The electronic and technical part of the devices work great, even long after any two year planned life LSL suggested. It’s the mechanical parts (buttons and wrist band/device interface) that they can’t seem to get right.
And that’s the part that would be prone to failure, being on the outside where they get banged against things during exercise.
I’m not defending the product, rather the opposite; they should be sturdier on the outside to withstand the kind of punishment you’d expect from exercise.
Here’s my own minor gripe. I just watched an otherwise decent YouTube short about the film Argo, and in particular its historical inaccuracies and how it inaccurately demonized some and totally stole credit away from others. Generally decent video.
But early on the narrator pronounces the word “albeit” like “all-bite” (maybe not realizing it’s an abbreviation of “although be it”) and then toward the end pronounces “scintillating” with a hard “c”, like “skin-tillating”.
If you’re going to narrate videos as a job, learn how to pronounce words first.
Maybe it was his demo reel. 
we used to have a radio station where volunteers read the newspaper on line as a service to folks who cant see. I liked to listen on my way to work as long as I got on before they were reading the sports section. One morning they read ana article about an event where well known local chefs came together to cook for a charity. When they read the article, they said the chefs were in thier skivvies (underwear), I about ran off the road until I realised they meant civvies (non-uniform).
ISTM Fitbits last 2 years w his wife, then 2 more years for him.
Which is twice as long as I’d design them to last. They are, if anything, too durable.
That would be pretty good then.
I saw skin-tillating movies on Skin-emax back in the day.
As for the Fitbit, is it more than just replacing the band? The silicone bands don’t last nearly as long as the Garmin watch does.
Since there was a mention of malfunctioning buttons, I assume that a band change won’t be a viable solution. 
The second one is unclear to me, but sounds like possibly where the band meets the watch; while the third one is definitely band related.
Yeah, some of the issues might be fixed with a band replacement.
I’ve replaced bands on many watches I’ve owned. Smart watches and regular old digital watches alike. Usually it’s pretty easy and I like the variety of styles you can pick from. Often I’ll get a different band when I get a new watch just because I like the watch but not necessarily the band it comes with. It might be an issue with the appearance, it might be an issue with the comfort, or sometimes the functionality (like the inability to finely adjust the fit or how awkward the clasp is).
To me a watch and a band are two different things.
Fitbits have their own unique band connections. When a little piece of plastic breaks, they can no longer be attacked to any band. At least, that was the case with my last one.
It depends on how the strap is broken I suppose. Here is a picture of a broken band:
Something like that, you can push a little button at the end of the band, it will slip off and you can install a new one.
If any part of the shell gets broken (including where the band attaches) you’re kind of screwed.
Yeah, like I mentioned the actual fitness tracker part of the device works quite well, both the watch part and the app. They seem to have fixed the button durability as well. It was a first generation Fitbit that had the buttons that fell apart. And I get that the ability to easily change bands is a feature, but the attachment point of the band to the device is laughably ill designed. And the huge selection of replacement bands are all third party, so I doubt Fitbit actually makes much on replacement bands.
It’s sort of telling that despite now centuries of wristwatches with their standardized mechanisms for attaching the band to the watch, Fitbit had to go invent their own special connection system that sux.
Micro-rant. I recently got an email reminding me that I was due a settlement on a class-action lawsuit. So I go to the website to see how I can collect my money. It turns out that the only way I can get the money is on a debit card. I’m not sure if I goofed up somehow in requesting it, but the upshot is that I am now the proud owner of a virtual debit card from some place called Prepaid Center, with no idea how to use it. The website tells me that I can add it to my “Wallet”, which I believe is some sort of payment system I could use on my cellphone. I’m an old fart and I don’t use my phone as a wallet.
Oh, and the amount of the settlement is a magnificent $7.43.
If it’s a virtual debit card, then it will have information like a number, a CVV code, and so on. When making online payments, use the information for that card as your payment option.
They’re reminding you that if you use your phone as a payment system (which is more secure than using a physical card; you can’t skim the stripe from a phone or copy the card information from something that isn’t a card) you can add it. They’re not saying that’s the only way to use it.
Which is why most class action lawsuits are a waste of your time to participate in.
I have all of that. I tried to use it to make a payment on Amazon, but of course my purchase was for more than $7.43, and (unless I missed it) there didn’t seem to be any way that Amazon would let me pay the balance with a second card.
Hope springs eternal; I once did get a more substantial payment once. And in the past when I’ve gotten settlements there was an option to get it as a direct deposit or an Amazon gift card.
Yes, which makes it extremely inconvenient.
Now, there are ways to get that money into a real bank account, but it’s convoluted. It seems like the easiest way is via PayPal.
Reddit: Transfer funds from virtual MasterCard to bank ?
But even though it’s possible, it’s still a pain in the ass and we’re talking about barely enough money to buy a fast food cheeseburger these days.
Yeah, I’ve done class action lawsuits before as a direct deposit, but I suspect that the virtual debit card option may be fast, cheap, and easy and fulfills the legal obligations of whoever is in charge of distributing funds. They may have thousands of people receiving a settlement and once the lawyers get their substantial cut, they just want to get it over with. So get the money out there the easiest way they can regardless of the inconvenience to the recipients.
Definitely a minirantworthy situation IMHO.
I do have a PayPal account which I hardly ever use, and it does have a link to my checking account, so maybe I’ll try that.