Battery life issue with Versa

[GavRev]

Greetings, 

I seem to be having hassles with the charge in my Versa, something which I've noticed others are similarly suffering with. For info it's syncing with an Honor 10 Lite. 

I bought mine mid May and was bowled over by the fact that I was getting 4-6 days on a charge, having owned a couple of cheaper watches beforehand, coupled with the many reviews for watches which seemed to accept a daily or bi-daily charge as the norm. Alas by July it was consistently needing a charge every 2-3 days. I opted to try resolving this by performing a factory reset of the watch (I can't confirm whether it was on an older firmware version beforehand, only that if is now on the most current 32.33.1.30) and a reinstallation of the app. After struggling to get the two to communicate again (that appears stable again now) I realised this hadn't changed things. I don't know if it was a coincidence but I grabbed the latest version update of the app recently and my watch is now needing a charge every day. Two days in a row now it has started at 100% charge, dwindled to around 50% by the end of the day and I've awoken to 17% the following morning. On the first day I took note of some of the procedures suggested on other queries on the forum and disabled "all day sync" and "Always Connected" just to see whether it was that, but imagine my surprise when I got exactly the same battery result this morning - is this a coincidence? It seems very mathematically level but of course without a few more days results it's not a confirmable thing.

Any ideas what is happening? The only thing left to try at this point that I can think of is deleting all but the stock apps on the phone and seeing if one of those is bleeding it..

Many thanks.

ADDITIONAL: I've realised that the watch was registering 100% charge before it had experienced a full, stated 2hr charging period, and so this morning I've charged it for a full 2 hr session irrespective of its stating 100%. We shall see if the status display is the culprit..

** I can report that giving the watch its full 2 hr charge, irrespective of the status reading of 100%, has had no effect. The watch still managed to consume 50% of its power over the day and was down to 14% by this morning. **

There has been a lot stated about turning functions off on the watch, which is not really helpful as it removes functionality and by virtue of the fact that I never had to compromise my watch functions and still got stellar performance for the first two months means that this is more of a series of excuses rather than practical. Has anyone received any concrete response from Fitibit over this issue? It seems clear that there is a problem, be it hardware, firmware or software? 

Moderator edit: subject for clarity

[LiliyaFitbit]

Hello @GavRev, it's nice to see you around. I am sorry for the delayed response.

I appreciate your participation in the Forums and sharing the issue you're experiencing with your Fitbit Versa not holding a charge. Thank you for your troubleshooting efforts and for providing the additional details. I understand your concern as you would like to continue using your watch and all its features. Because battery life is affected by use and other settings, I recommend trying the following: 

1. Switch to a Fitbit clock face if you're using a third party clock face. 
2. Restart your device by following the steps from this help article: How do I restart my Fitbit device?
3. Charge the watch to 100% and use it like normal.

Keep me posted. 

[GavRev]

Hi Liliya - always glad to try and help out where I can. Personally I've been working with the Fitbit support teams over the last couple of days and ended up raising a case, working through a few steps to resolve it. Unfortunately it appears the device has died during this process and I'm part way through returning for replacement. Many thanks for your assistance in spite of these developments!

[TRISHYGN]

I also have this same issue. I need to charge it, every night.

[Aboz97]

I’m having the same issue and have worked with technical support.  

The only resolution they have for this is to buy a new Fitbit, because shockingly, the battery cannot be replaced.  I now have to charge it every morning, and this started to happen quite suddenly.  

Maybe it does have something f to do with the new update.  Who wants to buy a new watch every 18 months?  How wasteful.  

[GavRev]

Contact customer support - they've been great working with me through troubleshooting. Mine's in the post back to them - though it's obviously disappointing that the device has had issues I can't fault the service from them. They've been very reasonable and logical with the testing and very helpful returning the item.

[Aboz97]

Trust me. I’ve contacted them and they can’t do anything other than tell me to buy a new one. They were very nice about telling me to spend another 175.00, but nevertheless, I’m not happy. Battery should be replaceable, and from reading other people’s posts, this is not an isolated incident by far.

Sent from my iPhone

Moderator edit: personal info removed

[GavRev]

To be honest, judging from the number of people with this issue I'm not sure if it's a firmware update that borked it (I didn't note my device's firmware version before I did a factory reset, so it's possible) or if they've had a bad batch. Given that there seems to be a few people with the same issue at roughly the same time it could be either. Mine was playing up before they updated the app so I'd probably rule that out, but it's also something that they shouldn't neglect as they go. Obviously as a customer I can't comment on the QC, and whilst I wouldn't condone any possible failings on their part these things do inevitably happen when you're dealing with materials and fine engineering. As someone who's had quite a lot of experience tending to laptops in bulk I know that battery tech can be a variable monster. I can only imagine the engineering behind the non replaceable battery within a Versa and wouldn't like to guess how they work a decent battery life. I can imagine the tolerances are going to be a bit on the ragged edge when you have a 4-6 day battery life in something where other manufacturers seem to struggle with 1-2 day. I presume as it was with myself that battery life is one of the bigger factors which pulls people towards the Versa.

[GavRev]

Unless you're in extraordinary circumstances I can't understand why that's their best offer for you. Have you gone through any troubleshooting with them or was that their first response?

The battery will be a PCB soldered closed unit I expect. These can be replaced but I wouldn't try it on one of these devices because there are other mitigating issues such as compromising the water proof aspect.

[Aboz97]

I was in contact with them several times as I mentioned, and performed all troubleshooting activities required, like I said. There’s nothing much to understand, except that now I have what is going to be a paperweight.

Sent from my iPhone

Moderator edit: personal info removed

[Aboz97]

Absolutely correct on all fronts. I thought I’d be able to send the thing back though, to replace the battery, like my iPhone.

Scratching my head how this watch will soon be useless, and how this is OK with the company. They don’t seem too concerned at all.

It makes me very sad because I think it was largely responsible for my almost 40 pound weight loss.

Sent from my iPhone

Moderator edit: personal info removed

[GavRev]

I agree that's not great compared to my experience. Is it out of warranty? I know it's a pain in the **ahem** but if it's still within warranty then I'd contact them again and express your frustration.