My Fitbit Surge has lasted me 2 years and 4 months. I bought the large version as I am a man of medium to large build. It still 'works' as a regular watch but doesn't synchronize with the app on the phone via Bluetooth, thus making it 'useless' as a smart watch in terms of viewing your stats. I liked it a lot and did buy a replacement.I would recommend the $20 3 year protection plan by Amazon which you add to the cart when purchasing the watch. This is the one time I would recommend a protection plan for an electronic item as the electronic item for me failed within the 3 year period. I didn't think it was necessary to add the protection when I purchased it as I thought that the watch would work well way past the 3 year period. How wrong I was! Lesson learned! Below are some advantages and disadvantages of the Surge in my experience.Advantages ⁃ The Surge's heart rate monitor is pretty accurate. Some users have claimed that the heart rate is off but I have compared it with the heartbeat rate from the machine at my local Rite Aid and I didn't note a significant difference in the figures. If you are anal about your heart rate matching your doctor's heart rate reading, then strap a heart rate monitor onto the chest. For me, not having to strap a monitor is worth the effort. ⁃ The Surge's auto backlight which lights up when you tilt the watch towards you at night, really helps when you are executing your pre-dawn and post-dusk runs as you can see your preferred stats by flicking your wrist towards you. The backlight comes on and then goes off after a second or two. I prefer this feature to having the backlight on all the time. ⁃ GPS functionality is a plus and the Surge has a very accurate GPS monitor. This is especially true for long races like the full marathon. In big cities, you will be in areas where the network is spotty or non-existent, running in tunnels and so on. I have compared the chip times of my races and the times registered by the Surge and the Surge times are the most accurate. Giving me similar times to the times on the official tracker smart-chip on the runner's bib is totally worth it. I use The Runkeeper app and WalkJogRun app on my phone and the Fitbit Surge displays the most accurate times and more importantly, distances. Sometimes, those other apps are off by a lot! ⁃ Once you determine your goal of the day (say 10,000 steps a day) when the watch detects your goal achievement, it beeps and displays the achievement on the screen (10,000 steps) ⁃ When running, depending on your settings, you can be able to see your average pace per mile every mile you run, your distance and time as cues that you choose. You can also choose what is to be shown on the display, for example pace, average pace, heart rate, calories burned, steps and clock (actual time) When I do night runs, the clock display in addition to my other stats lets me know that I should turn around and go back home if I want to be back home by a certain time, say 9.30 pm or 10.00 pm while out on the run. ⁃ It can be worn at all times and seems to blend in with casual, formal and active wear. It's not bulky looking like those Garmins out there and its black color blends in with all sorts of colors. ⁃ There is an app called 'DriveBit Free' on the App Store that you use to eliminate any 'steps' that may be inadvertently recorded while you are driving or in my case, lawn mowing. ⁃ I use it in conjunction with the Greatfine Anti Dust Plug for fitbit surge (10 Pairs) also sold here on Amazon. The anti-dust plugs help in preventing sweat from going into the metal points that the Fitbit Surge connector attaches to the smart watch itself. If you don't use it, the sweat, if not cleaned all the time after a workout session, corrodes the connectors over time and you will have a hard time connecting the cable to the watch and you might think that the watch has failed. I cleaned the connectors with isopropyl alcohol but I wish I had known about the anti-dust plugs from the very beginning. I now use the anti-dust plugs from the get go on my Fitbit replacement. ⁃ I used the Qibox screen protector to protect the Surge screen and it worked great and I would recommend it as a valuable accessory. ⁃ The Fitbit community is another area where the Fitbit Surge excels. It is a 'social media' platform where you 'make friends', usually people you know and acquaintances, who own a Fitbit, any type and you are able to compare your daily steps. You will be able to see who among your Fitbit friends has more or less steps than you on a 7 day aggregate. There are also various challenges, 'goal day', 'daily showdown', 'workweek hustle' and 'weekend warrior' that involve your Fitbit friends and friends of your friends on a step aggregating competition. You are just able to see the total number of steps that your competitors are taking and not the actual activity, running, elliptical, weightlifting, spinning, cycling etc etc that they are engaging in. You know the general stats (steps) but you have privacy with regard to your own workouts. ⁃ The Surge is excellent as it incorporates various activities. There is the common one, running and exercise (hike, weights, elliptical, spinning, yoga, workout and cycling) Free running uses the GPS monitor to track your running and you start and stop your running activity (unlike other surges that figure out that you are engaging in running and give you the results on the app.) It also has a timer, an alarm that needs to be set up in the Fitbit desktop account. ⁃ It's useful and accurate when cycling. ⁃ When you receive a voice phone call or text message on your actual phone, the Fitbit Surge shows the number of the caller and buzzes to alert you of the phone call. For text messages, the person texting you and the message will scroll on the Surge at the same time the message gets to your phone. ⁃ Once you complete your workouts, the Surge uses Bluetooth to synchronize (synch) the stats to your Fitbit app. You can choose to manually synch the workout results or have the Surge synch automatically via Bluetooth. Your choice.Disadvantages. ⁃ The disadvantages kick in when the device gets older. Since it is an electronic device, I suggest that you buy the 3 year protection plan from Amazon (via Asurion) for only $20 if you feel that you need to have it protected for any malfunction. The Fitbit factory warranty is only 1 (one) year and it is not enough to protect the Surge, especially since the Surge will rarely fail in the first year. Fitbit will give you a discount to purchase your replacement phone (I think it is 25%, quite generous I would add) if it fails after the 1 year warranty is over. The $20 for 3 years protection plan is the way to go. ⁃ In its 2nd year, the battery would drain quickly and I would be lucky to get more that 24 hours. I would have to charge it every night to avoid this. A factory reset solved the problem for a couple of months but the battery started draining fast again and I was content with charging it daily until it stopped synching with the app. ⁃ It would occasionally stop synching and you wouldn't realize it until a day or a couple of days later. A factory reset would solve this problem for a few months but it stopped synching altogether and any activities recorded by the watch were not transferred to the app, meaning that the activities were lost and not recorded. ⁃ It wouldn't give me the backlight when I went on my night runs, after 2 years of service and I learned to live with this. It can be a bit annoying if you are used to it as in the dark without light, the watch becomes useless for instant checking of stats until you get to a lighted place. ⁃ Fortunately for me, the straps held on but I know of a friend who had his watch replaced after a few months due to the strap wearing out where the little torx screws attach the strap to the watch itself. ⁃ It does dull over time from its rich matte color but you get used to it. The rubber peels of somewhat but I am the kind of guy who does everything while the watch is on me. A person who works in an office will not have all these wear and tear problems.Overall, I would recommend it. Make sure you add the $20 protection for 3 years. Totally worth it!