Inspire HR won't display after 2 weeks

[NX]

I first posted on this thread years ago for my Inspire HR. It did have the
problem about the screen going blank from time to time and I had to use the
phone app to select a different screen layout to make it show back up. But
it hasn't done that for at least a couple of years, so it would point to
some kind of update that was fixed along the way. I think mine may be 5
years old now at least. I have been pleasantly surprised it is still going
strong. The current thing that doesn't work right is that I long ago
figured out how to turn off the setting that the screen wouldn't light up
unless you pushed the button. But it just doesn't work anymore. It almost
always turns on when my wrist turns, no matter what I do. This is annoying
because it is bright at night and also runs the battery down faster. But I
hope it might suddenly just fix itself like the other issue! 🙂

Moderator edit: clarified subject.

[Wingerr]

I wonder if anyone at Fitbit has identified the reason for all their products having the blank/dim/missing lines display issues.

Is it the hardware they use, or the firmware?  Seeing how they generally recommend a reset operation to restore it, that would point to the firmware not being properly done, but it seems strange that all their different models apparently have this problem. Was the design done by a single person or team across the board for all their products, and they haven't been able to figure out the problem in all these years?

Has anyone had their Fitbit last well beyond the warranty?  I guess if they did they wouldn't be on the forum though, so it'd be a skewed population-

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5 years is a decent track record, I have a charge 3 that's gone incommunicado, which I've actually been using without looking at the display for quite some time. I just relief in the data from the app when it synched up, but a couple weeks ago it stopped recording any heart rate info, and I saw the green LED was not lighting up, though it still provided some rudimentary calorie count in the sync and showed the battery level.

Took it upon myself to try to reset it and restore operation, but after getting the green LED to come on again, it still wouldn't read the heart rate data.  Then my act of folly was to try to reinstall the device, but I forgot it requires the passcode to complete the installation, and once it cleared my account of the existing device, I could no longer add it back, as I didn't figure on being able to guess the 4 digits, when it changes each time it's tried.

Fitbit customer service offered a discount on a new device, but it ended up less than $3 off the sale price available anyway, and considering every one of the devices seems to fairly consistently have this display issue, I decided it was fun while it lasted but didn't want to chance it again.

Every one of the models shows something coming up in a google search of <model> display blank, so I guess it's just their firmware developers, or maybe hardware problems with the design.

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If I were a more cynical sort, I'd wonder if this is brought about as a planned obsolescence feature to ensure recurring sales, as I did notice there's some kind of updating of the app and maybe watch firmware going on, as there's a heartrate variability feature that was added at some point on its own, so it's capable of doing updates without a user election to do so.  It just wouldn't seem like it's a hardware issue if a watch reset process is always the recommendation for resolving the blank display issue, though in the case of my Charge 3, it's just blank, with the exception of two tiny dots that I can make out sometimes during the reset that probably are part of the eyes of the smiley face.