Beating Fitbit at the Planned Obsolescence Game

About three years ago we bought a Fitbit Aria scale for $170 Canadian plus tax.  We had a scale that we had had for many years, and that still worked, but the allure of a scale that not only measured mass, but also calculated body fat percentage and BMI, and sent it to your Fitbit account wirelessly, was too much to resist for my husband who likes automated appliances.

I didn’t use it since I didn’t have a Fitbit fitness tracker, but at some point I learned that I could set up an account and use the scale even without the fitness tracker.  Over time, I came to appreciate the additional health information and the ease at which it appeared in my account and the trend graphs available in my account.

Unfortunately, the scale started to malfunction early in its third year, telling us to “Step off” when we were not standing on it and draining the batteries in an alarmingly short time.

I did a little research in the Fitbit help forum and found there were many people with the same problem.  Invariably, the answer from Fitbit Support was that they would exchange the scale for a new one if it was under its one year warranty, or an apologetic direction to purchase a new one if it was out of warranty.

This angered me.  It is an expensive product and should last more than a year.

For a while, when I took out the batteries and left the scale upside down on the counter for a day before replacing them, it would start to work again. However last week this technique failed.

I looked at the Support Forum again and someone had posted that they opened up their scale, and determined that one of the feet had broken, which caused the scale to think someone was standing on it when no one was. Fitbit Support warned that opening the scale would invalidate the warranty, but that isn’t much of a threat when the scale is out of warranty and Support won’t help. Fitbit won’t provide parts. The poster described how he cut a piece of foam to replace the broken foot which got the scale working again. Someone else replied that they had created a file for 3D printing the foot and had shared it on Thingiverse.

The Brampton Public Library has MakerSpace Labs with 3D printers which are available for free to library members.

We took our scale apart and pulled out the foot.  It looked like this.

The little arms that attach the outer ring to the inner ring were either stressed or broken.

We went to the library and the wonderful librarian staffing the MakerSpace helped us set up the file to print.  We decided to print two, since inevitably another will break.  About 45 minutes later we had them. The original in white, the replacement in red.

When we got home I took apart a second foot to determine how to put the foot back together and broke a second foot in the process.  How fortunate we had printed two.

I reassembled both feet, put the back of the scale on, set it on the floor and it wouldn’t turn on! So I opened it up again, checked the assembly, made sure everything was tight and this time, without closing the scale, put it on the floor.  It worked! I closed it up  and it continued to work.  I am very happy to have, at least for now, avoided the planned obsolescence of this product.  It seems ridiculous to me that something that is expected to be stood on, on a daily basis, by people who weigh up to 350 pounds, would have such a damage-prone part that is key to its successful operation.

I am still annoyed at Fitbit, though.  They could choose to sell these little feet.  Even if they charged a large markup and shipping, I am sure it would be worthwhile for people to repair their scales.  However, that isn’t what Fitbit wants.  They now have an Aria 2 that they want people to buy.  They have decided they will lose fewer customers by annoying those that would repair their scale, but can’t get parts than they will gain by having people buy a replacement.

Sorry, not sorry, to disappoint you Fitbit.