FitBit owners?
 

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[Closed] FitBit owners?

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Anyone else got one?

Received one for Christmas... Having problems...

Mainly with the exercise tracking, which sort of doesn't track. Or, at least it does, for a random amount of time, before it decides to crap out.

But also with UI. Screen timeout of about 1 second, WTF!? Who designed that? The button to turn on the display is also the button to stop a timer or an exercise mode? Again, WTF?

Lastly, the fact that you have to pay monthly for a premium service to get full HR stats from the watch is kind of shitty, given that one of its chief functions is HR tracking.


 
Posted : 07/01/2021 3:22 pm
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Send it back it sounds broken


 
Posted : 07/01/2021 3:26 pm
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Same with their phone notifications, got mum a new inspire hr for xmas to replace an old Alta and notifications are entirely random as to whether they come through or not, seems to be a common issue according to the various help forums.


 
Posted : 07/01/2021 3:32 pm
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Hmm, Inspire HR here too.

I'm not loving the look of the content on the support forums, a whole lot of "switch it off and switch it on again" stuff, and no happy customers saying "yes that fixed it".

Mine has failed to track fully 50% of my running sessions; I manually start it, then it craps out before I finish. One time after about 100m distance.

As another usability fail, the charge lead is about three inches long, which is actually makes it a right pain to connect to the watch, which is supposed to be magnetically attached to the charge jack... except the magnet won't hold it in place unless the thing is laid flat on a desk.

Too much fail for me, I think.


 
Posted : 07/01/2021 3:39 pm
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Conversely I have used FitBit devices for several years and, apart from a glitch where the watch wouldn't 'see' the connected device (ie my iPhone for GPS tracking) unless it had just been synced (this was on my last one, my Versa 2 doesn't have the same issue) I have never had an exercise stop tracking. I also use mine to activate tracking with my Strava account and the data I get back from the FitBit results is normally very similar to the Strava results (ie, I start an exercise so the FitBit tracks my progress, but at the same time it activates Strava so I get my in-depth results from there too).


 
Posted : 07/01/2021 3:53 pm
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Sounds like you need to wear it slightly higher up your wrist and tighten the strap to maintain the connection.
Don't think you can change the screen time out, but another annoying trait is the touch screen doesn't respond if your fingers are wet from sweat or swimming.


 
Posted : 07/01/2021 5:52 pm
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Like JD my Charge 3 has been largely trouble free. Certainly doesn't randomly stop recording. Works nicely with Strava. The screen timeout thing is a pain but I guess is the price you get for +1 week runtime between charges.


 
Posted : 07/01/2021 6:13 pm
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Instead of wearing the watch with its face flush with your knuckles, try wearing it so that the sensor is in contact with the veins on your wrist...with the face of the watch flush with your palm.


 
Posted : 08/01/2021 4:24 am
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Quick full stop for the thread.

Returned, refunded, replaced with a Garmin Vivosport - which just works.

Does all the stuff the Inspire was meant to, without failing at them.

Screen stays on all the time.
UI works and is free of dumb usability cockups.
Exercise recording works.
No stupid prompts to upgrade to pay monthly.
Built in GPS as a complete bonus over the FitBit.
Charging is no problem - proper length lead that doesn't fall out.


 
Posted : 29/01/2021 11:59 am
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Good to hear the Garmin is an improvement. Does it have inbuilt GPS rather than pulling it from your phone?

I've had a Fitbit Charge 3 for a couple of years, and some bits are really impressive - I love the sleep analysis and mine is good at automatically detecting my running or riding.

But I hate having to do anything on the actual watch (so I don't) and I'm on my third head unit due to repeated failures.


 
Posted : 29/01/2021 12:08 pm

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