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@Castra, it takes more than 15 minutes to charge to 100% once you get the low battery warning. If you plug it in every time you shower (or drive) that's 15 minutes every day (or every other day), that's enough to keep it charged indefinitely. No, it'll never go to 100%, but it'll end up being at 70%-80% every day... certainly enough to last you until your next shower/drive. Out of curiosity, I had tried this with my Flex and did it for about 3 weeks (when I was reasonably sure it would work indefinitely). I would be happy to try this again with the Charge 2 since you can enable a battery meter.
That said, it requires charging once every five days or so and for only 1-2 hours. I know that some folks don't want to miss a single step, but certainly you sit down and relax for 1-2 hours once every five days. I averaged close to 19k steps per day last year, and when my Fitbit needs charging, I just plug it in and chill out for a couple of hours.
@MaryVE, from most folks' accounts, they want a second tracker to either always have one charged or to accessorize in color. As I mentioned above, you can keep the Charge 2 charged indefinitely by plugging it in for 10-15 minutes when you are either showering or driving. As for accessorizing in colors, since the Charge 2 have replaceable bands, just get bands of different colors.
I actually have a medical condition and use the heart rate monitor alot so I don't like going without my Fitbit while resting to make sure my resting HR doesn't fluctuate alot. There is a reason I replaced my Charge HR with a Charge 2. It still sux that Fitbit doesn't support it. Maybe I should get a Garmin as my second device. It just doesn't make sense to me not to have this feature. I am not getting argumentative, I know how to randomly charge my device, but carrying the charger around with me where it can be lost or damaged is not what I want to do. Thanks for all the responses.
It doesn't occur to many folks to plug their tracker in when they are not using it. There are many folks who respond and post on this thread without looking at the history. I've spent enough time on the forums to see how this occurs all the time. @Castra's first post in the forum was yesterday, do I think she has read all 14 pages of posts on this before adding her/his posts? Maybe... but if not, and my post happens to unblock her/him then why the agnst? Really, at the end of the day, I'm trying to get folks in working order, whether that's here in the feature requests or in the support section of the forums.
On the surface, this seems like a simple, straightforward request. Fitbit allows you to use a Charge HR and Charge 2, why not two separate Charge 2's? However, I'd like to think that I'm pretty familiar with the Fitbit trackers and software to know that this is far more complex, and far more work than many folks in this thread anticipate.
If it were a simple just collect activity information from two Charge 2's in my account, then it would be easy. Unfortunately, that's not all that people do.
I have multiple trackers paired to my account, and when I switch between trackers:
I sync the one I have just taken off to update my Fitbit dashboard, typically the Charge 2.
I sync the one that I'll be wearing next to make sure it reflects my stats, typically the One.
Sounds simple, right? Let's say that I have two black Charge 2's on my account, for the sake of simplicity let's name them Bert and Ernie. So let's say that I am taking off Bert and syncing it, what does it look like on the Fitbit App? Like this:
Great. This shows me that a Charge 2 synced, not which Charge 2 synced. It doesn't distinguish between Bert and Ernie. Oh, but you can go to your account tab and sync each one explicitly, which would look like this...
Still not helpful, right? Which one is Bert and which one is Ernie?... And this is just syncing.
Another scenario, let's say that you have an early flight and need to wake up at 4am; your spouse normally wakes up at 7am. You'll set the silent alarm on your Fitbit to wake you up at 4am. Great. The plan is to set the alarm on Ernie and wear it to bed, so you:
Set the alarm on one of your Charge 2's. Again, they're indistinguishable through the UI.
Then you look at the Fitbit App that shows you that the tracker has synced.
You're all set. 6am rolls around and the alarm didn't go off. You miss your flight. Any one of a number of things may have occured:
You set the alarm on the wrong one (Bert) instead of Ernie, again they look identical in the UI.
You appropriately set the alarm on Ernie, but it wasn't the one which synced. Again, you can't distinguish them on the UI.
You simply wore the wrong one to bed.
