expired Posted by phoinix | Staff • Jul 16, 2024
Jul 16, 2024 7:30 AM
Item 1 of 4
Item 1 of 4
expired Posted by phoinix | Staff • Jul 16, 2024
Jul 16, 2024 7:30 AM
Prime Members: $99.95: Fitbit Charge 6 Fitness Tracker at Amazon
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To put it mildly I do not recommend Fitbit and especially do not recommend the charge 5 or 6, at least if you're looking for a 24/7 heart rate monitor and would get annoyed if in the middle of your workout your heart seemed to stop 🤷
To put it mildly I do not recommend Fitbit and especially do not recommend the charge 5 or 6, at least if you're looking for a 24/7 heart rate monitor and would get annoyed if in the middle of your workout your heart seemed to stop 🤷
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My first Charge 5 developed an issue with the screen becoming locked up with color stripes and other nonsense and generally not working. The warranty replacement went fine at least. A couple months ago it suddenly went from reliably six days between charges to three at best. I was hoping it would resolve itself, but one day I went on a swim with it as I usually do twice a week. Within a few laps it had spontaneously shut itself off with absolutely no input or output possible. The sensor lights weren't even on. When I got home it wouldn't even charge or reset, just flashing a Fitbit logo over and over. Unfortunately Fitbit's warranty terms only cover a unit from the date of the original purchase, which continues to toll into the lifetime of the replacement. At best I might have gotten a discount on a new Fitbit, if anything at all.
If you check the Fitbit support forums, particularly the Charge 5 forum, you'll find dozens of new threads every day, mainly citing the same problems. Most people seem to believe it stems from a recent update that somehow caused the Charge 5 to run out its battery extra quickly. Many whose units aren't outright bricked find that they will charge to 100% and then die within an hour of removing it from the charger. Others claim that they die after a brief exposure to water when they had dutifully protected them from water up to that point. Overall the support has been dismal, with cookie cutter responses you'd expect from chatbots and any dissent edited or removed.
The Google acquisition of Fitbit has definitely not yielded any benefits for users. Instead, we're seeing what almost appears as forced obsolescence through bricking units, previously accessible data locked behind subscription paywalls, worsened customer service, and so on. I got a Garmin after this experience and I've enjoyed it quite a lot more than I ever did the Fitbit.
@iletired Compared to the Garmin, my Charge 5 had a pretty dismal accuracy when counting laps. It seemed to be getting worse over time. I could nearly rely on it under-counting laps by 10%. Additionally, it has a pathetically small amount of data to offer. Basically you got time, purported distance (by which lap count was extrapolated) and estimated calorie burn. That was literally it. The Garmin can track HR underwater (with some inaccuracy depending on how tight you keep it) and can track interval times and even individual lap times, strokes per lap, etc.
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