EDIT 2-13-16: If you read the entire thread, it has become very clear it is not the software version but All-Day Sync in the mobile apps doing the damage. I'll leave the below post up for posterity, but, I'm changing the thread title. I'm not going to have the wrong issue be blamed, and I'll take initial wrongness to know the real issue got pegged. I hope that this helps others out. FitBit needs to fix this issue and I think enough case study by myself alone (two watches, and a third to be planned) will give FitBit what it needs. I'm sure others have added on elsewhere, and it'll only support the issue. So please, if you have a quick-dying watch, locate the All-Day Sync feature by clicking on your watch in the app and going to where you'd set up things like what wrist it's worn on, notifications, etc., and turn off All-Day Sync there. You'll instantly see the difference after you charge your device to full and start anew.
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Look, I'm going to come straight out and say it: I think the current software version is killing battery life, that version being 16.34.5.14. I asked it as a question in the subject line, but to me, it is the answer. I just want some input from others who are longer-term owners of the watch and have seen different versions to confirm or deny what I say. Those who are new to the watch and this is the software they've only ever known have no basis to compare to, but suffer all the same.
Here is my personal story.
I bought the Surge in January 2015. I replaced it later in the year as it began cracking around the screws and was close to falling apart. I got a backup unit that was a refurb, after a call to customer support. Look back in these threads; I was religious in checking battery life and went into the five day ranges easily. All I do normally is heart rate. Bluetooth, notifications, everything else, all that is turned off. I like the steps, the heart rate and the sleep monitoring. I sporadically use the timer for breaks at work so I am not late, if my cell phone is in use. (Always a good countdown timer for a backup.)
The refurb suddenly started losing battery power and dying at three days, or just shy of it, and I didn't think much of it. My thought was maybe the refurb was bad. So I called customer service earlier this month (January 2016) and got a new refurb. This puts me on a third watch overall.
That third one quickly began dying at three days, if that, not even three weeks of owning it. Just like the previous one, it was dying quickly. I was upset. I called and after talking to a supervisor had a brand new sealed-in-the-box unit overnighted to me. Got it Tuesday the 26th, updated and charged it up for a first use and all that, and unplugged it that night around 10ish and was ready to go.
Today is Friday the 29th. It died between 4:30 and 5:30 p.m. (Eastern times, if it matters.) Not even three days. A brand spanking new watch out of the box dead like the previous one, a refurb. The refurb got the whole hard reset and charge treatment and every other idea posted on here over time. The refurb never could go past three days. And now a pristine new Surge as if I just bought it at Best Buy has the same issue and is on its first "death charge" for lack of better term plugged into my PC as I write this.
You can't tell me every single battery is bad, right? It HAS to be the software. What else could it be? Something is draining it, and if I am constantly charging it every two nights knowing it will die on the third day, how can I measure sleep? If I charge it elsewhere and I walk around, how I can measure steps? If I charge it period, how do I measure heart rate?
The common denominator in all of this is the software version. Fitbit crew, you guys need to look into this. Yes, I made a thread with a slew of other battery life posts out there, but they exist for a reason. Something is killing it, and logical deduction is telling me something in this software release is bad and a new software release -- or rollback -- is needed to give us our battery life back. How can a watch go from 5-7 days all the way down to three, if that, with barely any features used? And the website's shop still says up to seven days. We're not even getting up to three days right now, and you advertise it as seven days?
I'm convinced it's the software. Please fix it or rollback to one that didn't drain it so bad, regardless of what this current version does. I'll take the hiccups of the previous software; I just want a watch that won't die without even seeing three full days.
I'm about to give up on FitBit. I paid $250 for a product that either physically broke down so soon or software-wise is a disaster. I came to FitBit because the Jawbone UP line was an epic disaster and people recommended FitBit. But the product I want not working? I have issues.
So what you say, Fitbit? Will you fix this ASAP? What else could this possibly be? Seriously. Software is the logical answer. You have a memory leak or battery drainer or something in this software. Reconfigure and give us battery life, before I reconfigure who I choose for a tracker and go to another company. Because I will not go through all this again. I'm tired of the warranty exchanges. I'll just go to another company that offers a reliable product.
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