Surge Battery Not Lasting.

[djrugby]

Has Fitbit support told any of you to turn off functions - so the watch will work?

I use my Fitbit to track my health, sleep, heart rate everyday.  The only exerise I do, outdoor biking for about an hour everyday.  Sometimes less, sometimes more.  I stop and start my surge Bike Exercise to track it, which gives me a GPS map of every ride.

Eventually, the battery will cease to hold a charge more than two days.  When this happens, I ussually cannot get two rides in the same charge - so charge for more than an hour everyday.  I have called service, and they have been all to happy to send me another Surge, but never once saying what is wrong or if it is fixed.

I have Surge replacement #3 that is only two weeks old and the battery drains fast already.  I rode the bike today, for one hour, and the battery is down 25%, by tomorrow morning it will be down 50%. 

This is an open file with Fitbit Support (#3BG446RNF) and they are monitoring.  I received an email this evening from Fitbit support telling me:  "We suggest using SmartTrack to track your exercises, this way your Surge will not use GPS." .  The email goes on to explain that is why the battery drains as they saw I rode for an hour and 5 minutes today.  Essentially, telling me not to use a function the watch provides. (I already have every other function turned off, back light, auto sync, notifications, text, etc - because they said it drains the battery.)

Has anyone else been told to not use a function so the product will work?

Moderator edit: Subject for clarity

[UglyBoab]

Please tell me the other brands, i am sick of this piece of crap they call the Surge. Having just had a normal wrist watch for many years and then go to this junk is very frustrating.to see all the messages from people having the same problem and no fix from Fitbit is not right. regards, Bruce

[RegretsmyBit]

Marta - I feel your pain. I'm on my fifth replacement in a year. Same issues every time- won't hold a charge, won't synch, time zone is wrong, display screen "freezes" with only half the image visible. Customer service keeps replacing it but I keep getting the same crappy product. $250 not well spent at all. Hang in there.

[Marta1]

Five for me too! I'm at the end of 1 year warranty and expect this one to go bad anytime too. I lost my first flex because of lousy clasp design, so I bought their "premium" product - the Surge and have been horribly dissatisfied. Fitbit must know it's a bad product and should offer to trade out for something that works, but they haven't. Thing is there is lots of competition and word does get around. It's the last Fitbit I intend to purchase. It is sad.

[JillU]

I am also on my 3rd surge. It won't hold a charge much past 12 hours. I'm so frustrated. I too have turned off all the options. Why did I pay for the most expensive tracker if I can't use any of the options? 

[fzGDV7qx]

I am on Surge number four, all with battery issues.  Now out of warranty.  Think I need to look at the competition.

[Mtymedic]

I did I went to the Garmin They offer repairs for $50 I believe it was 

[Toketee]

I’m on my third. Battery life stinks, and each replacement was worse that the predecessor. Too bad, I’ll not upgrade with Fitbit at this rate. I really liked the thing and hate Garmin products but what to do?

[Dzager1]

Mine literally only holds a charge for a Max of 2 hrs without using GPS or text notifications and the backlight is turned off. I just took it out of the box and week ago....very disappointed in the Surge. 

[YojanaFitbit]

Hi everybody! Please receive a warm welcome to the Fitbit Community! It's great to see you participating here. 

I wanted to place this information about Fitbit Surge. If you aren’t tracking runs or exercises that use GPS, your fully charged Fitbit Surge should last up to 7 days (results may vary depending on other features like music control, HR, etc.) A fully charged Surge can track up to 10 hours of activities that use GPS. Because battery life is affected by use and other settings.

Also try to clean the contacts of your tracker regularly. These contacts can become obstructed by microscopic dirt or debris that prevents them from making a good connection to the charger. Use a toothpick or toothbrush to clean the charging contacts; do not scrape them with anything metal because this may damage the plating and result in corrosion. 

