To keep track of my sleep, I wear a Fitbit. It was a Fitbit Luxe. When I bought mine, there were multiple versions available, and it was on sale, so it was only slightly more money than the Inspire I had at the time. I loved the shape of the Luxe. It was narrower than the Inspire and it had a pseudo-metallic bezel around it that made it look, well, luxe.
For months before The Incident (capitalization is intentional), the battery was becoming an issue. Instead of charging it twice a week, I was charging it every other day. I'd also developed a problem with it freezing. The only way to restart it was to put it on the charging cable, so basically, I just charged it daily. And I restarted it daily because when it froze, I didn't get any sleep data.
Frustrated, I looked at replacements, but the only Luxe available was hugely expensive. It was also a style that I personally didn't like. Then I remembered someone I worked with had bought a bargain brand. I found a knock-off that looked exactly like my Luxe for a fraction of the cost. I ordered it.
I hated it.
The plastic band felt cheap. Despite fiddling with the settings, I couldn't get the thing to stop from lighting up all the time, and my friends, it gave off enough light to guide the alien motherships into Earth. Not what I wanted to see in the middle of the night when I'm trying to pull my blankets up to my chin.
I went back to my ailing Luxe. Surely, it could limp along until new Fitbits came out and I could buy another (more affordable) Luxe.
Alas, The Incident buried that idea forever. I was sitting at the table, working on my journal, when I felt something weird at my wrist. I glanced down. The Luxe screen was hanging to the device by a wire.
I pressed it back together, but I knew it wouldn't last, and worse yet, the seal was broken. I wouldn't be able to shower with it on any longer. If I tried, water would get inside and kill it once and for all. I pulled out the cheap knock-off. Surely, I could learn to live with it.
No. I absolutely could not live with it. That thing was too annoying. It was also not accurate. As an example, I woke up one morning, checked it and it said I slept nine hours. Nine hours? I did a little math using the time I went to bed. Yeah, there is no way it was nine hours. This thing was delusional. It was Saturday, so I got up, had coffee, did my Spelling Bee puzzle, and as the screen on the knock-off happened to be on the sleep hours, it now said I'd slept 10.5 hours.
Coffee and a word puzzle counted as 1.5 hours of sleep!
And the damn screen on the thing will not stay dark. Grr. So annoying.
That was it for me. I couldn't take it any longer. Even though I wasn't particularly excited to buy a Fitbit Inspire 3, it was better than living with this knock-off brand. I also managed to land on a sale because it was Presidents' Day weekend. I wasn't excited about any of the band colors, so I ordered another band, too. Also, on sale for the holiday weekend.
I still like the looks of my old Luxe better, but I'm back to only needing to charge twice a week and no more freezing and restarting necessary, so overall, I guess I'm happy.