How about this one scenario? My mother-in-law came to visit and was concerned about her heart rate (she has atrial fibrilation). So I loaned her one of my Fitbits. I remove Bert from my account and hand it to her and then I wear Ernie when I go to the gym and do the elliptical for 55 minutes. I come home and sync. Nothing registers. I accidentally removed Ernie from my account and that workout session didn't register.
When Fitbit added support for multiple trackers, they changed all of their UI to reflect information on a per model basis (IMHO, it was a reasonable assumption to make, you got a different tracker for a different set of features), adding support for multiple of the same model will mean that they'll have to redesign the UI so you can distinguish between them on the web dashboard and the Fitbit software across Windows, Android, and iOS... and phones, tablets, desktops and laptops. To do this adequately, they may need to allow folks to name their trackers (like Bert and Ernie) and they'll have to design and implement that UI (to name and display the name) across all the above platforms. And that doesn't even address the problem of being able to tell the actual trackers apart, for that they may need to update the firmware on all their (Zip, One, Flex, Flex2, Charge, Charge HR, Charge 2, Surge and Blaze) models to display the name (or for the Flex models without displays, to behave differently).
So do I personally think it's worth all that trouble when there may be relatively simple workaround (like plug in your tracker when you shower)? No. If Fitbit developers are working on this feature, it means that they're not working on other features that I find far more useful (like Team Challenges), but I only get one vote.
@Castra you say you have a Charge HR and a Charge 2, why not connect both to your account? The for 1.5 hours every 5 days wear the HR while the other is charging.
No my Charge HR broke a while back and I got a second Charge 2... It was another person that stated they had a charge HR and a Charge 2. This was just a vote on development.
I own two Fitbit Charge HRs, for different occasions, what I am wearing etc, and would love it if I could add them both to a single account because I cannot compare my data against my friends as different days ore on different accounts!
It would be great if there could be a software update to allow more than one tracker of the same type to be linked to the same account. Ex. - 2 Charge 2 tracker linked to 1 account. I would love to have a 'good' Charge 2 and a 'dont care if it gets dirty' Charge 2 on my account.
Instead of being snarky, it would have been helpful if you included information per her request re: how to add a second but new same device. I am having similar issue and admit to not being very adept at conducting searches on this website. I received HRCharge2 for Christmas and just now getting around to attempting to set it up. I don't want to wipe out my HR charge first account as it is very usable. The windows download won't work on my computer as I have Windows 7 not 10 and I don't want to use a mobile app. Is there any one out there who can give advice and not useless negative comments?
The previous requests for this feature have been marked as resolved and given that FitBit hasn't responded to them (or this one either) in several years it seems that they don't care to implement it. It's a shame really because it would be very helpful for those of us with more than one FitBit of the same type.
Adding another comment to the request of upgrading FtiBit to allow 2 of the SAME model devices to be synced to the same User Account. This can be accomplished by adding the option (ADD A SECOND DEVICE) which would display as DEVICE 2.
Does that actually work for you? If I try to add another device (Surge) it says "whoa there, there's a Fitbit Surge connected .... " then I am prompted to replace it - I can't add a 2nd.
@aucarter, and how do you propose you'd express "DEVICE 2" with something like this (part of the Fitbit UI that doesn't use a name, just an icon for the model)?
There are many elements of the UI which are model based. And even if you simply named it 'DEVICE 2', you'd have to update the Fitbit web site back end, and the Fitbit App on (tablets, phones, laptops, and desktops) x (Windows, Google and Apple) to reflect this... Doable? Sure, but doesn't sound like a 'simple fix' like many folks may claim.
And then if you had Flex 2 and 'DEVICE 2' (both black Flex 2's) and set the alarm on 'DEVICE 2', which one do you wear to bed (they both look identical and you can't check the alarm since there's no display)?
Wow, I just bought a second ChargeHR and am now returning it as I can't add it to my account. Two years of missed sales opportunities for Fitbit and you still haven't addressed the issue. And no, I'm buying a different model. I'll just make do with one and save a $150.
