Since this is such a popular thread, I'll add my story too in hopes that fitbit will start paying attention.
Background: I purchased this watch and been wearing it daily since June 2018, but haven't tried swimming with it until yesterday. Prior to that, I have worn it in the shower, although most days take it off. I have previously worn it to play in water/ at the pool with my toddler, so it has been submerged, although not for the length of time nor under the same forces that swimming laps places on it. Only one prior glitch- the watch randomly stopped syncing to my phone, but I was able to re-connect it easily.
So, the first time swimming (9/04 approx. 50 mins/ 40 laps- I'm six months preggers, so not fast, no diving, and definitely not remotely deep) and the watch went completely haywire- it started off fine, but midway through my workout it started flipping through multiple menus for at least 2 mins (without me touching it/ dried the face). This happened a couple of times. Then wouldn't let me stop the timer with the bottom right button. Trying to get that to work, it got stuck on 2 screens I could swipe between but couldn't back out of because the left button didn't work. Despite it being stuck and the buttons not working, it claimed it had synced, although my swim workout was nowhere to be found. It must have dried out enough overnight for the buttons to function and everything else on the watch seems to work properly, but now won't sync to any other device. Talked to customer service for over 45 mins trying to get it to sync, despite the fact I tried everything recommended on their help pages prior to calling, and it still couldn't be found by 2 different devices. I just felt like they were trying to solve only part of the problem- i.e. bluetooth connection, and not the actual problem- THE WATCH ISN'T AS WATER RESISTANT OR "SWIM PROOF" AS THEY CLAIM. Lots of discussions on the forums with other people having the same complaint, so this can't be news to Fitbit.
Finally got offered a replacement after explaining to the rep that if we factory reset it/ get it refurbished (the next step they wanted to take and who knows how much time I'd have to spend doing that?) and that worked, it still wasn't addressing the issue that swimming causes it to malfunction. And who knows how many times would I have to go through this rigmarole before they conceded that?? He went to talk to his supervisor, and offered me a replacement.
When pressed, I was told that this wasn't how it normally behaves if water penetrates the watch, to which I had to inform the rep that plenty of posts on these forums contradict that, and the simple fact that I've been wearing and using it for 4 months without this happening AND it happened during the first time swimming- all indications are that water is the root of the problem. Fixing the bluetooth connection was just a bandaid, but not going to solve/ help me with the fact I couldn't swim with it or trust it getting wet.
Considering I purchased it BECAUSE of the swim feature, in addition to GPS and wrist HR (I jumped at this watch as soon as it came out because I was waiting for those 3 features in an everyday wearable), I feel like that was such a huge waste of my time to not address the whole and real problem from the get go.
I realize customer service needs to go through their extensive trouble shooting list, but not once did I feel like we were going to get to the root of the problem if I didn't press them for a solution outside of this part of the problem (and acting as if it was my phone's issue/ not the watch's).
To add insult to injury, the customer service rep couldn't give me any hope that this replacement has been updated/ re-engineered to specifically address this problem other than a stock answer that the replacement "should" fix this issue and Fitbit's engineers are constantly responding to feedback on these forums.
I'll update when I get the replacement and test it out by swimming, but I'm not hopeful based on other's comments to the forums that got replacements.
Bottom line: if you are interested in this watch at all because it claims to be swim proof, I would save your money or spend it elsewhere.
Question for others with this problem: how did you get a refund? If watch #2 dies, I'd rather have my $ back than trying to fight this battle over and over again.
