Hinge Thunder

I want what my wife paid for, and I don't want to have to pay extra shipping to get what Garmin should have delivered in the first place. It is interesting how people keep posting how they dropped their GPS or thier GPS broke after using it for a while, etc. I didn't drop mine, or misuse it it anyway....I never used it at all. It came brand new missing a nessesary part. Also thank you all for the suggestions of shoving a paperclip in there...wouldn't something like that void the warranty? It would seem to be pretty stupid to void the warranty on a brand new item.

On the off-chance that someday I can't find a cache, I will let you know. I called Garmin this morning, and they are sending me the part that they forgot to install, and didn't notice was missing when they inspected it (I assume they have some sort inspection, but maybe I am giving them too much credit.) Fortunatly I didn't have to get tough with them.

I will find some way to exchange it some place, then proceed to post anywhere and everywhere every detail of my experience with Garmin.

They can go to hell before I spend $10 shipping to get the unit fixed due to their mistake!

Thanks Team DEMP. That is exactly the part I am missing. Though the part isn't there, it is pretty obvious what the part is as there is the little slot for the straight part of the wire to fit in, and the two nubs (one metal, one plastic) for the coils to fit around. I am hoping they will overnight the piece to me. I am going on vacation in a few weeks, and will be doing a lot of driving. It will be nice to have. And it would be nice to get used to the unit before-hand.

Yeah, that was a real tragedy. But apparently you don't understand the difference between 'an act of God' and the incompetence of Garmin.

Yes I did put batteries in there, and nothing. Unless the plastic door is magically a conductor, there is no circuit. You get two batteries on each side that make contacts at the bottom of the battery well, but nothing at the top. Even the drawing in the manual shows springs or coils on the door.

We shall see. I will call them tomorrow morning first thing (8am CST). I better not get stuck with return shipping to get this thing fixed!

I have or have had several other GPS units and none of them had the conductors on the battery compartment door either, but then they opened from the back, and not from the end (the Garmin V opens from the end).

Yeah, but it was MY GPS. Merry Christmas, heres a broken toy from Garmin! And if Garmin's customer support is so good, why do I have to wait till monday! Frankly this whole situation sucks! I have to wait till Monday before I can even find out what the options are. I think should next day me a new unit, but I doubt they will. The best scenerio that I can think of actually happening would be they next day me the missing part (hopefully nothing else is missing or broken!!). But I am not going to hold my breath for a quick and easy resolution. If Magellan made an equivalent unit, I would seriously be looking at that right now. I just hope thier customer service is better then thier quality control. I mean I have a dead unit because someone forgot to put in a small spring and then no one noticed that the spring was missing. I have two hundred plus dollar unit that is dead because it is missing 1 cent part!

Yeah, I get to pay for return shipping! I am getting more ticked off by the moment!

I hate to see Amazon take the hit when it is Garmin that screwed up. Then the time element as to when I will have a working unit. I also on not looking forward to trying to repackage the thing to ship back. *GRUMBLE* Not pleased with Garmin at this moment!

I got a Garmin V with the City Select CD and unlock. Unfortunatly the GPS is missing a small spring battery connector form the battery compartment so it is is non-functional. Don't know how long it will take to get the unit up.

I got a brand new Garmin V for Christmas. I was excited as I was opening the box, and starting to get the unit set up. I opened the battery door to put the batteries in and was looking for the symbols as to which way to insert them. It was then I noticed the little spring conductor that is supposed to be on the battery door was missing. I looked in the battery compartment to see if it fell in. Looked around on the floor to see if it fell out. It is just not there. So I have a expensive paperweight at this point because of a missing part that cost probably a penny!!!! *GGGRRRRRR* Now I have to figure out how to get the thing fixed. My wife bought it at Amazon, so I can't just take it to the local store and exchanged it, and I don't particularly want to send it back and wait for month for the round trip shipping. I will call Garmin first thing Monday morning and find out what to do.

quote:Originally posted by GeoStars:I can get a suit to dress up like the Swamp Thing, a book on planning and installing booby traps (for historical reference only, of course), even chain mail armor! Not sure what I'd do with any of these things but it's good to know they're out there... GeoMedic - team leader of GeoStars Actually these things have come in handy. The booby traps books were very helpfull for placing my Warlord's Treasure Cache. The couple deadfall traps, and the pitfall trap in the cache area alone merit the 5/5 rating. But the fun didn't end there. I got a really cool mail order catalog from a small Israeli company that really gave me what I needed to put the cache over the top. *JUST KIDDING* In the GPS model of the universe, the shortest distance between two points is a straight line...through creeks, thorn bushes, horse piles, whatever....

