta HR which always
recorded a higher rate.

So when I woke up after the update with 989 steps just from sleeping, I got
concerned. It continued to give me oodles of steps all day long. But after
I restarted it (maybe twice?), it seems to work just fine now.

[sinkcar]

My clock face shows steps, time and heart rate. Even after the update.

[sinkcar]

I responded to you via email - but I will repost here in case it never got through. 

Before the update,  my Charge 3 seemed to be quite accurate. I compared it to my husband's charge 2 and with similar schedules, we did get about the same number of steps. I compared the heart rate with a chest-strap heart monitor and it did just fine - as opposed to my Alta HR which always recorded a higher rate.  

So when I woke up after the update with 989 steps just from sleeping, I got concerned. It continued to give me oodles of steps all day long. But after I restarted it (maybe twice?), it seems to work just fine now.

[sinkcar]

My clock face shows steps, time and heart rate. Even after the recent update. 

[User9500]

Very unsatisfied!  Cannot get the FitBit to charge.  Very big disappointment to open it for Christmas and have a Dead On Arrival unit or a cable that doesn't work.  Not sure which is the issue but getting ready to send both back as quality control is not working at FitBit.

[ScottFBC3]

At this point sp02 is not available.  The Charge 3 is a pretty basic fitness tracker.

[Ludicrous]

You may want to return it and the next one set up a correct gate for yourself 

[kariweighsin]

Thank you so much for that info!

[dorz11]

Not me, I loved my Charge HR 2 but the Charge 3 is a huge disappointment.   Clock faces are discussed on here with thousands of complaints/request (many of which are just give me the HR Charge 2 faces) yet remains an issue.  The dim font is unreadable in sunlight and cannot be turned off.  My steps and sleep tracker are way off (my Charge HR 2 was pretty good).  I'll get sleep info that says I went to bed at 1am and got up at 4am when I really went to bed at 11pm and got up at 8am.  This is pretty regular that it misses the times.  My steps will one day be 0, next day be 35 yet I don't do any steps.  The user interface is hard to use and mine will often just quit responding so that it won't scroll or move screens at all.   Step counter is good and battery life is good.  Oxygen monitor feature has not been released.  Gorilla glass face is good, I'm hard on watches and it still isn't scratched.  If I were you I'd give it another 6 months and see if these issues I and others have persist. 

[CheekyMommy]

In a word, No. Recieved this as a gift. Went through the initial set-up and it wouldn't load the clock to the device. Read through some of these message boards which suggested an update. The update would not complete, so I did a suggested reboot of the device. Now the screen shows nothing, no charging indication, no code to set up the device.  After reading many of the threads and others disappointment with the Charge 3, I've decided to return it for a refund. Thank goodness my hubby kept the receipt.

[BillGoesFaster]

Hi Rob,

Sorry to hear you've been bugged by the Charge3 HR measurements. While I am considering returning my C3 because it erroneously measures steps (adding them when i travel in a vehicle) I have been surprised by the accuracy of the heart rate.

As a coach, I spend hours every day attached to some form of HR measuring device. Whether my HR is in the forties or up around max levels (high 170s) the charge3 reflects pretty well what my other HR equipment is saying.

Maybe it is just down to your strap placement/tightness?

Good luck in any case,

Bill

[BillGoesFaster]

I would seriously consider one of the Garmin units. Downside is you can't be in the Fitbit community with Garmin's tho, because they really are great units.

[s9876]

Don’t think that’s how it works. I can be sat down not moving at all, low resting heart rate and if I have the charge 3 on my right arm and am knitting I get hundreds of steps. Don’t think knitting counts as physical activity unfortunately !

[PEdwards263]

I have had mine 3 hours, it’s now back in the box and staying there.

no Max & Min HR alarm (my polar from 20 years ago did that) so impossible to stay in a HR zone without constantly monitoring my wrist.

the app is also frustratingly poor to set up!

complete waste of money 

[BillGoesFaster]

still persevering....
but a 'sports watch' that you can't see in daylight? come on....

[sinkcar]

I LOVE my Charge 3.

[annalily97]

I hate this Charge 3 I bought two weeks ago. It takes steps and exercises away. I walked for 90 minutes today and it was on there this afternoon and tonight it has been removed like I didn't exercise at all. The replacement that was just sent to me is doing the same thing. I don't want to have to manually log everything. If that's what I have to do, I'll get a free app on my phone to track steps. Had my One for the longest but they stopped making that. Then I got a Flex which lasted me years which I was happy with. Loved my Charge 2 but that barely lasted two years. I'll just get a regular tracker. The customer service last two people I talked to said Fitbit is working on the issue but were both dismissive to my frustration and did nothing to help me and told me to be patient. Not when it's my money.

[Ludicrous]

Sorry to hear that. I know quite a few people with them and have not heard
this yet. Ok, so is the watch showing no steps or is the app not updating
from the watch. With the exception of gps the watch has to know your
walking. If the watch shows steps but the app does not that is a common
problem with Android anyway. With Android these watches will loose their
connectivity specially after a Bluetooth connection in a car or hearing
aid. There have been several updates and this issue has gotten better. If
the watch is showing steps and Bluetooth on your device is dropping the
phone connection there are several things you can do from and Android
perspective. My guess is the watch is counting steps but the app is not
updating. Let me know and I'll you what to do it it's Android.