Fitbit vs. Garmin in terms of longevity

My Garmin is starting to give up, but it's not completely done yet. For context, I got it in March, 2018.

I had my Garmin Vivoactive 3 since August, 2018. I wear it every day, 24x7 except when charging. I'm fairly hard on it (there are a few scratches on the case, even though it's pretty tough). It's been fine, though it's been giving me the occasional questionable reading lately (last couple of months). It may be random, but I'm considering upgrading, more to get more up-to-date functions than because of concern about that.

It's still charging up well, though it needs charging more frequently than when it was new. Even lately, I don't recall having charged it more than once in a day as long as I got it to full charge, though when I have it using GPS plus a HR chest belt for a long time period, it does use the battery more intensively, so it's possible I've recharged more than once in a day if I did multi-hour GPS stuff. (I do 1-3 hours of GPSing pretty often, without needing 2 charges that day.)

I need the chest belt for rowing on water or machine: Too much arm flexing in the activity, the wrist monitor loses contact, so I get weird HR results. For other activities I do, wrist has been fine.

I really like my fitbits, but they do seem to have a life that isn't much beyond warranty. I almost got garmin this cycle but went with the cheaper fitbit.

I started with the Vivoactive 4 about 3 years ago. Then upgraded to a Fenix 6x Sapphire in March of 2020. Gave the Vivoactive to a friend and it's still going strong though he doesn't use it for the tracking and just more as a smart watch. My Fenix 6 is going strong as well. Obviously if I track GPS and listen to music through bluetooth, battery life is dramatically reduced (down to 5 days if I'm lucky). If I'm using it normally and being lazy (not doing much exercise where I need the GPS) I get about 15-20 days on the battery. I'm very happy with my Garmin.

I've never had any issues with my fitbits themselves, i upgraded every few years because i went from the basic step counters to the smart watch versions, and found myself wanting to upgrade because of new additional features. I did however find with my most recent 'upgrade' (original versa to versa 3) that the original versa was starting to get glitchy with the app every time it updated and wasn't syncing as well with MFP. I guess a bit like with mobile phones, as they get older the updates are often more of a hinderance as they're not as compatible. This annoying, but i had it for approx 3+ years before i had this issue. I've never had a Garmin because i preferred the look of fitbits.

I have a Garmin Forerunner 45S that has been going for a little over 2 years. Wear it 24/7. My daughter is using my origianal Garmin that I purchased about 6 years ago and it is still working just great. I think the original is a Vivofit. I would go Garmin again if I needed to replace.

Also, if you are looking to train in running/cycling, Garmin is fairly ubiquitously supported by pretty much every training metrics site.

ETA: (one reason I didn't consider the competitors like Polar and Suunto at the time).

I've had my Garmin Vivosmart hr+ for 4.5 years. Has been sent for repair (free) once, and they have replaced the charging cable free of charge as well. Can't beat good customer service!

I am not going to claim that Fitbits have been paragons of longevity... cause I did have a charge hr, and a charge 2, and a charge 3, and a charge 4... and only the charge 3 which went to a friend (and the 4 so far) made it out alive and without at least one (in some cases more than one) in warranty (or post warranty converted to in-warranty) replacement...

but... there was a reason I ditched Garmin to go to Fitbit.

Maybe it was the "era" (2013-2014)? Maybe it was the fact that I went with a lower end device? Maybe that I was obese at the time?

But the heart rate strap worked for *kittens*. Support was non existent and un-helpful. The website was a sorry mess and the forums were moderated to the point of not allowing anything even remotely unfavorable about Garmin to be brought up. Sorry, but the Fitbit experience AT THAT TIME was incredibly more friendly and accommodating. The battery on the Garmin I had was amazing... and the screen non existent.

Obviously things have changed since then. And while Fitbit warranty service remains very good as an absolute value, it is no-where near as over the top accommodating as it was during the Charge HR era. The whole package however, including the price, capabilities, and compatibility of the charge line remain compelling for me.