+markp99 Posted September 10, 2006 Share Posted September 10, 2006 I was out caching today and brought along my digital SLR in my pack. I stopped at an old fieldstone castle in northern MA and set my pack down to grab my camera. My GPSr was tethered to my pack with a lanyard, so when I put my pack down the GPSr was lying on the soft grass. Apparently I STEPPED on my GPS and shattered the screen. Ugh! It's an eXplorist 500 and had provided 6 months of excellent use. The unit seems to still be functional, minus the display. The unit powers-up, beeps & the backlight works. There is NO text, unfortunately. Any suggestions how to proceed? 1. Does Magellan service these units for display issues? 2. What might this cost me? 3. Any value in this unit as-is to sell on ebay? Ideas?? Quote Link to comment
+BadAndy Posted September 10, 2006 Share Posted September 10, 2006 I'd contact Magellan and see what they say. I've no idea what it'd cost to fix or be worth on ebay. Quote Link to comment
Xlobsterman Posted September 10, 2006 Share Posted September 10, 2006 If this was a "GARMIN" unit, they would probably fix it for NO Charge!!! The best of luck to you getting it fixed from Magellan.........................! Quote Link to comment
+geognerd Posted September 11, 2006 Share Posted September 11, 2006 If this was a "GARMIN" unit, they would probably fix it for NO Charge!!! The best of luck to you getting it fixed from Magellan.........................! I would at least try calling Magellan. When they open up at 8AM Central time is best. My 400's display was damaged in an incident while under warranty and Magellan repaired it at no cost. I had the unit back in my hands within two weeks. Garmin may more consistently provide good service, but I will say I have not had good experiences with them. Believe it or not, there are some of us out there who have been satisfied by Magellan's service. My experience seems to be opposite that of everyone in the forum, regarding Magellan and Garmin. Quote Link to comment
Twister65 Posted September 17, 2006 Share Posted September 17, 2006 I was out caching today and brought along my digital SLR in my pack. I stopped at an old fieldstone castle in northern MA and set my pack down to grab my camera. My GPSr was tethered to my pack with a lanyard, so when I put my pack down the GPSr was lying on the soft grass. Apparently I STEPPED on my GPS and shattered the screen. Ugh! It's an eXplorist 500 and had provided 6 months of excellent use. The unit seems to still be functional, minus the display. The unit powers-up, beeps & the backlight works. There is NO text, unfortunately. Any suggestions how to proceed? 1. Does Magellan service these units for display issues? 2. What might this cost me? 3. Any value in this unit as-is to sell on ebay? Ideas?? I have a 200 and a 600. I went out with my kids early spring, giving them the 200 to use while we were out. I don't know what (if anything) they did, but at the end of the day, the display on the 200 was messed up pretty bad. It looked like it may have knocked against something. It would display about 3/4 solid LCD. As if it was leaking inside? (Do LCDs leak?) I called up Magellen, as it was just barely still under the warranty period. I explained that I had display issues. I didn't tell them what happened to it since I really didn't know myself. They gave me a Canadian warranty repair depot to call. I called, got an answering machine telling me to ship it to them, which I did. Within a week or two, I had a brand new (or possibly refurb) unit to replace the damaged one. No charge. Scott Quote Link to comment
+YuccaPatrol Posted September 18, 2006 Share Posted September 18, 2006 Garmin replaced the 60cs that got run over by a car. I sent them about 10 pieces and they sent me 1 piece back! Quote Link to comment
terrible2u Posted September 18, 2006 Share Posted September 18, 2006 that was kind of a bad trade.. you sent them ten, they send you one back?! Quote Link to comment
kdmeyer Posted September 19, 2006 Share Posted September 19, 2006 Same thing happened to me yesterday with my 210. It got under me while I was shifting around in th' kayak and when I pulled it out, there was a big ugly dark splotch on the display and little else, whether powered on or off. I sent an email to Magellan customer support asking for return instructions, so far no response. Have others had good results with email or is phone better? I really want to avoid sitting on hold on the telephone if possible. Also, before I broke the display, it was fogging internally along the bottom, mostly. Was using it in rainy and splashy conditions. Have others experienced this? It's encouraging to hear that Magellan is good about fixing these. I wonder if the Magellan display is more fragile than Garmin? I really like the Magellan user interface and antenna reception and have invested in the map software so would prefer to stick with that system if possible. Quote Link to comment
kdmeyer Posted September 19, 2006 Share Posted September 19, 2006 Update: after reading some other posts I called Magellan customer support this morning, got through reasonably quickly, and got an RMA number. Thanks Geognerd for your helpful posts! Quote Link to comment
+markp99 Posted September 19, 2006 Author Share Posted September 19, 2006 I called Magellan today (3:30pm EST) and got thru with ZERO wait. Pretty surprised by this! The friendly CSR guy (w/thick Indian accent) was able to get me the info I needed. The estimate to repair the damaged LCD on my 6 mo old eXplorist 500 is: $94.95. That's slightly over my pain threshold, especially since I just forked out $310 for a new Garmin 60CSx. I think I will go ahead and make the repair and either: 1. Keep the eXp 500 as a spare 2. Give it away to a friend/family member 3. Sell it on ebay (hopefully for more that $94.95 ) What would you do?? markp99 Quote Link to comment
kdmeyer Posted September 20, 2006 Share Posted September 20, 2006 1. I think I would choose Option 1. After mine gets fixed I will just make a point of not sitting on it again. 2. Where did you get a 60CSx for $310? Quote Link to comment
