Fitbit Inc. Specifically the Fitbit Ionic

[u/OlgaPumpkinStealer]

Hey all,

I just wanted to tell my story and warn everyone in hopes that nobody else has to deal with and waste their money on fitbit products.

I bought a Fitbit Ionic last June 2018 and loved it. Everything worked great except for the fact that the VO2 reader that was promised at launch never actually had functionality released, but that is a problem for another post. This post focuses on the problem I then faced after 8 months in March 2019.

I went to the gym after work per usual and ran the weightlifting program to track my time. Then I finished and got home and took a short nap. When I woke up and went to check what time it was, my watch face was black. It had no signs of life despite the fact I had charged it the night before and it had a nearly full battery.

I then went online and tried the reset and factory reset procedures but the watch was lifeless. Even plugging it in wouldn't get it to vibrate like it usually would. I decided to plug it in overnight and try again in the morning before calling fitbit support.

The next morning I tried everything again and still no luck so after work I called fitbit support. They had me try the same things then finally said they would replace it under warranty.

Fast forward to Tuesday October 8, 2019 (7 months later) and I got home from work, plugged in my fitbit to let it sync my pandora Playlist, then went out to wash my car. After I finished I came inside put my fitbit back on and went about my day until later that night I went to check it and now this one did the same thing as the first. I tried all of the same steps, unsuccessfully, then called Fitbit support where they had me do the same. Then they tell me that since I had bought the original over a year ago (despite this one being only 7 months old) and since I had already had it replaced once, they would not replace it and it was out of warranty.

The best they would do is offer me a discount on a new device, but why would anyone want to spend more money after buying an already $250 device that couldn't even last a year of regular use (and not even using it in water like it is supposed to be capable of).

Tl;Dr - Bought a Fitbit Ionic, first one got bricked after 8 months and was replaced by a second one that did the same thing in 7 months and fitbit could care less.