Is the Vibration motor stronger on the Charge 3?

[Harry]

Is the Vibration motor stronger on the Charge 3?

Boy the Charge 2 is weak and I have to set two alarms to get woke up.

Is the motor larger/stronger?

Can anyone out there on the Beta test team or someone in Fitbit company respond on this question?

[SilicicAcid]

But the Ionic has a normal and strong setting for the vibration motor and it's still useless on strong as a silent alarm.  What we want to know is this --- is the vibration motor on the Charge 3 as strong as the vibration motor on the Charge HR?  Just because you say it has a "strong" setting does not mean the motor is actually strong.  We just want someone from Fitbit to put the 2 trackers (Charge HR and Charge 3) on their wrist and verify that the new tracker vibrates as strongly as the Charge HR did.  That's all!!  Not a big thing, certainly Fitbit must have some of their old trackers lying around 🙂

Moderator Edit: Format

[Harry]

Well said SilicicAcid... I have gone to every youtube review website and reviewer and ask for them to test this Charge 3 vs older versions. No reply yet? Even if it's a little better than the Charge 2, that's great.

Based on what you said below looks like it will be an Iconic motor, hope not?

I will return mine if this motor vibration isn't improved.

FYI.. we finally got a Moderator to look at these post. Maybe he can do this simple test HR vs Charge 3 vibration??

[Viello]

Hope the Charge 3 has a good vibrator...vibrator is my morning alarm to get me up without waking spouse.

Had a Charge 2 with a great vibrator, handed it down after buying the Ionic...1st Ionic vibrator never worked, tried all the suggestions and downloaded the update (vibrator worked 1 day then died again)...long story short, Fitbit replaced it and the replacement  vibrator works great (not as quite strong as the charge 2 vibrator but plenty strong to wake me up each morning).  

So my advice...it it is supposed to have a vibrator, it it's weak or nonexistent then exchange it for one which works well. My experience is Fitbit backs up what they sell. 

[Harry]

Really the Charge 2 has a very weak alarm.. The Charge HR was great. They put a new motor in the 2 and that was their downfall. I will send my back if it isn't improved. They have gotten thousands of complaint on the charge 2 alarm. And so far no reply from any review on this issue?  Hope they fixed this??

[SantiR]

@SilicicAcid @Harry @Viello I hope you're doing well! Thanks for your replies and for sharing those details regarding the vibration on Charge 3.

I did felt the vibration strong enough. Charge 3 will start shipping very soon. We expect to ship these orders in early October 2018. Note that pre-orders of Charge 3 special edition will ship in November. 

Once it gets released for more users we will be able to try and compare the vibrations. Rest assured they are strong.

Hope this helps. Keep me posted! 

[Harry]

FYI.. A youtube reply from early reviewer said "

The alarm from the Charge2 is weaker because the clients were complaining about the Charge HR strong vibration. You can expect the Charge 3 to have a similar vibration to the Ionic.

I never had an Iconic and the search on that forum is more of the same. Weak?

Anyone have an Iconic?

I did have a Surge which was great and a Charge HR also great.

Moderator Edit: Format

[SilicicAcid]

I have an Ionic.  You can choose normal or strong vibration but I can barely feel the strong when I'm waiting for it to vibrate.  It certainly is not anything like the Charge HR.  In fact, I just bought a Charge HR from Amazon so I can have it for the silent alarm.  Side by side, there's no comparison - the vibration motor on the Ionic is basically non-existent!

Moderator Edit: Format

[Harry]

Can a moderator verify that the Charge 3 has the same motor as the Iconic which according to the post below is weak even when set to strong or is there a completely new type motor (Vibration) in the new Charge 3. Please ask you tech developers this question? Thanks...

[Viello]

I wear the Ionic and use it's vibrator alarm to get up for work...the vibrator is set for Strong (which frankly feels exactly the same as Normal.  This Ionic was a replacement for one with a dead vibrator, from my experience and reading comments of others, there seems to be quite a variation in vibrator strength between units...quality control issue?  

While this vibrator is ok, I would prefer the current level to be Normal and have Strong mode be stronger.

[pilv13]

I love it how you're repeatedly referring to haptic feedback as a "vibrator" (unless there's a non-documented female health feature that I'm not aware of)

But I hope we'll hear more about this soon enough.

[jbender68]

when you say the vibration is ok to you, are you only referring only to the wake option or the notification option when... say you get a text message from someone on your cell and your watch is supposed to notify you of such?

those quick notification vibrations is what I have issue with

they are so quick, short and weak, that the brain pretty much ignores them, it they repeated or played a pastern it would be better

[Viello]

The alarm is a pulsating vibration.  The reminder to walk so many steps an hour (get that often at a desk job) is a quick vibration but easily felt.  

Don't have it set to notify for messages, calls, etc, so can't comment on those vibrations. 

As I said...there seems to be variation in intensity level from device to device...one my first one it didn't work at all, but this replacement one it is ok.  I suspect also people's preference fir ideal intensity level my be a factor in their satisfaction.  That said, the fact that Normal and Strong feel no different (at least on mine) means improvements are needed...there should be a noticeable difference. Nor should getting one with strong or weak vibration be a crap shoot. Vibration on my Charge 2 was stronger than on the Ionic and the intensity settings were distinctly different, so it can be done. 

[jbender68]

I think part of the issue is also what alert one is trying to get, some have longer buzzes, some shorter and sadly none are customizable, everything is take it or leave it

normal and strong feel exactly the same on my iconic as well

[SunsetRunner]

If the vibration alarm on the Charge 3 (strong setting) is as strong as it was on the Charge HR, all well and good. I guess that won’t be accurately answered until they start arriving in users hands...

[SilicicAcid]

---

@SantiR wrote:

@SilicicAcid @Harry @Viello I hope you're doing well! Thanks for your replies and for sharing those details regarding the vibration on Charge 3.

I did felt the vibration strong enough. Charge 3 will start shipping very soon. We expect to ship these orders in early October 2018. Note that pre-orders of Charge 3 special edition will ship in November. 

Once it gets released for more users we will be able to try and compare the vibrations. Rest assured they are strong.

Hope this helps. Keep me posted! 

---

What do you mean you felt the vibration on the Charge 3?  Of course it has a vibration, the issue is the strength of that vibration and whether Fitbit has decided to allow users to customize it more for their own use.  The STRONG vibration on the Ionic barely buzzes 3x then it's gone.  I've tried wearing inside my wrist, outside my wrist and at different positions further up my arm but I still cannot feel the vibration alarms I have set to remind me to drink water during the day nor does it wake me up in the morning.  The ChargeHR I just bought from Amazon (since Fitbit does not currently have anything with a strong vibration motor) wakes me up easily ---  without waking up my husband!!!  Very frustrating to have spent so much money on the Ionic and not be able to use the alarm function on it...

[Hoppy59]

Somebody must have tested the vibration motor by now is it stronger than charge 2 please?

[KelseyClubb · Accepted solution]

The Charge 3 vibration motor is somewhat stronger than the Charge 2 from my quick tests.

Also note that there is a vibration strength setting you can change on the Charge 3 from "Normal" to "Strong", but I can't tell any difference between the two...

[Hoppy59]

Thanks now brought and very happy with it.

[jbender68]

how about for the text messages, when you get a text message is the buzz on the watch noticeable or same as the older watches?

[ORANGEinINDY]

Text and other notifications that I can feel would be great.....But my biggest question is if the Silent Alarm is as strong as HR (strong enough to wake a deep sleep)