Display not working properly

[HaraldJ]

I have my Surge for about 3 years now. about 2 months after I bought it, it stopped working and Fitbit was great in replacing it. 

Everything went fine until a few months ago when the wrist band started to fall apart. Surprisingly, Fitbit doesn't offer any replacement wristband which is kind of surprising for a fairly expensive device like the surge.

The work around was to buy a knock off wristband from China which is doing the job just fine.

At more or less the same time the upper button on the right side stopped working.

And now, a few weeks ago, screen sensitivity decreases and touch screen functionality became really painful. A few days later, the screen started to crack. This is still a process in progress. Looks a bit like a car windscreen hit by a stone (but the surge wasn't exposed to any mechanical stress).

Since a spend lots of time outdoors I can only imagine that the degrading screen is caused by the exposure to the sun.

Overall, I'm disappointed that a device that costed about 250 dollars doesn't last longer than 3 years and considering the wristband issue, even less than that.

Moderator edit: Updated subject for clarity.

[Julia_G]

Hi, @HaraldJ, sadly, it sounds like your Fitbit buddy is coming to the end of its life.  Even if you were not having this screen issue, after 3 years it is likely that you would be having battery issues -- cell phones are typically much more expensive than Fitbits, and in most cases their expected life is only 2-3 years.

I would very much recommend getting in touch with Fitbit Customer Support on contact.fitbit.com.  Even though your Surge will be out of warranty I know that they are often able to offer loyal customers a significant discount on a new device when it is time to retire an old friend.  3 years old is ancient for electronics!  I think you will like one of the new Fitbits...

[HaraldJ]

Hi Julia, yes I agree in general, just in this case it's not that the piece is becoming obsolete but it's rather a quality issue the way I see it. That should be something possible to fix, unless Fitbit decides to safe on the quality end to "force" people to change their device every 2-3 years.

[Julia_G]

I don't think this is a quality issue.  Granted, you are having a screen problem (not one, btw, that I have experienced and my Surge is also 3 years old), but the main limitation for a device this small that is in daily use is the battery.  Even if you were not having a screen problem you would soon be having a battery problem.  That's just simple physics: a battery can take only so many charges, and the smaller it is, the shorter its life.  I expect the general quality of the device is designed to last about 2-3 years.  If it fails much earlier you get a replacement (as you did); if it fails much later -- but it will fail in the end -- then you have got lucky.  Anything in between is about average.  

I would suggest you got at least the average expected life.

Whether there should be repair centres is another matter.  I suspect it is simply uneconomic to repair -- though there are obviously environmental consequences for the rate at which many of us replace our electrinic devices...

[HaraldJ]

surprisingly the battery is doing pretty well. Even after all that time a full charge lasts days, although I'm not using GPS which would consume more battery juice.

[Julia_G]

My point is, there is a limit to the life of the device and the various parts are no doubt designed to last just about that long... In most cases it turned out that the band failed long before the rest, and Fitbit addressed this by making replaceable bands for all recent devices.  

But there is no point in designing a screen to last 10 years if the battery is likely to fail in 3 .. unless you make a reolaceable battery -- unfortunately most manufacturers have not gone down that route.

So, your screen failed before your battery... But I say again, at 3 years you probably got more than the average exoected life...