Not sure if this is a positive endorsement, or an indictment of Fitbit.

I was gifted a Fitbit Charge about 10 months ago.  I’d thought about getting one for a while, but hadn’t pulled the trigger.  Having set it up, its been interesting to see what it had to say but I try not to be a slave to it.

Most noticeably, while the base flights of stairs goal came almost automatically, getting to the magical 10K steps was rare initially.  I bumped the stair goal to 20 flights a day and I still get there most of the time without thinking hard about it.

The steps, on the other hand, were interesting.  Moving alone added a couple of thousand steps.  Yes, we have a bit more square footage.  But, from Fitbit’s perspective its the attributes of newer houses that increase the steps.  For example, modern hallways are wider by code so just crossing the hall from the bedroom to the bathroom takes almost twice as many steps.

So, it does what it says it should do.  And, its interesting data for one’s life.  Does that make it worth purchasing?  That would be your decision.

Now, for the meat of the post though.

Over the winter the band on my Fitbit Charge started bubbling and then last month it separated entirely so it is no longer a band, but an open circle.

Mr. Google told me that this was a reasonably common problem and I should contact Fitbit for a replacement.  This was a remarkably quick, hasslefree process and my replacement (now purple as I couldn’t find red on the color choices) arrived soon after.  It synced and we were off and running again.

But, then I discovered that the only two other people in my immediate family to own Fitbits also had theirs fail (for various reasons) within the first year and were having Fitbit replace them at no charge.  So, now a bunch of folks I know plus all those who wrote in to Google about their experience have free replacement Fitbits.  (There was also an option of a significant discount on an upgraded model.)

So, is this a ringing endorsement.  It does perform as advertised.  It’s easy to use.  And, their customer service is great.

Or, is in an indictment of their poor quality.  Maybe both.