quote:Originally posted by Dekaner: After finding your caches at the Rochester get together, I'd say that you 'camo your boxes' is an understatement!! - Dekaner of Team KKF2A Thanks for the complement! hehehe In the GPS model of the universe, the shortest distance between two points is a straight line...through creeks, thorn bushes, horse piles, whatever....

quote:Originally posted by Dekaner: After finding your caches at the Rochester get together, I'd say that you 'camo your boxes' is an understatement!! - Dekaner of Team KKF2A Thanks for the complement! hehehe In the GPS model of the universe, the shortest distance between two points is a straight line...through creeks, thorn bushes, horse piles, whatever....

quote:a xacto knife to cut the stencil out, and after I camo paint my cans, I use 2 colors of hi vis paint for the stencils (Dayglo Orange and Chartreuce) Ummm...you paint the cans camo to hide them, but then paint the lettering on in dayglo...I am not sure if I get the point of the camo? I generally camo my boxes, then paint on the lettering in slightly different color such as Hunter Green over Black/Brown/Olive Drab, so that it is readable if found, but still hides well. In the GPS model of the universe, the shortest distance between two points is a straight line...through creeks, thorn bushes, horse piles, whatever....

quote:a xacto knife to cut the stencil out, and after I camo paint my cans, I use 2 colors of hi vis paint for the stencils (Dayglo Orange and Chartreuce) Ummm...you paint the cans camo to hide them, but then paint the lettering on in dayglo...I am not sure if I get the point of the camo? I generally camo my boxes, then paint on the lettering in slightly different color such as Hunter Green over Black/Brown/Olive Drab, so that it is readable if found, but still hides well. In the GPS model of the universe, the shortest distance between two points is a straight line...through creeks, thorn bushes, horse piles, whatever....

Okay Smithdw, if that is your REAL name! Your explaination sounds convincing, but how do you explain that shadowy figure in the grassy knoll? Hmmm? Tell me that! hehehehe In the GPS model of the universe, the shortest distance between two points is a straight line...through creeks, thorn bushes, horse piles, whatever....

Okay Smithdw, if that is your REAL name! Your explaination sounds convincing, but how do you explain that shadowy figure in the grassy knoll? Hmmm? Tell me that! hehehehe In the GPS model of the universe, the shortest distance between two points is a straight line...through creeks, thorn bushes, horse piles, whatever....

I think what you are seeing that makes you think it is faked, it that the lighting on the hand, doesn't match the lighting in the background scene. He had the flash on the camara on, and this is the effect you get. That shadow under the GPS is probably a car parked on the street that is hidden behind the GPS. In the GPS model of the universe, the shortest distance between two points is a straight line...through creeks, thorn bushes, horse piles, whatever....

On the contrary! Eat more red meat. Red meats have the best proportions of amino acids to give you the energy you need to hunt those difficult caches! Avoid vegitarians, as they tend to bend GPS signals...and legs. In the GPS model of the universe, the shortest distance between two points is a straight line...through creeks, thorn bushes, horse piles, whatever....

quote:Originally posted by ponyboy93: Hope this works! See above for explanation. http://webpages.charter.net/ponyboy93/geoAmmo4.jpg ponyboy [This message was edited by ponyboy93 on May 17, 2002 at 09:59 PM.] Nice, if the gravel in the background is like the place it's going to be hidden, you might have tried painting on a pattern that resembled more closely the small stones. The pattern you used stands out. I have played with the idea of going to the site where I plan to hide a cache, and taking a picture, and then custom painting a box to match the spot, whether it be grass, or branches, or rocks, etc. In the GPS model of the universe, the shortest distance between two points is a straight line...through creeks, thorn bushes, horse piles, whatever....

quote:Originally posted by Eric Egan: The yellow eTrex does NOT have a compass. (See page 12, left margin of the owners manual) The screen that looks like a compass is just the “Pointer” screen. And you must be moving for it to work. NO DUH!! When he said compass, he was talking about the pointer (which is laid out like a compass). I personally have experienced what he was talking about. As you are walking toward the cache, and the distance is dropping, yet the pointer is pointing back the direction you are coming from, not toward the destination as usual. As I said previously, this usually happens when the batteries are getting low. I have replaced the batteries, and the problem goes away. It didn't happen often, but it did happen. In the GPS model of the universe, the shortest distance between two points is a straight line...through creeks, thorn bushes, horse piles, whatever....