The "How's your Band holding up" thread

[FredBloggs007]

Ok, so I've got in touch with MS Support and they are taking back my Band for repair / replacement.
Do I need to de-register my Band from my MS account and is there anything else I need to do?

 

[Nate Silver]

Yup, here's what you need to do: https://www.microsoft.com/microsoft-band/en-us/support/phone-app/reset

Believe me, you don't want to skip un-registering. When you get to step 4, that's where your new band comes in.

 

[FredBloggs007]

Yup, here's what you need to do: https://www.microsoft.com/microsoft-band/en-us/support/phone-app/reset

Believe me, you don't want to skip un-registering. When you get to step 4, that's where your new band comes in.

Cheers!

 

[James8561]

Hopefully our bands last until band 2

 

[bassoprofundo]

Preordered mine when it was first available.

There is bubbling on the inner sides and the metal charging plate is pitting and developing bumps causing the charger not position itself correctly.

Otherwise, the Band is outperforming my expectations and the new updates are making it better and better. I'm overall pleased with the Band and hope that Band v2 will correct these defects.

I have the same metal "corrosion" issue on my on both sensors and am thinking of taking mine back under Complete care. I don't care about the look since it's never exposed, but since the metal started going, I've developed a not-so-pleasant skin irritation on both sides.

 

[uselessrobot]

I bought my Band less than a month ago. I've been wearing it daily, but primarily during work hours. I've been really happy with it.

Unfortunately, this weekend it started acting up. First incident I was wearing it and discovered it was dead. I assumed I had forgotten to charge it and did so. But then later that day and yesterday I found the thing completely off. Both times it came back on, but since then it's shut off and refused to come back on. Today I had it sitting on my desk between meetings and when I came back I was able to turn it back on, but after about 20 minutes on my wrist shut off again.

What I'm experiencing is exactly what I'd get from a device that's gotten wet. There must be some short somewhere inside this thing, mostly likely where the batteries reside. I haven't done anything more than going for walks with the Band, but I do sweat while wearing it. There's a small gap between the battery covers and Band so I suspect that's where sweat and humidity get in.

This is massively disappointing because I really do love the thing. I haven't had a problem with comfort or anything. That said, I'm going to return it. It's not even a month old and I'm already having problems. I don't want to bother with a replacement just to end up with another unit that will eventually fail as well.

At this point I'm going to wait and see how the new Band turns out at the end of the year. As good as the current model might be, I do feel now like Microsoft rushed to market. Some of these issues seem fairly glaring and obvious and probably would have been addressed had they given themselves more time for refinement.

 

[anthonyng]

I have the same metal "corrosion" issue on my on both sensors and am thinking of taking mine back under Complete care. I don't care about the look since it's never exposed, but since the metal started going, I've developed a not-so-pleasant skin irritation on both sides.

Same thing happened to me, but only on the inside. I thought irritation or shocking I showed a MS store person this and said I think maybe shocking me and they like immediately wanted to give me a new one. Didn't want to turn it on either

I think for most people, the band lasts 3 months and then various things start happening that is then considered for replacement.

What was interesting is that I was told the battery cover pulling open when the band is stretched a bit is considered a defect. I don't see how it can't pull open... even just opening a little over the wrist you need that.

While cool to get a new one, I'd rather not have to deal with it. Looking forward to band 2

 

[IamDefiler]

What was interesting is that I was told the battery cover pulling open when the band is stretched a bit is considered a defect.

Oh the irony...I was told by online support it was part of the design. I love what the band does but the execution leaves a lot to be desired. I am hoping the next iteration is dialed in considerably more.

 

[anthonyng]

...I love what the band does ...

I think this is the most important consideration... it works well, maybe doesn't wear that well but it works well If it didn't perform, that would be disastrous.

It wasn't until the band that got me interested in these types of wearables. Or I'm just a ****** and can't admit it lol :evil:

 

[TheArcaneFlame]

I've only had my Band since March but overall it has been holding up fairly well. I wear it almost every day with lots of cycling and then just general activity throughout the day. I've got a small amount of the bubbling happening on the metal parts as others have reported but otherwise it's holding up well structurally.

The one bigger problem that I had with mine is that moisture got inside of it during a bike ride in the rain. Here's the thing, I had a good rain jacket on and the sleeve completely covered the band so it was never exposed to the rain directly. Yet when I got home later that day I noticed that moisture had clearly gotten into the band as you could see some strange looking "water marks" within the display. It's like overlapping water blots that make the screen look weird. It's still readable and it still functions but it's annoying non-the-less. Thankfully the effect has lessened some over time but it's still noticeable and is not back to normal.