+markp99 Posted September 20, 2006 Author Share Posted September 20, 2006 (edited) 1. I think I would choose Option 1. After mine gets fixed I will just make a point of not sitting on it again. 2. Where did you get a 60CSx for $310? Ooops, meant $319 Amazon.com: $399 - $50 rebate - $30 new credit card promotion = $319 But then spent $102 on City Navigator v8 Edited September 20, 2006 by markp99 Quote Link to comment
+GrnXnham Posted September 21, 2006 Share Posted September 21, 2006 If this was a "GARMIN" unit, they would probably fix it for NO Charge!!! The best of luck to you getting it fixed from Magellan.........................! I keep hearing how nice Garmin is at fixing stuff for free. I haven't had that experience. I'm tough on my GPSr's I broke the antenna off my Garmin 60C twice--once on warranty the other not on warranty. It was $150 (including tax) to fix it each time. Granted it was my fault. I broke the antenna but I didn't get any offer from Garmin to repair it for free. The rubber cover that goes around my eTrex Legend tore and fell off. I just wanted another rubber cover. Garmin told me that it would cost $50 just for that piece of rubber! The Legend was off warranty but I still thought $50 for that piece of rubber was ridiculous. It still isn't fixed. I just can't bring myself to spend $50 for that piece of rubber. Sure wish I could buy a broken eTrex from someone and just take the rubber cover off of it. So while they did a great job of fixing my 60c each time I sent it in, it hasn't been cheap. Unhappy with garmin? No. Like I said, I broke the units each time they needed repair. It wasn't Garmin's fault. But no free repair offers from Garmin here! Quote Link to comment
+Train_Man Posted September 21, 2006 Share Posted September 21, 2006 Too bad its not garmin. I had a problem with a 5 year old software compatibility issue (this software is totally beyond its support time and hasn't been used by most people for ages) and they sent me city nav 8 free. I will be a garmin customer for life! Quote Link to comment
xrayeyes Posted September 30, 2006 Share Posted September 30, 2006 I have phoned and emailed Magellan at least five times to inquire about problems with MapSend Canada Topo software and no one acknowlelged my requests. I have a SporTrak Color and a basic SporTrak GPS model too; along with other accessories. Magellan has not responded to any of my enquiries. I simply asked to be informed of the formats required to import Excel listed waypoint into my GPS. MapSend TopoCanads "help" has a glitch it as far as I am concerned. I plan to buy a Garmin 76cx along with other goodies later this month. I've seen the Garmin product in action, and I am impressed with what is possible. It is much superior to my Magellans. They've lost my business. MapSend is out of date and I nobody is interested in responding to enquiry. It the shoe fits, ware it. Cheers Quote Link to comment
MedTexPlacer Posted October 1, 2006 Share Posted October 1, 2006 (edited) I would call garmin again about the rubber buttons. I called them and they issue me a RMA number and sent the rubber cover and some tape to waterproof the unit. My unit was way out of warranty. Edited October 1, 2006 by MedTexPlacer Quote Link to comment
kdmeyer Posted October 11, 2006 Share Posted October 11, 2006 Update: My Explorist 210 just came back from Magellan repair in Fort Worth. No charge. Took about two weeks. Looks like my original unit, I think they just replaced the display. Works great. All my data was wiped, but that's ok because I had backed it all up on the computer before sending in the unit; had the waypoints, maps, tracks, etc. restored in 5 minutes. So anyway I'm happy with how Magellan handled this. From now on I'll be careful not to place this gps between a hard-edged kayak seat and my butt as I thrash about putting on rain pants. I will be interested to see if this display fogs as the previous one did in conditions of extended rain, cool temperatures, and splashing. Quote Link to comment
Neo_Geo Posted October 11, 2006 Share Posted October 11, 2006 If this was a "GARMIN" unit, they would probably fix it for NO Charge!!! The best of luck to you getting it fixed from Magellan.........................! Correction: IF this was a "GARMIN" unit, it wouldn't need fixin' to begin with!!! Quote Link to comment
+markp99 Posted October 11, 2006 Author Share Posted October 11, 2006 Correction: IF this was a "GARMIN" unit, it wouldn't need fixin' to begin with!!! Ummm, I don't think my new Garmin would be any more "crush-proof" than my old Magellan. I am much more carefull handling my 600CSx when I put down my pack or when I lay the unit on the ground as I retrieve a cache and sign the log. Quote Link to comment
rwsmith123 Posted October 11, 2006 Share Posted October 11, 2006 If this was a "GARMIN" unit, they would probably fix it for NO Charge!!! The best of luck to you getting it fixed from Magellan.........................! The rubber cover that goes around my eTrex Legend tore and fell off. I just wanted another rubber cover. Garmin told me that it would cost $50 just for that piece of rubber! The Legend was off warranty but I still thought $50 for that piece of rubber was ridiculous. It still isn't fixed. I just can't bring myself to spend $50 for that piece of rubber. Sure wish I could buy a broken eTrex from someone and just take the rubber cover off of it. I'd call them again (be sure to call and not use email). Some cs reps are more generous than others. Quote Link to comment
+sbell111 Posted October 11, 2006 Share Posted October 11, 2006 If this was a "GARMIN" unit, they would probably fix it for NO Charge!!! The best of luck to you getting it fixed from Magellan.........................! If it was a Garmin, he might not need it fixed. On a few occasions, I've fallen while holding my GPS 3+ or V and landed on all fours with my GPSr still in my hand, face down against a rock and had it suffer no damage. Of course, I'm fatter, now so all bets are off. Quote Link to comment
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