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Well I'm Not A Happy Cacher :(


Team_Tramper

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Seems as if my Vista has a bug called "loose ribbon syndrome"

 

Constant horizontal lines across the screen making reading it an impossibility.

Quite common too I believe.

 

Anyone ever experienced this with an Etrex??

Anyone been brave enough to fix it themselves?????

 

Funny how these things always seem to happen just after the warranty expires :cry:

 

Arrghhhhhhhhhhhhhhhhhhhhhhhhh!!!!!!!!!!!!!!!

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My Legend does it as well, in fact has done it for quite some time. :) Seems to only happen on battery power, when I drive around and its plugged into the cars 12V its OK.

My quickfix is to switch the backlight on and then off again. The lines are mostly limited to the lower third of the screen so to date I could resist the temptation to bash it around.

Let us know what response you get from Garmin.

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My Vista suffers from the same sickness. I thought it happens because sometimes I do not use my suction-cup mount but wedge it between the dash and the windscreen. This could cause the GPs unit to experience some force on the bottom/top parts and thus cause the LCS display to make the funny horizontal line. But I have had it do the same thing whilst carrying it in the bush.... I just give it a twist and then it works OK again...

 

Will be replacing it with a 60CSx soon. Anyone know of any problems with these units ?

 

Seeker Two

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I had this problem on my eTrex Legend, and the 'good-whack-in-the-palm-of-your-hand' treatment was the order of the day. The problem I had was that the thumping had become more and more aggressive. I handend it in where I bought it, and Garmin or rather Avnic, fixed it for free. The unit was out of guarantee at the time. Later the problem reappeared. Then I took it to Kevin Bolton, and we did an upgrade to a Legend C, where I had to pay in the difference between a new Legend and the Legend C. So, point is : Speak to Garmin, they not like some other places that just ignore you. They really want to help.

 

Hope you have happiness.

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Will be replacing it with a 60CSx soon. Anyone know of any problems with these units ?

 

Seeker Two

 

Don't type 'Problems 60CSx' into Google. You might just reconsider. Most of the problems reported with this unit related to Elevation for Aviators. So if you do not intend flying with it, you should be cool.... :)

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Brick, apparently the elevation/aviation issue has been addressed in the latest firmware update. I come from a Vista background and I loved my Vista but since I started using the 60CSX there is no chance of turning back. WOW!!! One definitely gets the idea that the newer units are a logical progression. There are lots of little things that make using the unit easier and more intuitive and not to mention faster. It does have one or two snags but then again every unit has its issues.

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Brick, apparently the elevation/aviation issue has been addressed in the latest firmware update. I come from a Vista background and I loved my Vista but since I started using the 60CSX there is no chance of turning back. WOW!!! One definitely gets the idea that the newer units are a logical progression. There are lots of little things that make using the unit easier and more intuitive and not to mention faster. It does have one or two snags but then again every unit has its issues.

 

For sure. Just that a friend of mine does Gliding, and the man sometimes describes his CSx with langage that I cannot repeat on this forum. BUT, sure every unit has it's hassles. He just seems to be very good at finding them ALL in one flight !! :)

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Brick, apparently the elevation/aviation issue has been addressed in the latest firmware update. I come from a Vista background and I loved my Vista but since I started using the 60CSX there is no chance of turning back. WOW!!! One definitely gets the idea that the newer units are a logical progression. There are lots of little things that make using the unit easier and more intuitive and not to mention faster. It does have one or two snags but then again every unit has its issues.

 

Brick, apparently the elevation/aviation issue has been addressed in the latest firmware update. I come from a Vista background and I loved my Vista but since I started using the 60CSX there is no chance of turning back. WOW!!! One definitely gets the idea that the newer units are a logical progression. There are lots of little things that make using the unit easier and more intuitive and not to mention faster. It does have one or two snags but then again every unit has its issues.

 

The general consensus by the user community is that Garmin rushed this model to the market to capitalise on the opportunity of introducing a SiRF unit to the market. Look at any old models and you will see that most units have had numerous firmware updates in order to resolve problems. So this isn't uncommon and you can expect some bugs to be ironed out if you buy a "hot off the production line" unit. Buy it in two years time and there may be no issues, but then what would the latest model be.

 

Many of the gripes with the 60CsX are that there are bugs in the unit which were resolved with previous units, yet Garmin let these bugs slip back into a new unit. :) Latest Firmware release has resolved a number, including, reportedly, the issue with altitude. If you don't need an "accurate" altitude reading, stick to the 60Cx which has no barometer. There is already a new beta firmware release out, so expect a few more over the next year as more of these units are sold and therefore a larger community to discover bugs. Otherwise a great unit.

 

Back to the thread though. See this article on Shock-proof your GPS. Personally I wouldn't take this route, but hey, thought I'd share it anyway.

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Well I'll give Garmin a whiz but the Vista was a present from overseas so it wasn't even purchased in SA. Dont see why Garmin would go to any trouble if it hasn't gone through their books, and I can't say I blame them :)

 

Apparently the click stick and the ribbon connector coming loose are known issues that can be fixed quite easily if you are prepared to lose IPX7 rating and open it up yourself.

 

Time will tell.... I'll let you all know what the outcome is :D

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Well I'll give Garmin a whiz but the Vista was a present from overseas so it wasn't even purchased in SA. Dont see why Garmin would go to any trouble if it hasn't gone through their books, and I can't say I blame them :)

 

Apparently the click stick and the ribbon connector coming loose are known issues that can be fixed quite easily if you are prepared to lose IPX7 rating and open it up yourself.

 

Time will tell.... I'll let you all know what the outcome is :D

 

Sometimes less info is more ... simply contact Garmin and explain the problem (not the history of the GPSr). They will often, in the name of good customer service, just give you an RMA to send it back to them to repair -- many times for free. If it's not for free, they'll repair it at a usually reasonable price (actually, they usually just send you a new refurb unit and fix yours later and put it into the refurb pool for the next unfortunate cacher who has theirs go south -- or north -- on them)..

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Sometimes less info is more ... simply contact Garmin and explain the problem (not the history of the GPSr). They will often, in the name of good customer service, just give you an RMA to send it back to them to repair -- many times for free.

 

Not in SA I'm afraid. They pick up from the serial # that it wasn't purchased in SA. Even if you officially import a unit into SA they will not honour the warranty locally.

 

But one never knows, I recently had a similar debacle with a DV Cam and the local company is honouring the warranty.

 

So give it a try. Garmin is trying hard to increase its presence in SA, so perhaps they'll make their distributors play nicely.

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