Multiple Surge Devices

[Fryesha]

Can one person have two separate Surge Fitbit devices on the same app/account? I know the app will recognize two different Fitbit devices just curious about two of the same.

[PureEvil]

@Fryesha,

Welcome to the community!

No, it's limited to one of each model.  Any particular reason why you want two Surges on the same account?

[manolosf]

I'm in the same boat. Speaking for myself, the Surge comes with a fixed wristband thus I'm married to the color of the band. I bought a second in another color with the hope of varying things up once in a while. I'd also like to use one for my more intense workouts & runs & use the other for more casual things. A third reason (though not a primary one) is to have a charged back up when I'm going on long hikes/camping. Lastly, a big reason for Fitbit would be to encourage SELLING MORE PRODUCTS! I couldn't do what I wanted to so I returned the 2nd band & now Fitbit has less revenue/profit and increased expense having to process the returned band via the proper regulatory channels (now, it just cost Fitbit money).

Having come up with 4 obvious reasons, the real question is for Fitbit to answer why we CANT do this? It seems like a very simple ability that takes more effort to omit than to built this feature in. Every Fitbit has its own Bluetooth ID/MAC, so the app should be able to easily distinguish between 2 devices no matter what they are - you could even be able to give each one a nickname. While repetitively replacing one band with the other is a workaround, it is not a convenient one. Pointing customers to workaround their software isn't a very good business model, especially when there are so many forum threads requesting this single feature.

The only argument not to is to prevent people from "double counting" steps, but that's a farse since I could easily keep doing that with 2 different devices.

So again it boils down to: 1) making it easier for customers do what they want & 2) adding a simple no brainier feature that could lead to selling more of your higher price point items.

In other words, "you can't do that" is not an acceptable response that should count as a "resolution" to this forum question & again the real question is WHY IS THIS NOT POSSIBLE?

[PureEvil]

Hello @Fryesha and @manolosf,

The reason I ask is because the Blaze is very similar in capabilities to the Surge.  It does lack the dedicated GPS, but has connected GPS (get that information from your phone).

You can have both a Surge and a Blaze paired to you account.  You can swap the bands on your Blaze; so you may pick different styles (classic, leather, or metal) and different colors.  So it's easier to accessorize.

As for having a charged backup, I'd recommend getting a USB battery pack and bringing your charging cable on hikes/camping.  You can actually pause your hike and connect it to power to get some charge on long hikes.

I hope this helps.

[manolosf]

Thanks for your input. I understand that getting another type of tracker is an option, but it's not the preferred option for myself and a growing number of people, especially when the solution is purely software related.

Personally, I'm not a fan of the blaze or the other tracker designs. I'd like to stick with Fitbit but I'm getting enticed by other companies (Garmin's Fenix 3 is tempting).

I think the biggest grip I have with this isn't just my inconvenience but that this is a feature that is being intentionally omitted. Fitbit ALREADY SOLVED the problem of syncing multiple trackers with 1 account, but have for some reason block this functionality for 2+ of the same device. Why?

As a customer, I am telling Fitbit, "I want to buy & use multiple of your highest end product." ("Shut up & take my money") Fitbit's response is "No. Buy one of our cheaper devices." How is that even logical? Again, Fitbit already solved the hard problem of syncing multiple tracker, but stopped short of including duplicates.

I think my feature request has transitioned from a feature request to a position on principle.

Sent from my iPhone

[PureEvil]

Hello @manolosf,

First allow me to say that I do not work for Fitbit, I'm merely an active member of the community, who is familiar with the products.

I agree with you that Fitbit has already solved the complexities of syncing multiple devices with one account.

I disagree with you that pairing multiple trackers of the same model would behave precisely the same as pairing multiple devices of different models.  In my opinion, the former is significantly more work, more complex, and, no offense intended, for relatively little gain.  Take it from someone who has three separate trackers paired to their account.  Allow me to explain...

Syncing is the easy part of the problem, a far more complex problem is how you, the user, interacts with each device.  Currently, the way Fitbit distinguishes between devices in all of their UI is by model, allowing multiple trackers of the same model will make all of your interactions ambiguous.  For instance:

• You are competing in a challenge and it's 10 minutes until midnight.  You were behind by 1000 steps from the lead so you go for a walk around the block; this will give you 1500 steps.  You run the Fitbit App and you see your Surge syncing (you can tell, by the model icon where it's syncing).  Great you should have the lead.  Tomorrow afternoon, you realize you lost because it synced the wrong Surge (the one sitting on your dresser, not the one you wore on your walk).  Seeing the Surge icon syncing is ambiguous because you have two of them.
• You have an early flight, but don't want to wake up your spouse.  You set the alarm on your Surge to go off at 5am.  You sync to make sure it takes.  You watch the app sync successfully.  Great!  Tomorrow morning you wake up at 7am when your spouse's alarm goes off.  One of two things may have happened:  You watched the wrong Surge sync (see point above) OR you set the alarm on the wrong Surge.  They are undistinguishable on the dashboard.  You miss your flight.
• Your friend is curious about the Surge.  You have two of them so you unpair one of them from your account and you hand it to her so that she may use it for the week.  You then wear your remaining one on a 5k and you track it with a GPS.  You go home an you try to sync...  Oh, you deleted the one you wore on the 5k from your account, and since your friend paired your other one with her account, you don't have any paired.  The trackers are undistinguishable on the dashboard and Fitbit App.  You lost the stats for your 5k.
• You get a low battery e-mail for your Surge; this is naturally ambiguous.  You reason that it must be for the other (blue) one sitting at home since you just charged this one two days ago and you charged the blue one around four days ago.  You're probably fine for your evening run...  except that it dies during the run.  You then remember that you used the GPS during the run yesterday and that may have drained the battery.

And these are just the ones that came to mind in the first five minutes.  Are all of these ultimately solvable?  Absolutely.  However, it's going to take significant UI changes across the online dashboard, and the Fitbit Apps on several platforms.

The biggest reason why folks want more than one tracker of the same model is to accessorize.  This is the reason why the new trackers (Blaze and Alta) have options for different bands...  So in a way, Fitbit has solved this problem already.  I could maybe see the desire to have a charged backup, but it's actually easier to carry a USB battery pack and the charging cable (you'd be surprised, it charges very quickly this way)...  not to mention considerably cheaper.

Quite honestly, considering the new trackers have changeable bands.  I don't believe that enabling this (multiple trackers of the same model) is worth all the work that they'd have to do to get it to work appropriately for, no offense, a pretty small set of customers.

Just my 2¢.

[DurtGurl]

I also wish I could sync two fitbit devices of the same model to one account.  I smashed my Blaze while mountain bike a few weeks ago and have since bought a new one. But since the crunched Blaze still works, I would much rather continue riding with that on my bike rides and wear the pristine no-cracks one for work etc.  In fact, I bought the second one assuming that I would be able to use both!  Tsk tsk....