Factory Reset brought back my Sense's Battery Life

[Killroy-TM]

Bought the Sense Nov 2, 2022 and all was fine, installed a clock face that I liked and battery life was normal for almost 11 months and then it dropped to 36 hours. Having read in the forum so many having troubles with battery life I wanted a warranty replacement and contacted Fitbit Support.

They did a remote battery test and said it was bad, they requested a screen shot of my Amazon order and I got the reply not an authorized seller therefore no warranty replacement from Fitbit.

Contacted the seller they only will replace it if it falls within 30 days. Lesson learned either buy from the Fitbit store on Amazon or make sure it is an authorized seller otherwise your warranty is 30 days.

This was the situation when I decided on a factory reset because only two things changed since firmware release in the fall of 2022, the clock face change and the Fitbit App. My feeling was perhaps the app was at fault since it worked for +10 months with the clock face. So factory reset it was, then deleted the paired Sense from the Android phone. Setup proceeded normal as it downloaded or installed something on the Sense, paired the device and I noticed something new a request to pair the Sense Controls, didn't pair them as I couldn't remember if that was there on the previous installation.

Kept the same settings of monitoring heart rate, SPO and activities and kept the default clock face. Low and behold the battery drain/life was back to normal, about 10% for an 8h night rest which included AFib monitoring and all the other sleep monitoring.

I sincerely hope it will last until a device is released that has a minimum of 4 days battery life, smart watch features and health tracking and monitoring. Because I contemplated buying a new I researched Samsung, Garmin and Polar but none of them meet my criteria. Samsung has all of it but it has a horrible battery life.

You Fitbit experts what is your take on this and what can I expect in the near future because black Friday is approaching for gadget purchases.

Moderator edit: edited title to clarity and formatting.

[Jdsenter]

Interesting... My Sense was activated on 6/16/2021, I have had the same clock face, I lose about 25%, before I charge it when I shower. I have had Fitbit Premium for the entire time, the only issue I have ever had related to battery is when I invoked snore detection. It made my battery deplete rapidly. So I used it for a week, got the data I needed and disabled it. All was back to normal.

I have seen others who had Premium, forgot to disable the snore feature before their Premium expired, which they could not disable after the fact and it caused their battery to fail. Factory reset fixed that for some. YMMV. 

[Killroy-TM]

My Sense was activated November 3rd 2022 because I returned the Sense 2 and "upgraded" to the Sense. I never activated the 6 month free premium. In Nov 2022 I changed to a clock face that had a 4,6 and over 14'800 ratings with the last update in Feb 2022. The app change came while having that clock face installed and I can't shake the feeling that somehow the change in the app may have something to do with it or the two don't get along as the battery losing its charge occurred around that time. Another thought it could be that different clock faces would have to be installed again from the new app. I installed using the new app another different clock face with a 4.7 and 2,575 ratings and it seems to be working fine as the battery drain seems to be at a minimum.

Bottom line is, I have no concrete explanation why Fitbit support told me that the battery was bad and they were willing to do a warranty replacement if I had purchased it from an authorized seller. Now after a factory reset and a new pairing plus no other changes except a different clock face I am back to normal and not having to charge the watch every other day before going to bed.

[CrisVillaFitbit]

Hello @Killroy-TM, it's nice to see you around! @Jdsenter Thank you for sharing your experience.

@Killroy-TM Thank you so much for sharing your experience, I understand the situation you had with your Sense.

I truly appreciate the steps you followed and I'm glad everything is all set now. Please note, several factors may impact the battery's life, our support team follows steps to try solving the situation, they must have concluded the battery was not working properly but I can tell you, every case is handled individually, you can get in touch with them and they will be able to provide you with more information.

We appreciate your efforts since this will help other community members with this same situation.