Is the Charge 2 a lemon?

[WarthogARJ]

I have a Charge 2, unfortunately.

It stopped syncing, and FitBit Support has not suggested anything to solve the issue that a clever 12 year old with Internet access could suggest.

And looking through the Charge 2 forum, there seems to be a LOT of people with a LOT of issues.

And most of the issues I have seen (like easily >50%) have not been solved by FitBit.

Not properly.

Like even units failing within WARRANTY weren't addressed: the customer was often sent a used "pebble": no wrist band. And little was done to ensure the warranty period was seen to in many cases.

To me, a big issue is lack of a "factory reset".

And yet Charge (1) has it, as does Charge 3.

It seems like the guy who was in charge of Charge 2 messed up.

So after that, he was either fired, or maybe transferred to be in charge of FitBit Support?

Hmmm....that seems to fit.

Any of these trackers cost very little to make, the only actual cost is to design the prototype, and then to package it. The actual unit costs <$10 at most.

So if you sell enough to pay off the design costs, it's VERY VERY profitable.

And if it's a dud, well, you hire a bunch of people in a country where the hourly rate is low to tell annoyed customers stuff you can in fact read on the website, and to be very polite, but actually not really offer any real help.

Because the actual problem cannot usually be solved in lots of cases.

So what do we do? Other than not buy any more F%ckBiks?

[LPT1989]

I haven’t had a charge 2 last longer than 1.5 years. Current one can barely keep track of my heart rate. 

[Rich_Laue]

No the Charge 2 is not a lemon,  that is not to say that you may not be having issues. 

My Charge 2 in a few months will be 3 years old,  last year I gave it to my niece and she has not had any problems either. 

Yes the Charge and Charge HR have a factory reset. This is because it was discovered that once a Charge/Charge HR was connected to an Android Phone running Android Version 4 or less it would not connect to an Android phone that is running version 5 or greater.  

With the Charge 3, since it is able to store personal info Fitbit added a function to erase data. This is not a factory reset,  but only erases personal info and disables the wallet. 

The Charge 2 does not store personal info. 

Most sync problems are not with the tracker itself,  a restart or shut  down will fox a problem with the tracker, but with the Fitbit app. We're would like to help but not knowing what type odd device is used to sync the tracker...

Now if you want to search a help board, where people who are having problems,  post about their problems  and looking for help.  Of course you will find most people are having problems,  that is the point of a community based help board. 

If I asked you to search YouTube for truck accidents,  you will soon realize that every truck on the road has  been in an accident, you asked for examples of trucks  being in accidents. 

[WarthogARJ]

Rich,

Well....no.

That's not the main reason to have the option to do a complete reset, a so called "factory reset" on an electronic device with microprocessors. They can often get hung-up ("confused" to use a human term) in various ways. Often if they lose power during an update. Or else the customer settings cause a conflict, if the programming is not perfect: and as I am sure you know, hardly any software is, otherwise the need for upgrades? Well, it is one reason.

It happens with all electronic devices that use a processor/microprocessor: from the big boys (your laptop) to tablets, smart phones down to things like FitBits. Quite frequently the firmware (what is stored on the processor that tells it what to do) can either get corrupted, or the set of instructions that tell the firmware how to run can be corrupted.

If the firmware gets corrupted, you need quite drastic action: you need to upload (or flash a new set). Sometimes that's called "bricking" your device when the firmware is corrupted. A lesser issue is a corrupt configuration file, which I think is the issue with my device: and THAT can often be solved by full factory reset. Because a backup copy of the configuration settings is stored o the chip.

And the "soft" reset that is all the Charge 2 is able to do, does NOT do that: because your own settings are still there afterwards.

If you want to learn more about it, then Google "configuration corrupted" and related things

And in my case, my Charge 2 stopped syncing and despite the best efforts of multiple FitBit Customer Service employees, they don't know what the issue is. I am told to sit, and hopefully at some point in time a solution MIGHT be found. Maybe. Sometime. And "enjoy my fitness journey with FitBit in the meantime"....yeah, with a tracker that doesn't work properly?

The Change 2 itself works fine: right pulse etc etc.

And it DOES partly at least, connect by Bluetooth with my iPad and with my iPhone 4 (even though now they no longer support the iPhone 4, although when I BOUGHT my Charge 2 it WAS supported). 

It USED to work perfectly with my MacBook Pro, which has a built-in Bluetooth 4 that does NOT need a wireless dongle. If you didn't know that, or why, then look up Bluetooth 4 to see the facts on it.

But after deleting the app and reloading a fresh one, it NOW says "Cannot connect to Internet", although in fact it does not NEED the "Internet" but Bluetooth. They are not the same thing. And the app itself also says it needs the wireless dongle, which it did NOT need before.

So I have THREE devices, and NONE will now connect completely to sync.

My iPad DOES "see" the Charge 2, even after I delete the Bluetooth record, turn off iPad and restart. Even remove Charge 2 from account and add again (all as suggested by FitBit Customer (Dis)Service) and/or Forum suggestions etc etc.). 

So it is obvious to anyone with enough of the needed technical background, that the issue is either with the FitBit App (they have done a supposed "upgrade" but there is a bug.), and/or with the lack of a proper full factory reset.

I am going to try to do it by unplugging the battery: maybe that will force reset. Nothing to lose, the Charge 2 is pretty useless now.

As far as "Is the Charge 2 a lemon" I would really like to see the stats on number of failures reported compared to other similar models. I bet it's pretty bad. But I also bet FitBit will not admit to that.