Sense battery is quickly draining

[LongTimeUser888]

I have been using Fitbit for just under 10 years.  I have been a long time believer in your products.  I have recently upgraded from the Charge 4 to the Sense, mostly because of a Costco promotion.  I was perfectly happy with my Charge, but bought the Sense anyway.  I have come to regret this decision.  the battery health is lousy ... I am charging my Sense every 2-3 days.  I have already turned off all the features about a month ago and still, a battery with less than half the life of my 2-years-old Charge.  So disappointing. 

That and I can hardly feel vibrations, even though I have it set to max.  I wish I had read the community forum before purchasing the Sense.  So many people have been complaining about these issues and, as of yet, no fix. 

I bought it at Costco, so I suppose I could just return it.  Unfortunately, I gave away my Charge, so I'd have to buy something else.

Moderator Edit: Clarified subject

[LongTimeUser888]

I have had a ton of different Fitbits over the years, but my experience with the Sense was my absolute worst.  It most likely started the week after I got my Sense, at about the same time as I enrolled for the free 6-month premium subscription.  That, to be sure, I will never do again.  Even after turning off every feature (GPS, SPO2, snore/sound detect, sleep analytics, etc), I was still only getting 2 days of battery on my brand new Sense.  The factory reset did the trick.  I took the risk because it was still within the 90 day return window.  I hear you, @LizzyFitbit, on the concerns in ending up with a brick if the factory reset fails, but it was a risk I was willing to take.  I have an Apple Watch v5 on my dresser that I never use because of the short battery life.  But if I couldn't get more than 2 days out of my Sense, I might as well use the Apple.  At least I get all features for the same short battery life. 

I am currently at 70% battery, after 2 full days of use.  The reset did the trick, and frankly kept me within the Fitbit family.  And I would strongly encourage Fitbit to advertise a substantial decrease in battery life by activating the free Premium subscription.  I would have thrown the offer in the proverbial waste basket had I known.

[eezeepee]

Wow 70% after 2 full days is great. Even though you factory reset, isn't your Fitbit premium still going?

Oh and you know what I realized with the vibration is that if my phone is on silent, which I used to do at work, I get no vibration. Not sure if that's what going for for you or you really don't feel it.

[LongTimeUser888]

My app (on my phone) does show that my premium subscription is still ongoing, but I have not changed my factory-reset Sense settings at all to use any of it.  Looking at the list of benefits, I don't use or even see a single one on my Fitbit or app. 

I do have my phone on silence (pretty much like that 98% of the time), but I do feel the vibration reminders to move at 10 minutes before every hour.  Problem is that, most of the time it is too faint to really feel it.  Same with my morning alarm.  I sleep through the first one about half the time, and only get awakened on the "snooze".  My Charge was strong, and I definitely felt it even when in deep sleep.  The lack of vibration is an issue, but not a major one.  I can train myself to wake up without an alarm. 

On an unrelated note, who is annoyed with all of these companies trying to cash in on ill-conceived subscriptions?  I definitely am...

[eezeepee]

Right you would feel the 10 minute remaining in the hour reminder because that's coming from the watch. But of you have any notifications from your phone, it won't vibrate at all if you're on silent. At least for me on Android it doesn't.

There's is a setting in app notifications to always vibrate. Actually I'll turn that on as I'm typing this.

That's crazy to me you can't feel your alarm that often. I wake up to it every time. I also use the timer pretty frequently and never miss when that goes off. 

[LongTimeUser888]

No, it is very faint when compared to my Charge.  TBH, that was my biggest "wtf" moment when I first unboxed and set up my Sense.  It wasn't until a week later that my real problems were about to begin, of course.  Anyway, I can live with the faint vibration.  the short battery life was something that I refused to accept, and thankfully the factory reset fixed it.  Thanks for the suggestion, @eezeepee!

[LongTimeUser888]

Update... I am now at 40% battery, and I last charged on Saturday morning.  Extrapolating forward, it appears that I am getting the advertised 6-days of battery life now.  If anyone reading this thread have a similar issue (i.e., 2 days or less of battery life), and you are within the return period of the Sense, my recommendation would be doing a factory reset.  If, for whatever reason, the watch does not come back to life, then return it for a refund.  However, don't waste your time turning off features like snore/sound detect, GPS, etc.  It will improve your battery life, albeit incrementally.  You will still be far from the advertised times. 

Obviously, if you can't return the Sense for a refund, then make sure you work through customer support before doing the factory reset.

[eezeepee]

Advertised battery life for any device is always an "up to" with the discretion "Because battery life is affected by use and other settings, actual results may vary." I don't think a factory reset is really necessary for that. I just got 4 whole days and I'm pretty sure I would get 5-6 if I just turned off SpO2.

Brightness dim, screen wake motion and button, always on display off, snore & noise detection off, SpO2 on.

Day 1

5:00 AM - 99%

9:45 AM - 93%

5:00 PM - 87%

9:45 PM - 84%

Day 2

5:00 AM - 77%

9:45 AM - 74%

5:00 PM - 68%

9:45 PM - 61%

Day 3

5:00 AM - 53%

9:45 AM - 49%

5:00 PM - 44%

9:45 PM - 41%

Day 4

5:00 AM - 30%

9:45 AM - 23%

5:00 PM - 17%

9:45 PM - 14%

Day 5

6:45 AM - 5%

It's easily beats out the majority of smartwatches out there that are mostly "all day" or 2-3 days. I'm actually thinking of turning on snore and noise detection again because apparently I did snore a few nights ago after an exhausting day at work. I don't wear it while showering, and it's not recommended, so topping off during that time will more than compensate for the snore and noise detection battery drain.

[LongTimeUser888]

I don't disagree at all.  But I had turned off every item in the list of features that lead to greater battery usage, and I was still getting less than 2 days.  Now that I am at ~6 days, I might turn the SPO2 feature back on, even if it costs me a day of battery.