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!

Power-Naps by ZEN-MEN


Today it is Saturday here in Germany. Maybe you have had a stressful week, feel tired and now are trying to slow down over the weekend. This seems kinda unfair to me, using much of my free time to recover from the week. A while back I started to create Power-Naps by ZEN-MEN. The music and the woven-in brain tones are designed to bring you the relaxation level of a normal two hours sleep in 15 minutes. My friends have already asked me for a sleep-in only version of those Power-Naps, and I am working on that as well.

In Asia naps are widely accepted by society, it’s a sign that the person having a nap is looking consciously after his/her body and health. Latest developments even brought nap-shells to airports and official offices here in Germany. Use naps as an addition to a good normal sleep and actively transform a small amount of downtime to a 15 minute ritual for your body, mind and soul. Please share your experiences in the comments. Thank you!

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