Garmin - A tale of woes!

Discussion about software such as GSAK, OziExplorer etc, as well as all things hardware, GPSrs, laptops, PDAs, paperless caching, cables etc
User avatar
solomonfamily
1700 or more caches found
1700 or more caches found
Posts: 238
Joined: 28 September 05 9:02 am

Re: Garmin - A tale of woes!

Post by solomonfamily » 23 February 10 8:14 pm

blossom* wrote:
solomonfamily wrote: Very happy with my O300, I had to get a screen protector for the screen which I scratched but other than that... happy to talk with you about it.....
Screen protector? That sounds like a good idea but where did you get it? ANd what's it like? Does it amke the screen a bit harder to read at all? I haven't seen that sort of thing in the normal "Accessories" section to date.
do you think life so easy! JA didn't have anything, others couldn't help got the answer over and over "na Garmin don't have such a thing...." tried to cut an iPhone one - didn't like the result.... anyway I was browsing Geocachingstore.com.au and looking at their starter deal that included an O200 and "screen protector" - I emailed them to see if I could order it separately - and they found a third party product, which I ordered and that is doing just fine...

User avatar
caughtatwork
Posts: 17015
Joined: 17 May 04 12:11 pm
Location: Melbourne
Contact:

Re: Garmin - A tale of woes!

Post by caughtatwork » 23 February 10 8:20 pm

http://www.octapc.com.au/category399_1.htm#429

$3.00.
I bought two and there was no shipping.

User avatar
Hoojar
5000 or more caches found
5000 or more caches found
Posts: 487
Joined: 26 May 08 6:04 pm
Location: The Gong

Re: Garmin - A tale of woes!

Post by Hoojar » 23 February 10 8:37 pm

solomonfamily wrote:
blossom* wrote:
solomonfamily wrote: Very happy with my O300, I had to get a screen protector for the screen which I scratched but other than that... happy to talk with you about it.....
Screen protector? That sounds like a good idea but where did you get it? ANd what's it like? Does it amke the screen a bit harder to read at all? I haven't seen that sort of thing in the normal "Accessories" section to date.
do you think life so easy! JA didn't have anything, others couldn't help got the answer over and over "na Garmin don't have such a thing...." tried to cut an iPhone one - didn't like the result.... anyway I was browsing Geocachingstore.com.au and looking at their starter deal that included an O200 and "screen protector" - I emailed them to see if I could order it separately - and they found a third party product, which I ordered and that is doing just fine...
We got one of these, and it works a treat!

http://www.invisibleshield.com.au/gps/garmin/oregon.php

We were so happy with it that we ended up getting one for each of our phones and iPods too!

User avatar
listmaker
700 or more Caches found
700 or more Caches  found
Posts: 443
Joined: 15 January 07 10:52 pm
Location: Melbourne

Re: Garmin - A tale of woes!

Post by listmaker » 23 February 10 9:19 pm

I second the Invisible Shield screen protectors - we've got them on lots of devices. The one on my 60csx has been there for over 3 years and it's still perfect.

User avatar
maccamob
10000 or more caches found
10000 or more caches found
Posts: 915
Joined: 04 April 03 6:37 pm
Location: Hoppers Crossing, VIC
Contact:

Re: Garmin - A tale of woes!

Post by maccamob » 23 February 10 9:35 pm

Just moved up to an O450 after about 19 months with two different C300s. The first failed with a broken USB socket after just over a year. Couldn't upload or download anything. We had a Garmin car power adaptor, so the socket had a plug/unplug cycle for each cache we found, plus the up and download cycles for each trip, so it had a fair amout of usage. Garmin Aust were very good about it, and I had not much difficulty getting through. A couple of weeks later, we had a replacement. I suspect it was a reconditioned unit as when I tried to register it, the site told me it had already been registered (but not to me). A call to Garmin quickly sorted that, plus the code to use the Topo map with the new unit. I agree that they should be able to provide the code without having to be prompted.

The replacement has only lasted about 4 months before it too suffered a broken USB socket (and after the first failure I was being particularly careful with the car power adaptor). I'm about to send it off to Sydney again. No trouble getting through on the phone this time either (had to wait no more than 5 min), and they were very sympathetic and helpful, so my experience on that score has been good. Perhaps the time on hold is related to time of day? I'm aware that others have had socket problems as well, so it seems to be something of an achilles heel for the Colorado. I hope the socket in the O450 is a bit more robust, but just in case I'll be putting the car adaptor away.

User avatar
maccamob
10000 or more caches found
10000 or more caches found
Posts: 915
Joined: 04 April 03 6:37 pm
Location: Hoppers Crossing, VIC
Contact:

Re: Garmin - A tale of woes!

Post by maccamob » 23 February 10 10:00 pm

blossom* wrote: Screen protector? That sounds like a good idea but where did you get it?
These Fellowes sheets (http://www.officewarehouse.com.au/items.asp?id=56915) are pretty good too. First tried them out in the US a couple of years back. Come in a pack of 12 over there, but not sure yet how many are in the packs available here. I've just ordered a couple more packs. Cut them to any size you want using the grid printed on the backing, so you can use them for GPS, phone, PDA etc.

PS. Local packs only contain 5 sheets.
Last edited by maccamob on 25 February 10 1:34 pm, edited 1 time in total.