You an also try to restart your Surge if you notice it is not working fine. And check these tips to improve the battery life of your Surge. How are you changing your Surge? We recommend plugging your charging cable into a USB port on your computer or other low-energy device. If necessary, you can use a UL-certified USB wall charger. Don't use a USB hub or battery pack to charge, and only use the charging cable that came with your tracker.

If you need extra help I'll be around. Hope this helps! 

[Mtymedic]

You will not be getting a warm welcome from me. I have done all of those things and they did not help at all. Why should I have to turn off functions that I bought the watch for?

Item was a massive failure by fit bit. Fit bit had promise to stand by the product to make sure that I the customer was happy. I have the email still. But they did not they stopped at the one year mark of the original watch!!! So the brand new watch that they sent me at the end of this adventure ..... was 2-3 months old when they stopped standing by their product and me the customer.


Fit bit has lost a customer. I had many fit bit item for me and my family. I have moved on to other products by companies that stand by their product and customers.

.....Would it spoil some vast eternal plan?
If I were a wealthy man.

[Marta1]

Exactly. I am NOT an Apple fan but have several friends who own their
smartwatch and they work.

[Mtymedic]

I went Garmin. Got a deal and it does everything and much more than the surge ever did.

.....Would it spoil some vast eternal plan?
If I were a wealthy man.

[YojanaFitbit]

Hi @Mtymedic and @Marta1 thanks for sharing your experience! 

This has not gone unnoticed and be sure that I will pass this along.  Please know that we provide feedback to our team based on community posts and we are always working on improving our devices and overall environment based on what you share here.

Thanks for your understanding. 

[Mtymedic]

And have you checked the date of this post????
I have heard NOTHING from Fitbit. Heard the same line from other moderators. So I’m sorry I don’t believe you.

.....Would it spoil some vast eternal plan?
If I were a wealthy man.

[cwhitten]

I have had 3 replacements, now at the end of my warranty as well. All had the same problem with battery life. Tried turning everything off as described here. I was wondering why I bought this when my $10 casio lasted forever, never broke and could still tell time!

[YojanaFitbit]

Hi @cwhitten, thanks for sharing your feedback. Welcome to the Forums.  Hello @Mtymedic, I appreciate you getting back to me. 

@Mtymedic I understand your grievances and that's why I wanted to explain to you that we don't have the option to change Fitbit policies or warranty options. Nevertheless, I will definitely pass all this feedback along; we do take all of your feedback seriously. Thanks again for your feedback.

@cwhitten Fitbit don't want to create frustration in our customers. As Fitbit trackers has been designed to provide motivation and help you to reach your daily goals to success. Please know that we provide your feedback to our team based on community posts and we are always working on improving our devices and overall environment based on that comments.

Your comments are important for us.

[Mtymedic]

I understand you can’t change things. Fitbit blew it with the surge. Great idea very poor execution. I believe if the truly looked at how many people had this complaint ..... they would have done something. But they have done nothing. I have stated before before the first one was returned... I asked if this was going to be a problem I was told that they would always stand behind the product.. even after the warranty period. Well that proved a big fat lie.

Pass on mine and anybody else’s concerns you want. I have lost all faith in Fitbit. I will not buy another, I discourage others from buying one.

.....Would it spoil some vast eternal plan?
If I were a wealthy man.

[YojanaFitbit]

Hi @Mtymedic,  thanks for getting back! Your feedback is very appreciated. This information has been passed along to our team. We hope you can consider staying with Fitbit but we'll understand any decision that you might take. As mentioned above we don't want to create frustration in our customers, since Fitbit trackers has been designed to provide motivation.

I'll be around.

[fzGDV7qx]

Who is running this show? If Fitbit wants to make things right, do so. If
not, for goodness sake say so.

Like others, I will look at other solutions rather than trust Fitbit.

John J

Moderator edit: Removed personal information

[YojanaFitbit]

Thanks for sharing your feedback @fzGDV7qx. Your comments are very important for us, please know that we provide feedback to our team based on community posts and we are always working on improving our devices and overall environment based on what you share here.

Thanks for your understanding.