I can't believe they work with a person so well as far as customer service but a total fail in being able to have two of the same devices. I guess they are just sticking to their guns to get people to by more than one type of fitbit rather than encourage a person who has found the fitbit that works for them and just likes to wear different colors. Adds to much life to your fitbit.
I would also like to have this changed. I now have 2 Alta's, one with a dressier band for work/going out and another for working out and casual dress. It takes a lot of time to switch them out. I'm very disappointed that they can't just both be linked to my account at the same time:-(
Trust me from someone who has multiple trackers (One, Flex, Blaze, Surge, and Charge 2) paired with their account. When you have multiple trackers you'll want to be very disciplined about syncing for a couple of reasons.
First, you'll want the tracker you're wearing to have the most updated stats. If you just went on a 3k step walk with Alta #1, you'll want to make sure that you sync it and then sync Alta #2, otherwise the stats on Alta #2 will not reflect your actual stats until Alta #1 syncs.
Second, since Fitbit takes the activity from whichever tracker is active, there's small chance that it Alta #1 syncs later, you may end up losing steps (search the forum if you don't believe me).
Why do I mention this? Because it takes less time to swap bands on the Alta than it takes to make sure that they're both synced in the right order (the one that you're talking off first, then the one that you're putting on).
Adding my vote to have two charge 2's on one account. One for work which gets scratched up and dirty, and one to go out which is clean and scratch free!
I would have liked to swap devices for different situations, e.g. Going out, working out etc. I love the choice and different colours but won't buy two of the same device that I like now as I can't link them to the same account 😞
I see this issue of '2 Fitbit trackers - the same model' can't be added to the same account, has been going on since 2015!
Wish I had read this before I purchased a second Fitbit Charge 2 today, so alas, I'm going to have to take it back.
You would have thought that because the tracker is identified with a 4 digit access code on startup, that this would be recognised as a different tracker, the same as you would maybe have 2 mobile phones which can be differentiated from each other, despite being the same make and model.
Why would Fitbit sell all the different coloured straps and accessories if it was not to encourage further sales of their trackers?
I think a lot of the reasoning behind this is 'why folks want another of the same model tracker'. And yes, I can already hear the chorus of folks who are going to say, "It doesn't matter why I want the feature, I just do..." That said, oftentimes there's a better way to accomplish what you want without doing it precisely that way. Just keep an open mind.
Reason #1: Folks want to accessorize. They want two of different colors. Well, since the newer trackers have replaceable bands, you can simply get the bands of a different colors and swap them out.
Reason #2: Folks don't want to miss a single step while it is charging. If you wait until the battery gives you a low battery warning, it'll take some time to charge. However, if you charge when you're not actively stepping (like when you're in the shower or while you're driving) then you can maintain a charge indefinitely. I'd like to think I'm as mindful about getting my steps in as the next person... Last year I averaged over 18k steps per day and during part of the summer I maintained over 20k steps a day for six weeks.
My main Fitbit is the One and I simply wait until it notifies me that it's low on battery. When it does, I just plug it in, sit down, and relax. I don't feel compelled to put on the next one so that I can continue stepping.
While I do have multiple trackers paired to my account, I can tell you from personal experience that you need to be disciplined about syncing when switching trackers; here's the help article. If you're not disciplined about syncing you may lose steps; search the forum if you don't believe me. Trust me on this, it takes less time to swap out the bands on the trackers to accessorize than it takes to sync each tracker in the right order.
As for a reason that I can think of why they don't do it... Much of the UI would be ambiguous. For instance, if you set the alarm on one of your Charge 2's to wake you up at 6am, which one do you wear to bed? Wouldn't it be disastrous if you wore the wrong one to bed and you miss a flight or an interview?
Add me to the list of users that would like to be able to add a 2nd Charge HR to a single account. I wish to wear my Charge HR 24/7 but am reluctant to do so when my Charge HR is more likely to be bumped, scratched, splashed or expose to the elements. My first Charge HR band bubbled and was working erratically. Still, I would like to use it when I otherwise will not wear my tracker. I want to be able to track activity ALL day. PLEASE allow this!!! My (and my families') future tracker acquisition considerations will include this feature! Thank you!
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