Why I changed from Jawbone UP3 to Fitbit Charge 2

Picture for the blog post "why I changed from jawbone up3 to fitbit charge 2" by Chris Remspecher.Why I changed from jawbone UP3 to fitbit Charge 2? Total CX fail.

In early 2013 some geeks including me bought 8 jawbone UP2 directly from the U.S. because they were not available in Germany at that time. Time did teach us, that the jawbone UP2 (or jawbone UP3) was not build to last. Some of the fitness trackers died right after a few months, others lasted 12-15 months. Back then we experienced customer support quality from very good to disappointing.

When the jawbone UP3 did hit the market, some of us gave it a new chance, some already changed the brand. Since I am generally a loyal customer and have understanding for early adaptors glitches, I did order an jawbone UP3. Most of the time I was happy with it. Based on my recommendations, friends and family bought 10+ UP3. People even asked me at the Emirates airline airport check-in about the band and my experiences.

Around 9 months later, the battery of my jawbone UP3 was bored and decided to change its capacity to only one day. Recharging the jawbone UP3 EVERY SINGLE DAY. I have better things to do… November 25th 2016 I opened a ticket at the jawbone customer support. The automatic reply already shocked me with “it will take about 4 weeks” until I get a reaction. I mean: what?

Being a ZEN person, I took it as an exercise in patience.

December 17th or 22nd still no reaction from jawbone via twitter or Email. Ok, maybe the holidays. Between Christmas and New Year, I called the customer support hotline in the UK I had from former incidences. The voice on the tape did say, all jawbone customer support requests have to be addressed via the jawbone website. YES! I did that already 25th of November 2016. Digging around in the web for information about jawbone, quickly showed it looks like jawbone is history. Read about it on my twitter if you like. So I exported my data from jawbone, logged out the app and deleted it. End of a fitness tracker episode.

My research showed the best fitness tracker for me would be the fitbit Charge 2. First challenge was to find the right size. Yes, there is a sizing guide from fitbit, but to me it was rather confusing than helpful. In the picture you see me wearing the fitbit Charge 2 in size LARGE, 20 cm = 7.9 in, which is perfect with plenty extension possibility.

What I like so far with the fitbit Charge 2:

  • solid quality and security for the fitness tracker
  • no piece of metal hitting the MacBook Pro
  • works precise for my needs
  • the app does a good job in configuration and customisation
  • battery life, so far, is very good for me. I don’t use notifications or quick view

What I miss so far with the fitbit Charge 2:

  • definition of deep sleep and REM in the sleeping data
  • the constant fear to loose the jawbone UP3

Hopefully this information is useful for you. Remember, a happy soul needs a healthy body to live in. Your health is really your true and only wealth!

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