Well after a couple years of faithful service, my eTrex Vista GPS finally recorded its last waypoint. I called Garmin to see about a repair (out of warranty of course) and they quoted me a flate rate of $125, about $25 less than a new one on Amazon. Naturally I didn’t take the offer but I’m faced with a quandary – what do I do with a broken GPS unit?
I inquired about recycling but Garmin wasn’t interested in taking back their broken junk. If the repair would have cost $50 or so I would have done it since I could use a backup but these days things are just cheaper to repair than to replace. Anyone have any ideas? Any way to use the components in some kind of mad scientist-style GPS tracking device? That would be sweet…
3 Comments
Mar 16, 2007
A couple weeks ago the screen would flicker between normal and fully black (i.e. every pixel filled in). If I tapped it the screen would go back to normal for a bit, then back to black. Recently, instead of a fully black screen it would show horizontal lines (sometimes by themselves, sometimes cutting through a navigation screen). Finally, today, it wouldn't even turn on despite trying some Jedi Garmin trick the guy on the phone suggested (holding down the page, enter, and power button simultaneously for 3 sec). I feel like it could be some kind of power issue but I'm no electrical engineer (though I DO have a degree in CIVIL engineering ;) )
Mar 16, 2007
Don't forget to snap a few pictures.
Oh, and there's always a re-enactment of the "PC Load Letter" revenge from Office Space.
Seriously, what broke? The screen? The antenna? Can you still see connectivity when connected to a computer? If it's the screen you can still use it as a backup to record tracks or as a tracking unit connected to a laptop.
Mar 24, 2007
Mine got carried off in the woods by my dog, left there for about 1 month then found.
It located satellites at first, but the buttons did not work, now the buttons work, the compass and all screens come up, but it refuses to locate any satellites. :(
Not to say that I am dissapointed with it, it has been dropped on the highway at 50 mph, had a brief dunking in the lake, sat on, stepped on, dropped numerous times, and up until the dog episode, worked wonderfully. Garmin's repair policy dissapointed me as well, so I dove on in! I have taken mine apart 4 times now, tried resoldering the antenna to no avail. It still works as well as it did before I took it apart, but still no satellite reception.