User avatar
Richary
8000 or more caches found
8000 or more caches found
Posts: 4189
Joined: 04 February 04 10:55 pm
Location: Waitara, Sydney

Re: Garmin - A tale of woes!

Post by Richary » 23 February 10 10:35 pm

McPhan wrote:With my old yellow e-trex I experienced a very similar story to yours and had to persist just to replace the rubber trim. Originally told it would cost $180 - which was $50 more than I paid for the unit.
That's ridiculous. My old yellow eTrex trim died and Alex at Cartographics in Adelaide sold me a new one for I think it was $5. Eventually the eTrex gave up the ghost altogether (can't remember the exact symptoms now) but then again it was about 7 years old and had found a lot of caches.

Have never had to call Garmin so can't comment on their service, but have had a Foretrex wrist mount GPS since they first came out and a second hand 60cx for over 6 months, no dramas with either.

User avatar
La Kedi
6000 or more caches found
6000 or more caches found
Posts: 57
Joined: 03 June 07 8:34 pm
Location: Brisbane

Re: Garmin - A tale of woes!

Post by La Kedi » 25 February 10 10:56 am

Big Matt and Shell wrote: In December 2008 I purchased a Garmin Oregon 300 series with Mapsource and Oz Topo. It was purchased as our Vista C was worn out and the accuracy was going. I could be up to 10 m out of accuracy from a GZ compared to a new Oregon, Vista HCx, or a 76c.
Slightly off topic, but I didn't know that the accuracy decreased on these devices after time. I'm wondering now how long you can expect a unit to last, accuracy-wise, before it becomes significantly less useful for geocaching? I've had my Garmin GPSMAP 60CSx since Sept 07...

User avatar
Richary
8000 or more caches found
8000 or more caches found
Posts: 4189
Joined: 04 February 04 10:55 pm
Location: Waitara, Sydney

Re: Garmin - A tale of woes!

Post by Richary » 25 February 10 9:48 pm

I would be surprised if the accuracy decreased with age, perhaps the problem is that newer units are more accurate due to improved chipsets/firmware. So comparing old with new is not comparing like with like.

The only way to know if an old unit decreased with time would be to have taken a log of a known set of coords over the time since you have bought it (say a point in your backyard) and see if it has changed. That said I can see it might be possible if an antenna element was failing or something, but in which case I would have expected the reported accuracy to have gone down or something more obvious.

Even more OT, a recent cache we placed, the last two finders complained the coords were off by 4 metres. Well I have never had the GPS report better than 4m accuracy - usually more like 7. So what are they expecting?

User avatar
La Kedi
6000 or more caches found
6000 or more caches found
Posts: 57
Joined: 03 June 07 8:34 pm
Location: Brisbane

Re: Garmin - A tale of woes!

Post by La Kedi » 26 February 10 11:50 am

Thanks richary. Though it may be a moot point now as I appear to have lost my GPSr somewhere this week ;( so might be looking for a new one anyway.

User avatar
Richary
8000 or more caches found
8000 or more caches found
Posts: 4189
Joined: 04 February 04 10:55 pm
Location: Waitara, Sydney

Re: Garmin - A tale of woes!

Post by Richary » 26 February 10 9:13 pm

Noy good. Time to check the last cache you found? Though I use mine for work as well sometimes so could potentially leave it on a job (though I haven't yet).

User avatar
Big Matt and Shell
6500 or more caches found
6500 or more caches found
Posts: 1905
Joined: 11 February 07 9:53 pm
Twitter: BigMattandShell
Contact:

Re: Garmin - A tale of woes!

Post by Big Matt and Shell » 26 February 10 9:59 pm

Screen protectors, lost GPS's, might be time to get back on topic!

User avatar
winterdragon
3500 or more caches found
3500 or more caches found
Posts: 308
Joined: 05 March 07 9:50 pm
Location: Adelaide
Contact:

Re: Garmin - A tale of woes!

Post by winterdragon » 28 February 10 11:04 am

Image

User avatar
Big Matt and Shell
6500 or more caches found
6500 or more caches found
Posts: 1905
Joined: 11 February 07 9:53 pm
Twitter: BigMattandShell
Contact:

Re: Garmin - A tale of woes!

Post by Big Matt and Shell » 28 February 10 1:27 pm

Now that''s funny....

User avatar
maccamob
10000 or more caches found
10000 or more caches found
Posts: 915
Joined: 04 April 03 6:37 pm
Location: Hoppers Crossing, VIC
Contact:

Re: Garmin - A tale of woes!

Post by maccamob » 09 March 10 1:32 pm

maccamob wrote:The replacement has only lasted about 4 months before it too suffered a broken USB socket (and after the first failure I was being particularly careful with the car power adaptor). I'm about to send it off to Sydney again. No trouble getting through on the phone this time either (had to wait no more than 5 min), and they were very sympathetic and helpful, so my experience on that score has been good. Perhaps the time on hold is related to time of day? I'm aware that others have had socket problems as well, so it seems to be something of an achilles heel for the Colorado. I hope the socket in the O450 is a bit more robust, but just in case I'll be putting the car adaptor away.
Just received the replacement C300 (it actually arrived on Friday but we were away). Looks brand new, and once again no charge. Had to wait on hold to Garmin for about 10 min, but it was the first working day after the long weekend. They gave me a new unlock code for the Topo Australia to use on the O450. Very happy with that service.

Will load the C300 with OSM and it will now serve as a backup. The Car adaptor has been 'archived'.

Post Reply