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IPX7 and my 60CSx


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Well, it seems that my 60CSx doesn't meet IPX7 specs, a few weeks ago while on a canoe/geocache trip, we got swamped by a large wave. I was able to limp my 60 long enough to get the tracklog downloaded, and looking at the info in it, it looks like I was in the water about 12 minutes.

 

The 60 was attached to a 'D' ring on my lifejacket, and it was at the surface of the water, and never went deeper then a few inches at most. (No where near the 3', or 30 minutes that IPX7 is supposed to be rated for.)

 

Now, I've had the unit just over 2 years, so I realize it's out of warranty. However, I thought I'd call Garmin and tell them about it, because at that point I'd never heard of water issues in the 60 series. I was thinking that maybe they'd say something like "never had that, or rarely, maybe send it in so we can take a look at the cause" or " we're finding that water resistance starts to diminish as the unit get older, and we're going to start suggesting the seals etc be replaced every 'x' years to maintain that spec" or something like that.

 

Nope, I'll I've got is 'too bad, send it to Raytech (the Canadian service centre that doesn't get too many good things said about them) and they'll fix it or refurbish it to 'like new' for a price."

 

All in all I guess all can say right now is that I'm rather disappointed in Garmin and the statements of what these units are rated for. It's a shame really.......

 

Can anyone suggest a comparable GPS that actually has a decent water rating?

Edited by greywynd
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I've not gone through all models from all major manufacturers...but I believe "almost" all handhelds are built to IPX7 specs; and not very many consumer grade models are built to better specs. Maybe a better way of saying that would be, a GPS built to IPX7 specs is about as good as you're going to get. Sorry to hear about your 60, though... :grin:

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Well, I'm just disappointed with the response from Garmin about it all. The 60 seems to be one of the 'standard' GPS's out there, and I've rarely heard of any issues. I would have thought their response would have been better. To top it off, the last rep I spoke with was going to follow up with a call to me, and that's been a day and a half with nothing. Even a quick call to say 'I'm still looking into it' would be better then not hearing anything.

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Well, I'm just disappointed with the response from Garmin about it all. The 60 seems to be one of the 'standard' GPS's out there, and I've rarely heard of any issues. I would have thought their response would have been better. To top it off, the last rep I spoke with was going to follow up with a call to me, and that's been a day and a half with nothing. Even a quick call to say 'I'm still looking into it' would be better then not hearing anything.

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I would say that mine received about the same 'treatment' as yours did Oz, and it's been splashed lots before during various canoe excursions and kayaking trips, also without issue.

 

When it first happened, there was no issue with it, it worked fine. It was probably a few hours before I started having problems with buttons not working, but it would still turn off and on. Eventually that quit too.

 

That evening I was able to take it apart, and there was very little water actually in it, small, small droplets in an are or two, and those being mostly in around the contact areas for the buttons. I suspect that it had got in around a button. I dried that out, put it back together, it worked for the rest of the evening, and part of the next day, when it slowly faded again, first the buttons not working, then it wouldn't turn back on after turning it off.

 

After getting home the next day, I took it apart, and left it apart for a couple days, again, fired up okay (downloaded tracklogs then) buttons worked, but it only lasted a short time.

 

I've actually been having one last attempt at it this evening, took it all apart again, this time I used highly concentrated (91%) isopropyl (rubbing) alcohol, and wiped the contact area and the backs of the buttons with it. It's back together a couple hours now, and seems to be working fine.....the test will be after it's left on for a day or two and I'll keep trying it periodically during that time.

 

Somehow there must have been either a speck of something, or maybe a mineral deposit from the water evaporating that was affecting it. If this is all i takes to fix it, I'll be happy. I also suspect that there's no way that a service centre would have done that for under $100, since they can 'work their highly technical magic' to fix things.

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Put it in a bag of rice... I did that for my wife's ipod and it cam eback to life. The rice soaked up all of the extra moisture. I know you say its dry but it can't hurt to try.

 

Maybe put it in the rice now and make sure its all good?

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Put it in a bag of rice... I did that for my wife's ipod and it cam eback to life. The rice soaked up all of the extra moisture. I know you say its dry but it can't hurt to try.

 

Maybe put it in the rice now and make sure its all good?

 

Another home remedy that works well to dry electronics is pure silica gel kitty litter (usually sold in grocery stores in the form of white and blue crystals) in a zip-lock bag or tupperware container. This is not the same as regular kitty litter made mostly of clay. The silica gel kitty litter is virtually the same product that comes in the "do not eat" desiccant packs used to keep food fresh.

 

You can even use the leftover kitty litter (tied in old, but clean socks) to keep drawers and closets dry in humid environments. Also useful to keep boating supplies dry.

Edited by Glenn W
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It appears that cleaning the contact areas with the high strength rubbing alcohol has solved the issue. All buttons have worked fine now for 48 hours or so. Next step, though not sure when, will be to take it out and do some field testing with it and see if it seems 100% or not.

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