My Fitbit History (Part 1)
Happy Sunday everyone. Today I am going to be talking about my experiences with Fitbit. Keep in mind that these are my own opinions and thoughts.
Seeing as you decided to read this article, you probably know who Fitbit is and what they do, but for those that don’t, they provide fitness wearables that track health statistics such as steps, sleep, heart rate, etc.
To give you some insight, I have been a long-time Fitbit user, with an accumulation of more the 17 million steps since 2014 when I first acquired a Fitbit Flex. I have watched as the Fitbit company has grown, and the products have changed. I have had the privilege of being along for the ride, both its ups and downs. I have long defended and advocated for their products, but I feel that time is now finally up, I’ll explain.
Over the years, I have had the Fitbit ‘Flex’, ‘Charge’, ‘Charge 2’, ‘Ionic’, ‘Versa’, ‘Charge 3’, and ‘Sense’, and all have had their good and bad points. If however, I had to sum up their products in one word, it would be “Unfinished”. The wearable space had so much potential when Fitbit started out and they squandered it with products that appeared rushed, unfinished, and plagued with basic problems that could have been addressed with good QA. The products lacked the polish and shine you get these days from Apple, Samsung, Garmin, and other makers of wearable tech, and even though more recent products such as the Fitbit ‘Sense’ on the surface appear great, there are still problems in implementation. So let me go through the Fitbit products I have used since 2014.
Fitbit Flex
I was kindly gifted a Fitbit Flex by my boss at the time, and it was the start of my wearable journey. The ‘Flex’ was basic in every way. It consisted of a pod-like device, that sat inside a snug comfortable wrist band. The pod hosted a basic device that tracked steps, distance, calories burned, active minutes, and could monitor your sleep.
Complete with a basic vibration alarm, and dot LED step progress indicator. This product worked well, it seemed to record steps fairly accurately and the battery lasted for about a week. Charging was easy, you just removed the pod from the wrist band housing and placed it in the charging dock/cable. However, there were issues, the rubber wrist bands broke apart after time due to wear and tear, and charging the device was problematic when dirt, sweat, or salt from sea air got on the connectors of the pod. The software was basic too, but it generally did everything necessary.
I went through numerous bands, and I actually bought a second device after the first one went belly up after a year of use as it would not charge.
Rating: 7/10
Fitbit Charge
This device was definitely a step up (no pun intended). Now the device had a mini OLED display that could actually show the number of steps. It did all the things the ‘Flex’ did but it now had additional functionality. Time and caller-id came inclusive, and the battery lasted even longer up to 10 days, awesome. The Fitbit app was even better and featured more advanced statistical data than before.
It all seemed great on the surface, but the implementation was bad, because of the materials they used. This time the device is actually a part of the wrist band itself, the strap was not interchangeable and after 6 months of use, the glues used to hold it together began to loosen, the rubber expanded and changed shape, and the device just fell to pieces… (see photo above)
Considering the price at the time, it was a huge disappointment. Using the warranty to get a replacement was not an option as Fitbit was not in Mexico yet. Charging again was problematic as well at times. Rating: 5/10
Fitbit Charge 2
Finally, I could monitor my heart rate on my wrist. Sporting an even larger OLED screen that now provided touch navigation, it was now possible to see heart rate, real-time stats, text and calendar alerts, reminders to move, guided breathing sessions, tethered GPS tracking, and even customizable watch faces. Featuring 7 days of battery life, and changeable wrist bands, this was one of my favorite Fitbit’s. The app has always been the cornerstone of Fitbit, and with this iteration, it did not underwhelm. The charging cradle was better, albeit clunky. However, despite all the extra features, the implementation was still lackluster, and the product felt unfinished. Although plagued with some issues when syncing and charging the battery, my experience overall was fairly good. Rating 8/10
Fitbit Ionic
My biggest disappointment by far was the Fitbit Ionic. Touted as a revolutionary product, I was excited to try it out. I was living in the U.S. at the time, and I took a trip down to Best Buy to pick it up. Out of the box, it was amazing, lightweight, sleek, and futuristic. It had a larger touch screen and a new user interface. Initially, my experience was great. However, after around 12 hours with the device, the touch screen became inoperable and did not respond to my input. Obviously, a software bug had raised its ugly head. This is where I encountered the extremely frustrating Fitbit tech support. I went back and forth with them trying different things in order to recover the functionality of the device. Over the course of a couple of weeks, they used me to try and figure out what was wrong with their device. I came to the conclusion that they were incompetent, and without a successful resolution, I finely relented and returned the watch to Best Buy and exchanged it for a Samsung Gear Sport, which is a story for another day. The Ionic was good, especially the watch itself, to begin with, but unfortunately, it was released with unproven software and terrible tech support. I read in their forums at the time that many others had experienced similar problems. Rating: 2/10
To Be Continued…
My Fitbit journey up to this point has been rough around the edges. Next week I’ll continue this journey where I discuss the ‘Versa’, ‘Charge 3', and my current watch the ‘Sense’. Many thanks for reading, please share this article with your friends and family, it really helps out my writing.
Paul Jacobs — November 21st, 2021
