Smart hoodies. Smart socks. And a fitness tracker for all twelve days of Christmas.
But in the era of wearable technology, durability concerns sometimes get forgotten in the back of a drawer. Now, five years since the FitBit hit the ground running, we’ve got some long-distance perspective: do these things last? Signs point to “no.”
It almost seems unfair to pick on FitBit, given their rough year of rashes, recalls, and the rise of competing fitness-oriented smart watches. Yet the FitBit Flex is one of the least repairable devices we’ve ever torn down—we had to use a dozuki to get it open. And they still have nearly 50% of the fitness band market share.
Review sites are full of customers upset about broken FitBits. People frequently report broken bands—though at least a band can be mended with Sugru. But the Better Business Bureau has received nearly a hundred complaints about devices that fail to sync, that stop holding a charge, and that stop turning on all together. If users or repair techs could get into their devices to change the battery, many of these dead FitBits might live again. Instead, the company recommends replacing dead devices.
Geoffrey Clapp says he was on his seventh FitBit when he finally decided it wasn’t worth replacing again.
“Somewhere around FitBit number four, friends started saying ‘you bought another one of those things? What did you expect?’” Clapp explains, comparing his love of FitBit to an on-again-off-again relationship. “You know when your friends say ‘Really, you’re still with (or going back to) him/her?’—and then, when the same thing that always happens, happens again, you feel like a moron. Well, today, I feel like a moron.”
The company, to their credit, has a fairly generous warranty replacement policy. When it comes to e-waste, though, replacement isn’t enough. If every customer is personally shepherding a half-dozen devices to the shredder, there’s a flaw in the business model.
Companies should stop making unrepairable junk. But until then, customers have to stop stuffing their stockings with it.
Got a story about a product that broke way too easily? Tell us about it in the comments.
crwdns2944067:05crwdne2944067:0
Could we persuade Fitbit/Google/whoever to figure out how to recycle the devices (meaning take it apart, recycle the rubber strap, PCB board material, lithium from the battery, silicon from the glass, all the way to the few nanograms of arsenic and gallium from the chips and microgram or two chromium from the battery electrodes?
jimwitte - crwdns2934203:0crwdne2934203:0
I had had 2 Fitbit blazes in a 2year period and my Versa has now only lasted 9months !!!
i look after them so cannot understand their appalling shelf life of a year if you are lucky!!
i really love the fit bit Versa features but am now moving across to apple, although am reluctant due to the frequency of charging that is required..
come on fit bit sort it out
katekehoe - crwdns2934203:0crwdne2934203:0
Finally! I found a site that says what Fitbit is JUNK! I wish I had kept a list of issues with the last 2 I owned; the charge 4 and 5. Yes I know, I can tell you I would not have gotten the 2nd charge 4 except for the fact my daughter purchased the 30.00 replacement band for the almost 1 yr old charge 4 I had before it quit at 13 months. Out of their generousity fitbit gave me 50% off a new one rather than throw away the gift from my daughter I got another Charge 4. I did not keep track how long it lasted (although now I wish I had). This one the connectors that hold the band broke off. It was only a few months old so fitbit graciously allowed full credit for it. I bought in to it and got a Charge 5. Like my previous fitbit the Charge 5 worked gloriously for a few months then it began to have syncing issues, h a half dozen restarts would resolve. Within a months time it has gone blank 3x twice in one day, hard to soft reboot. Fitbit says; We are aware of the issue and are working on a firmware update.
Tammy Harpin - crwdns2934203:0crwdne2934203:0
My Fitbit Versa 3 is stuck in an endless startup loop. The "community," which is the only place where you can turn for help, says to unpair it from the phone to which it was paired. Well, tell me how I can unpair it when the phone doesn't see it... because it's stuck in an endless loop? The other moronic piece of advice is to press the one and only button, hold it till the logo appears and wait till it vibrates and then release it... except when you do that, the watch doesn't vibrate at all until you release the button... at which point the instructions says to release the button. Well, how do you release a button that's already released... in order to get it to vibrate? It's a moronic device and the people leaving instructions in the "Community" are also morons. Good-bye Fitbit! It's another example of technology that doesn't work because the designers were/are nerds locked in an ivory tower without exposure to the real world
ThosD - crwdns2934203:0crwdne2934203:0
I have 8 broken Fitbits! Ridiculous! I am lucky though. Mine were all given to me. They usually only last for 3 to 12 months. Absolute garbage!
Pickie Loo - crwdns2934203:0crwdne2934203:0