Disposable Fitbit

[1focus]

Fitbit has got it down.  The new leader in disposable "smart" watches!  My saga started about three years ago with a Fitbit Charge 2.  I thought it would be a good entry level tracker, so I made the purchase.  After about 4 months, it stopped counting flights of stairs.  I had followed all the instructions on keeping the connections clean and the "holes" clean and clear.  I contacted Fitbit, and they quickly sent a replacement pebble.  Very impressive.  Fast forward a year or so; ready for a "better" tracker, I weigh the options of Apple Watch, the new Fitbit "Sense" and Samsung 4.  The Sense won out as it had all the features I wanted.  The Premium trial was useful so I extended it for another six months. Shortly after the warranty expired the watch is dead.  D  E  D  dead.  No sign of life.  I tried all the suggestions in the many forum posts addressing this end-of-life condition.  Obviously a known issue.  No luck.  Contact Fitbit support..."we're sorry your $300 tracker only lasted 14 months, here's a coupon for 30% off.  I ask what about this obvious fault with the product...too bad. Take your coupon, buy another one or pound sand.  So, with a failure rate of 66%, I would advise anyone to stay as far away from any Fitbit product as possible.  I know I will.  

[1focus]

With all the dead Fitbit Sense out there, which are still cosmetically in good shape...I'm wondering what everyone will be doing with them?  I'm wondering if we glued them all together if they would reach from one side of the country to the other?  It's worth a thought!

[Jdsenter]

The Sense seems to go dead or black for a lot of people, I have had mine for a little while after my Ionic went black then was recalled. The black is water gets into the display and then the display fails, with the Sense the biggest issue is the four contacts, each one is recessed so dirt or skin or something gets stuck, using a q tip and some isopropyl alcohol, I have been able to keep my Sense working, your milage may vary. Try that to see if it comes back to life? 

[1focus]

Thank you for the suggestion, but I've tried cleaning the contacts, changing chargers, burning incense...everything that sounds 1/2 way reasonable, I've tried.  Was working perfectly when I put on charger (and at 80%+ battery).  Took off charger the next morning, no response, no life, zero signs of life.  Have never gotten it wet short of rinsing sweat sweat off after mowing lawn.  Have used three different chargers and none have given it any sign of life.  

[Guy_]

Hi @1focus  - have you checked the charge cable, often faulty.

 How to check charge cable - Sense/Versa 3 won't charge, won't start or blank screen

[Eem0977]

I LOVE(d) my Sense! It beat Apple Watch by a landslide for me. It died 3 times. Replacing the charging cord twice worked. This last time…. Dead. Just dead. No amount of life saving measures could bring it back. It’s not even 2 years old. So sad. Back to charging my Apple Watch every 6 hours until the new Apple Watch is released,  but at least it’s dependable! 

[Guy_]

Hi @Eem0977 - please share what happened to your Sense in case it is just playing dead.

[Eem0977]

It lost its mind at the pool one day. Was vibrating like I had a notification, but didn’t. Would black out and come back on over and over and finally just crapped out. Tried to charge thinking maybe the heat zapped the battery. No luck. Cleaned the connections and charger. No luck. Replaced the charger, for the 3rd time. No luck. Tried to reset. No luck. 

[Guy_]

Thank you @Eem0977 for the details.

How long ago was that? If just recently dry in a bag of rice for a week.

Mine did similar but dried out eventually and still works but the battery needs charging every day, probably lasts longer than a Apple though!

If yours gets hot when charging, stop as that means there is severe internal damage.

[Eem0977]

It’s been almost 2 weeks since this happened. I’ll still try the rice but not hopeful at this point.  Plus side is, rumor has it, apple is improving battery life with this new release coming up; although, I still don’t expect it to match fitbits battery life. 

Also, kind of preposterous that a this $300 device requires so much trouble shooting for so many malfunctions so often. Hopefully, Fitbit watches these forums in order to make a better functioning device. 

[1focus]

I'm wondering how a company whose products have such a short life span, whose customer service sucks and whose overall user satisfaction is so low can stay in business?

[sanman202]

Yeah it's astounding how bad support is. They have no clue about Bluetooth and syncing. You'd think Bluetooth was a brand new technology. Google needs to start standing up under the Fitbit brand and come out from under the covers. Then again, their support has always left a little to be desired according to lots of posts you see. There is hope though for the Bluetooth issue i've been experiencing on my Sense and the PIxel 6 Pro with the latest update tonight. 

