Thinking of buying the Versa 4. Thoughts?

[DacK]

Hi all:

I'm thinking of buying a Versa 4, is it worth it?

I had a Sense 2 and it malfunctioned within 2 days and getting a full refund - waiting.

Reading the community posts I'm thinking the Fitbit brand is bad.

Not considering a Pixel, I can't see charging a watch every day, pointless.

[My1xT]

I wont say the brand is bad but the V4 is completely lobotomized, it's more like a fitness tracker with the screen of a smart watch than an actual smartwatch.

aside from not being able to e.g. store music, you cannot even control the music running on your phone.

[DacK]

Not so much into all that; my phone and headset  do all that.

I'm mainly looking for a GPS/map logging that works with several days of use before charging. Stuff my phone can't do: steps, stairs...

Reading the comments, I know not to try the Sense2 again, it has way too many problems. I had thought it was just a bad watch, it appears all of them have varying degrees of problems. The pixel, to me is just a nonstarter with a battery life of only 24 hours.

Maybe the Charge6?

[Triletics]

@DacK Versa 4 is Sense 2 with fewer features than Sense 2.

[LITTLEFEET112]

I have a Versa 4 for 1 year and it only lasted for about 2 maybe 3 months. I can not change the face, update any info in my profile, no longer tracks my sleep duration, sent me notification or phone calls, and today stop tracking my steps. I hate to say it but I have a very expensive watch with all the extra feature for a fitbit that does not work.

[Guy_]

Hi @LITTLEFEET112 - this is not the normal behaviour of the watch. 

Did you try holding the button for 10 seconds till it vibrates and the logo appears and wait for it to start?

Also pulling down on the watch face to get to Quick Settings and turning off all the icons?

You may also need to restart the phone to get sync to work.

[MikeHenk]

With so many problems with the 4, it’s probably not worth it. Versa2 was the best of the series. I decided to drop them and went to Garmin - it’s basically what I was hoping the Versa 4 would be. Lost some of my stats in the switch, but they weren’t really important. 
Garmin and Fitbit have big differences in step counting. For me Garmin doesn’t count my movements, only real steps. So I don’t get a ton of steps kneading pizza dough. When I tried maps/tracking it worked well, but I seldom use it - I would look at Garmin’s forums to see what those users are saying. 

[Triletics]

@MikeHenk Garmin also counts arm movements but it uses different algorithm and tries to filter out noise better. Also, it never counts steps for activities that aren't step-based. So unlike on Fitbit, you won't get steps for swimming or cycling. When you do rowing it will report stroke count and that won't be added to steps because these are not steps. When I swim, I get 500 to 800 steps extra on Fitbit (some, not all, swim strokes are recognized as steps) but Garmin knows these are strokes and counts them as swim strokes; on the bike I can earn 2000+ steps for a short ride if ride is bumpy enough (all those steps are just side-effects, there are no "smart conversion" algorithms, these are just bumps in the road). Garmin doesn't do that. These are two different approaches which come mostly from the way both brands give some sort of credit for exercising. Fitbit is deeply burried in its step counting and even daily distance is step-based only. Users often wanted those extra bogus steps granted to feel they get any credit for doing other things than walking or running. That could be one reason why Fitbit is less aggressive when it comes to filtering out bogus steps. Garmin on the other hand recognizes other sports and gives sport-specific credit. On bike you won't get steps but you have cycling distance, you improve power curve, you get personal records and badges only for biking, etc. No need to convert anything to steps. Simply, if 90% of my activity is on bike, I look at bike stats and ignore steps 🤷 Fitbit users have no such choice and everything eventually comes down to steps.

[DGunby]

I posted a review "Just Not a Good Tracker." I returned my Versa 4 and am going back to a Versa 2. I wasn't happy with the 4 on many fronts.

[LITTLEFEET112]

Hi Author

I have restarted my phone and the fitbit and nothing changes. I have also held the button for 10 seconds and it does not vibrates but the logo appears and it does restarts. I have also pulled down the watch face to get to Quick Settings and turned off all the icons and nothing changes.

Littlefeet112

[Guy_]

@LITTLEFEET112 - may be chat with customer support via the Fitbit App Help & support section, something is obviously wrong and you may need to replace the watch under warranty.

[Neelrac]

I just bought mine and cant keep it on the band keeps falling off. 

[DacK]

Thanks to all those responding..

I returned all the new Fitbit's and only have my Surge and Inspire 2 (oldies). When they die I'll switch to another brand.

I had contacted tech support and I appear to know more about the brand than any of them did. Of course, all of them are in South Amer and English and even knowing the brand is a little much for them. I got wrong answers from even the supervisors: Can I use more than one Fitbit on my account? Them=NO. Me= I am doing that now. Them= No you can't do that.//// And it went downhill from there. I even ended up reading the spec's off the webpage to them and they kept telling me I was wrong when asking about the other Fitbits.

The brand has deteriorated since I first started with it back in 2012.