Protective band on outside of Etrex Vista

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Sunshine Toledo
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Protective band on outside of Etrex Vista

Post by Sunshine Toledo » 03 July 07 9:21 am

The rubber around the outside edge of my Etrex is now loose, stretched and perishing as the glue has come loose. Has anyone else had this problem and what do I do about it? Should I try and send it back to Garmin for repairs but that will mean I won't have it for a couple of weeks? Can I just get some glue; maybe Tarzan's Grip: and glue it on again? It covers the buttons on the side of the unit so it is important

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Wingaap
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Post by Wingaap » 03 July 07 10:52 am

When this happened on my legend I removed all traces of the previous adhesive. I then wrapped double sided tape, being very careful to allow holes for the various buttons, around the unit. Once this was in place I then reattached the outer rubber band.

It held for ages ie until the geowife ran over it (the gps) with the car :(

The double sided tape in question is what I use in conjunction with mylar sheeting for encapsulating all my old photographs.

To save you buy an entire roll...let me know if you're interested and we can arrange a drop off/pick up of said tape.

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Post by Horus » 03 July 07 11:16 am

You can buy new rubber surrounds for the Garmins, and surprisingly they aren't that expensive - they even come with a nicely cut piece of double sided tape. Alex was kind enough to get some in for a few of us a couple of years ago - as mentioned in this thread - not a bad little repair kit for just a few dollars!

Where you might get one now is another thing - maybe another show of hands for people with dodgy rubber surrounds and a nice chat to Alex :)

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sirius Tas
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Re: Protective band on outside of Etrex Vista

Post by sirius Tas » 03 July 07 11:21 am

Sunshine Toledo wrote:The rubber around the outside edge of my Etrex is now loose, stretched and perishing as the glue has come loose. Has anyone else had this problem and what do I do about it? Should I try and send it back to Garmin for repairs but that will mean I won't have it for a couple of weeks? Can I just get some glue; maybe Tarzan's Grip: and glue it on again? It covers the buttons on the side of the unit so it is important
Had exactly the same problem not long ago.I used araldite which seems to have worked ok. A new band would be the go.Johnny Appleseed may be a good place to look...will email and see what feedback I get.Cheers

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Post by zactyl » 03 July 07 1:12 pm

If it's the same as the regular yellow etrex, I could use one as well please :) Left it sitting on the dashboard of the car in the sun, melted the glue I think. :oops:

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Keeper of Time
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Post by Keeper of Time » 03 July 07 1:25 pm

I have a similar problem with my Ledgend due to constantly putting into and taking out of a ram mount cradle. I will watch this thread for any other solutions.

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Post by Derringer » 03 July 07 2:32 pm

It seems to be a common problem with the Etrex series,
My band came loose 3 yrs ago, used superglue and hasn't moved since

Kevin

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Post by Facitman » 03 July 07 2:38 pm

I had this problem with the venture recently. In addition the rubber button for the "page" function broke off.

Johnny Appleseed got me a replacement, $10 including a new sealing tape (shaped and complete with holes in the right spot).

I took the opportunity to open up the eTrex and give all the contacts etc a clean. Fixed the regular screen fade that I had also been experiencing. (The Wiki has instructions on cleaning an eTrex Here)

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Post by Rogue » 03 July 07 4:29 pm

yep, my yellow etrex is having this issue too, thanks for the helpful hints on reattaching the band :)

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Post by RedPaw64 » 03 July 07 6:25 pm

Funny this topic should come up. I was holding my Etrex Vista and noticed the Rubber around it ,is getting all loose. I was thnking about glueing it, where it is loose, but haven't as yet done it. Lately I have also had the GPS just shut down for no reason.. I read some forums about that and it said the batteries if they are new can give it to much charge, and also vibration. but Haven't had it do it again yet.

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Post by McPhan » 03 July 07 7:07 pm

I contacted Garmin by email and asked about repairing the loose strip on my yellow etrex myself.

They wanted me to send the unit back for repair and would charge me $84 -.

I replied that it was a bit rich to ask me to cough up half the units price just to replace/repair the rubber strip. I offered to pay for the kit.

This reply came back "After confirmation from our Q.A. department, the rubber protective strip around the outside of the unit is free of charge.
We will send it to you for free and the repair manual. So please advise me your shipping address."

. The kit came (from Singapore?) a couple of days later.

Jessica.Liao@garmin.com is who I dealt with. (It was discussed in UK forums about length of time for replies. Persevere and follow up through the Garmin website if needed.)

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Post by Sunshine Toledo » 03 July 07 7:07 pm

Thanks everyone for the suggestions. I am going to follow up several of them but I will talk to Johnny A. first

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Post by feathertop » 03 July 07 7:43 pm

And I thought I was the only one with this problem. About 6 mths ago the rubber began slipping, then a few weeks later the 2 buttons on the LHS fell off one by one. Being a lazy sod I have never bothered to fix it and now resort to using the ends of pens to alter Lat & Long. As a result it takes me much longer begin looking for caches though the rest of the unit works as well as ever. This thread may finally convince me to do something about it, but first I just have to find a couple more caches...

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Post by solomonfamily » 03 July 07 9:29 pm

I am another one that has used the super glue on the yellow etrax. 6 mths on I may need to do it again at the top lip is starting to come loose again.

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Sunshine Toledo
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Post by Sunshine Toledo » 06 July 07 12:14 pm

To bring you up to speed with what is happening in my quest to solve the problem with the loose band on my Etrex Vista. I went out to the Johnny A shop and they referred me to the Garmin Rep here in Brisbane. They don't repair them here in Brisbane; they have to be sent to Sydney and that will take about 3 weeks as Garmin are building a new service dept, I was told and there is some backlog. Anyway, the man I spoke to is a new geocacher but hasn't been able to find any yet so we talked for quite some time about how he can find his first. Anyway, he is going to contact Garmin and see if they can send some bands up to Brisbane to be replaced here by them or even by Johnny A if needed as waiting for a 3 week repair of placing on a new band which would take no more than a few minutes is ridiculous. He is going to phone me back this afternoon, Friday.

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