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Sense dead after 21 months

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‎06-02-2022 00:58 - edited ‎06-02-2022 03:58

‎06-02-2022 00:58 - edited ‎06-02-2022 03:58

I've just returned from a holiday in St. Lucia and during my time there my sense started shutting down randomly.  I tried to recharge it and after aboiut 10 minutes the watch had heated up to the point where it was almost too hot to hold.  The watch refused to boot afterwards with nothing displayed on the screen.  I've tried the numerous 'fixes' and 'workarounds' but the watch refuses to start up.

 

I bought this watch during the pandemic to replace my Ionic as that too died on a holiday in Mexico.  That was also my second Ionic as the first one died after a year. 

 

To add insult to injury my wife's 4 month old Charge 5 also started shutting down and eventually died just before we headed back to the UK yesterday.  She also had a Charge 3 that died previously for no apparent reason.

 

So after having 3 previous fitbit watches between the two of us that have died and now these two latest watches can I ask what the hell are Fitbit doing to make these reliable as we expect your "expensive" sports watches to last more that 2 years and from our experiences they are simply dire when it comes to quality and mortality rate?

 

I'm now looking to move over to Garmin or the new Amazfit T-Rex 2.  I think it's time to give them a chance as I feel insulted by Fitbit giving me the usual offer to get a discount off a replacement watch when it's obviously Fitbit's poor quality and terrible life expentancy that's the true toot cause of the issue.  I've spent well over a £1000 on fitbit products (Watches and weight scales) over the last 4 years and feel pretty P***ed off to say the least as every single unit has failed with no obvious cause (Not damaged). 

 

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4 REPLIES 4

‎06-02-2022 04:42

‎06-02-2022 04:42

Hi @StevieBird  - if you look in the forums a number of people report water inside or the face coming off (which if they have a poor seal will let water in).

 

Overheating is a sign of water damage or internal shorting.

 

Author | ch, passion for improvement.

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‎06-02-2022 05:09 - edited ‎06-02-2022 06:22

In response to Guy_

‎06-02-2022 05:09 - edited ‎06-02-2022 06:22

Hi Guy_

 

My watch wasn't in the water at the time of failure but I have been in the water previously with the watch with no issues.  Thanks for the info, I will take a look.

 

However, if the watch isn't waterproof/swimproof and this truly is the cause of the failure then fitbit should be removing swim training modes from the

watch and from their advertising.

 

 watch.PNG

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‎06-03-2022 12:17

‎06-03-2022 12:17

I feel your pain.  For the pricepoint of the Sense, you would hope that it would last at least 2-3 years (I have the Versa 1 still going strong).  

 

I don't feel like I've been particularly hard on my trackers, other than wearing them 24/7 - only taking it off to shower and charge.  I've gone through 5 different models in the past 8 years - 3 of them needing replacements within the warranty period.  Only the original Versa was never needed to be replaced and currently being used by my mom.  Sense died on me at 13 months (and thankfully replaced even though just out of the warranty period) but the replacement died within 4 months.  I'm currently using the Charge 5 which was on sale for about $100USD and that died on me within 2 months and so I'm using a replacement, which I'm expecting to die on me at the 12 month mark.... but for $100 I'm accepting of that.

 

I was angry after only getting not even a year and a half out of a $330USD item.  I looked into switching into the Samsung watch or Garmin - however they're so large and battery life sucks.  Mixed bag of reviews just like the Fitbit with wearable life - so I'm a little hesitant with the higher pricepoints for the SW or GW.  They also have 1 year warranties.  So for now I'm sticking with low pricepoint Fitbits until I figure out what to do.  Because when Fitbit works, they're great for what I want.  I think I'm just going to steer away from the high pricepoint items since technology these days don't seem to last longer than a year or two (even my cell phones are dying around 2-3 years and you're looking at several hundred dollars too).

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‎06-03-2022 17:57

‎06-03-2022 17:57

Lucky you 21 months. I had my fitbit sense for 2 weeks put it on the charger and when I took it off,  the fitbit logo would not come off. I tried everything, then called Fitbit and they couldn't fix it either. Hmmmmm is this what I'll have to deal with, with the Sense. Went back to my ionic which is recalled. Nope I'm not sending my Ionic back it's more reliable then Sense. Even though it was replaced 3 times before I got one that actually didn't break down. Maybe it's time to change watch companies. 

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