[winfield100]

I got my Sense thru Costco "black Friday" sale on 11/27/2020 for $254.54 (discounted $50) and registered 11/27/2020

worked great and started premium pay service at $9.99/month on 5/27 (never offered yearly discount)

paid $139.86 for 14 months premium services for $394.40.

About a week ago the screen went black, tried the reset and get message

 "reset failed, Please try again"  the portion of screen with word "Okay" is unresponsive

I have tried hard reset in all kinds of combinations, hold for 10-20 seconds, vibrates, release, press, hold vibrates, etc

removed and reinstalled Fitbit app on 2 different iPhones and an iPad.

let fitbit run to battery out, retried all 3 including removing fitbit app, rebooting phones, ipads, ensuring nothing was running bluetooth anywhere nearby

nothing

the fitbit app does say the watch is sync'ed almost every time, BUT always says, "update available" which fails

the watch occasionally gets very hot while charging, (I also tried several different USB plugs and cables for charging)

The only times the watch got wet was swimming laps in a pool.

customer service says they cannot help as "out of warranty"

and

will send a % off coupon in a separate email

==>>which has not happened.<<==

I __NEED__ to monitor for AFib and apnea and other health functions which Fitbit did _quite_ well while it was functioning

It would be nice to be able to purchase additional warranty on this product now that i seem to be aware of limited life spans as reflected in comments here

[1focus]

Yes, I've tried three different charge cables.  It isn't the cable, the battery doesn't charge.  Reads 0 percent charged.

Moderator Edit: Word choice

[1focus]

Loved mine too, until, as thousands of others have done, it just totally died.  Disposable $300 smart watch.  

[1focus]

Now that my Sense is dead, the plan is/was to hold out for the Oct release of the Pixel watch.  Now a more than a little concerned there will be too much Fitbit hardware influence.  Loved my Sense, but 13 month lifespan for a $300 smart watch is just a bit too pricey for me.  Didn't love it THAT much.  

[Guy_]

Hi @1focus  - can I ask what exactly happened to your watch, did you get it wet or do a factory reset, did you talk with support?

Reachable via the Fitbit app, click profile photo, Help & support, Contact Customer support.

[Eem0977]

Ummm… this is from the Fitbit sense features description on fitbits website 

“Swimproof

Sense is water resistant to 50 meters, which means you’re free to track laps in the pool, wear it at the beach and beyond.”

this is the 2nd time you’ve asked about/addressed wetness. I don’t know if you’re a Fitbit rep or a consumer, but If it’s not water resistant, it shouldn’t be described and sold as such. 

[Jdsenter]

@Eem0977

I would never say anything is swim proof, the Sense design out of the factory might be, but once it gets on a user's wrist, every bump, tap, g-force, drop, wiggle, jump, etc you get the picture. The device no longer stays that way for long, you milage may vary, but there are threads on how the display separated from the device, the double sided adhesive just can't handle the forces of life for some. My Ionic had that issue got a small crack on the side, water, got in while washing my hands and the display went black, my Sense has lots of scratches, chips, gouges, so I assume it is no longer water resistant or swim proof.

@1focus 

I am holding out for the Pixel watch as well, but from the looks of it the sensors look like the Charge 5, so hope they are least compare to Sense, or I will stick with what I got. 

There are rumors to a Sense 2 and Versa 4, so maybe they will update what we have for a better one?

Battery life on Wear OS devices is horrible, less than a day, at least with the Sense we get a few days. 

[winfield100]

My FitBit Sense only displays "reset failed"  "your data was not cleared."  "Please try again"  with the bottom 30% of the screen with a non responsive "Okay"

The Fitbit _most_ likely doesn't have water inside, although there is a uTube video on how to take apart, since I have reinstalled it etc probably 30-40 times in various ways on various iphones and ipads and even a windows PC.

The Fitbit Sense syncs and customer helps told me it synced.

Fitbit servers can _see_ the fitbit and are aware of it.

If they can _see_ the Sense can they send patches to the OS?

was there a possibly bad patch? who knows, but their servers see the watches it seems pretty much in real time unless I am mistaken?

could it be the Li pouch battery failing? perhaps swelling

My Sense got really HOT a few times recently on the charger on the same USB slow port since I got "charging slow" messages

Did the Sense getting hot cause the Li pouch to swell just a tiny amount and partially damage something?

I still have not gotten any  correspondence from FitBit other than I will get an email with a discount offer sometime in the unknown future that I am still waiting on