I never wear it in the shower and the it has never been submerged. It's only been exposed to sweat and ambient humidity and I generally wipe it down after workouts. I know it's not water proof... but it's supposed to be water resistant and I've seen it stated that being caught in the rain shouldn't be a problem just that it isn't supposed to be submerged. So I'm a bit bummed but at least it still works which is the main thing so I'm just hoping that it lasts until Band 2 comes out and then I'll replace it with the new one.

 

[FredBloggs007]

So I got my warranty replacement Band sent to me from MS (only took 6 days from when I sent my old one via UPS which is pretty good!). I had the original batch (I guess) bought in NYC in Dec 2014. This one came to me in UK from MS Service Centre in Germany and I noticed the outer of the Band has a slightly different texture to my original. It's got a very slight 'grain' to it, rather like a matt photograph. Perhaps they are fine tuning the materials within the original v1 batch? Anyway, I'm back to normal and now waiting for v2 to be released. It's also great to have a display bezel without any scratches!!!

 

[chuckdaly]

I recently received my replacement. I owned my Band for 6 weeks before the optical sensor started working only intermittently. I truly love the unit, but from what I am reading here, if I get a year out of mine, I will call it par for the course.

 

[FredBloggs007]

I recently received my replacement. I owned my Band for 6 weeks before the optical sensor started working only intermittently. I truly love the unit, but from what I am reading here, if I get a year out of mine, I will call it par for the course.

I got 6 months, so 1yr is above par!

 

[Chinocop]

Let me state that I can't recall ever buying a gadget that I've had to return due to a product defect. I don't abuse my stuff so I often wonder if people just trash their electronics and that's the reason why it's broken; however, this is the first time I've ever had an issue with something I've owned. I bought a Band in April and now my screen has completely crapped out after 3 months ... not a very good track record!

I work out about 5 times a week so I sweat a lot, and after a workout I will normally rinse the Band to remove the sweat as well as odor. So I don't believe I am doing anything out of the ordinary with the Band. Recently, I was having problems scrolling the tiles. It got progressively worse until a few days ago I couldn't even scroll. So I did a hard reset. That didn't solve the problem, then all of the sudden it started working again. Then I went for a run, and the screen stopped responding. I noticed when I tilted the Band I could see distortions with the touch screen. I wonder if it was moisture seeping into the unit. The straw that broke the camel's back was when I charged it and the screen just died.

I don't know what kind of use cases Microsoft put the Band through, but I don't think they were adequate. I am in China for the month, and it's very humid here. I don't know if the seal that they put on the band is enough to deal with human sweat as well as an extremely wet environment. If they just tested the units in Seattle, then that's not going to cut it. I don't understand how $20 watches can survive human sweat as well as water immersion and work without any issues.

 

[FredBloggs007]

You rinse your Band? Perhaps that's the problem? I wipe mine down with a damp e-cloth - I read somewhere that's the way to do it

 

[IamDefiler]

You rinse your Band? Perhaps that's the problem? I wipe mine down with a damp e-cloth - I read somewhere that's the way to do it

This!

You should NEVER rinse your band.

 

[FredBloggs007]

I don't understand how $20 watches can survive human sweat as well as water immersion and work without any issues.

You can't compare the 2 devices. The Band has a charging point which means the internals have to be exposed and it also has a speaker with a small hole on the left hand side of the screen. Both are areas that will let in water if you rinse your Band. Just wipe it down with an e-cloth - that's what I do after my workouts.

 

[Derausgewanderte]

more details about my thoughts on this topic are here. Bottomline: Don't assume people are mishandling their devices if this happens. I am getting my third one. MS is aware of this particular problem (quoting the MS rep I chatted with). My opinion is that it has to do with the composition of the electrolyte solution (sweat) that the metal surfaces get in contact with and it doesn't matter with what and how often you clean the band (My assumption is that everybody buying a device like this knows not to use aggressive cleaning materials).
I would have lived with this longer, but the charging port was not reliable anymore with the bumps and the sensor metal area bumps started to pop open with some dark residue coming out (like a disease).

 

[Cruzebe]

Have the also sweat corrosion on the galvanic thing where the contacts are , for a device thats is used for monitoring sports activity , that a big issue , I think MS engineers don't sweat I guess....

 

[Burchettjm]

I Reported this to CPSC (consumer protection service commission) trying to get it recalled, for the heartrate monitor metal pimpling/irritation. Microsoft is sending me my fourth band since the New Year, all for the same issue. Not a good product, too time consuming to set up for a flawed device that should be recalled. Microsoft has offered to extend my warranty for 90 days and also give me a three month trial to xbox music (whoop-dee-do!).