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Garmin Montana Screen Repair


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Oh, from your posts I got the impression that the 62s was the holy grail...

 

The 62S is certainly the best Garmin GPS I have owned. But when I bought mine they were on sale at REI for $279. I wouldn't pay the current market price for one, and there is no other Garmin GPS available right now I would want to buy.

 

Why do you guys need to get all snarky and personal about this stuff? I don't like the Montana. That's no reflection on any of you. You are all welcome to like it or not like it.

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Why do you guys need to get all snarky and personal about this stuff? I don't like the Montana. That's no reflection on any of you. You are all welcome to like it or not like it.

 

Oh it's nothing personal, I don't even have a Montana. It's just funny to read how you're continuously and constantly bashing any GPS units out there. Nothing is ever good enough, everything sucks in some way, except for the 62s, which apparently was perfect. Just funny to read :laughing:

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Why do you guys need to get all snarky and personal about this stuff? I don't like the Montana. That's no reflection on any of you. You are all welcome to like it or not like it.

Such threads tend to end up this way. Some people perceive an attack on something they like to be an attack on themselves. It's just human nature.

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When I took my zagg screen protector off of my orgeon 450, half of my screen quit working. When you take to screen protector off it really pulls on the touch screen, it's kind of scary. While it didn't rip apart like to montana screen, I still had to send it in to garmin for repair.

Before I stick it on my Oregon 450, do you think a "WriteRight" screen protector is okay to use. I bought them for my iphone and ipod touch and used them but ended up removing them. Just a personal preference thing. But, they removed easy enough. I bumped into a fellow geocacher today, who uses an Oregon 300 and really wished he had originally used a screen protector as his screen was really marred over the years. So, I'm thinkin'....

I'm still waiting to hear if I can use my "WriteRight" screen protector on my Oregon. C'mon, guys!

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Oh, from your posts I got the impression that the 62s was the holy grail...

 

The 62S is certainly the best Garmin GPS I have owned. But when I bought mine they were on sale at REI for $279. I wouldn't pay the current market price for one, and there is no other Garmin GPS available right now I would want to buy.

 

Why do you guys need to get all snarky and personal about this stuff? I don't like the Montana. That's no reflection on any of you. You are all welcome to like it or not like it.

Not that I'm defending the Montana or the 62s (I have a 62s) but I popped nto a great little store in my neighborhood and bought a soft case for my new Oregon 450, which I'm still trying to get to know, but I had a look at the Montana. It's huge! I couldn't believe how much bigger it was compared to the Oregon or 62s. Too clunky for me. I'm trying to downsize.

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From this

I will have more to say about it in the future, but my initial impression is that this is by far the best GPS I have owned, and I have owned 15, all but two were Garmins.

 

To this

...it's now packed for shipping and sitting by the door waiting for UPS to pick it up Monday morning.

 

No hate, just funny how the mind works sometimes. The mental dichotomy of mankind.

 

Everyone is entitled to their opinion. Frankly I feel bad about your whole ordeal. However I'm one who subscribes to your former opinion. I just feel your being a bit hasty in your return. You know that as soon as you send it back they'll release a firmware update that fixes everything right? B) I might be one to hold out for just a few more updates.

Edited by yogazoo
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I'm still waiting to hear if I can use my "WriteRight" screen protector on my Oregon. C'mon, guys!

 

I am not familiar with that brand. However, the issue with mine wasn't so much using the Zagg screen protector (although I did not like the "sticky" feel when dragging my finger across it), it was with REMOVING it.

 

Based on my experience, I would go with Garmin's 3 pack of protectors that are designed for the device. Using anything else puts you in unchartered waters.

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No hate, just funny how the mind works sometimes.

 

It's the difference between the thrill of a new device and little experience with it and the disgust with the device after having struggled with it.

 

You know that as soon as you send it back they'll release a firmware update that fixes everything right?

 

Yeah, right. :laughing: :laughing: :laughing:

 

We're talking about the company that seldom gets a solid firmware release out until the product has been out for a year or more.

 

This is one GPSR I won't miss.

Edited by michaelnel
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Be really, really careful with the big screen on your Montana. Mine broke (just the thin clear plastic cover broke) while I was peeling off a Zagg screen protector.

 

I just got off the phone with Garmin support, and they want $160 plus my cost of shipping it to them to repair it. THIS IS NOT COVERED BY WARRANTY. They are going to replace one thin plastic sheet over the display (the display itself is not broken, and they are going to stick it to me to the tune of $160.

 

No more Garmin touch screens for me. The Oregon 450's screen was awful, and the Montana series is fragile and so full of bugs as to make it very frustrating to use.

 

Be careful with that fragile screen.

What was wrong with the Oregon's touchscreen? I just got mine, now I'm worried. Does Garmin recommend the use of a screen protector? I have other touchscreen products and I don't have screen protectors on any of them. All screens seem okay. I'm not a big fan of touchscreen per se as I don't really like the greasy prints I leave but I think the screens are durable enough to handle that without a screen protector.

 

I agree....I've never understood the need for screen protectors. I have a half dozen PDA's, couple dozen GPS units, phones etc and have never needed them. My GPS is carried in a soft holster and its either in the holster on in my hand. I guess if it was swinging from your belt and being dragged through the briars you might need one. In the swamps and woods down here my eye glasses get as abused as anything but I never heard of screen protectors on eyeglasses.

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I agree....I've never understood the need for screen protectors. I have a half dozen PDA's, couple dozen GPS units, phones etc and have never needed them. My GPS is carried in a soft holster and its either in the holster on in my hand. I guess if it was swinging from your belt and being dragged through the briars you might need one.

Any of those with capacitive touch screens require your finger to operate, and are typically glass. Those that you can poke and swipe with anything, like the closed tip of a pen, are resistive style screens, and the top layer is plastic. It's a shame it doesn't work the other way around - the resistive screens that can be operated with other than your finger are the most prone to scratching, especially when panning. If you get into my neighborhood, I'll show you a couple of automotive GPS units with resistive screens that have quite a few fine scratches and those tend to show up when the incident angle of the light is wrong. That's where it becomes a PITA.

 

In the swamps and woods down here my eye glasses get as abused as anything but I never heard of screen protectors on eyeglasses.

Only because they're not practical from an optical perspective. Instead, they upsell you with a scratch-resistant coating on plastic lenses.
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Ever since I accidentally scratched my Magellan 315 screen on a rock back in 1999, I swore up and down that I would never allow a GPS screen of mine to go unprotected. Since then I have had a few episodes of relaxing that promise I made for myself. Every time I didn't adhere to my own resolution I regretted it.

 

Once the screen is scratched there's no going back, it's scratched for as long as you own it. Even if every day use didn't place obvious wear over time (which it does), there is always the threat of swinging keys, an accidental drop, buttons on your jeans, zippers, and the zillion other things higher on the hardness scale than the plastic screen.

 

Once it's scratched, you can never go back. Eventually you WILL regret not putting one on.

Edited by yogazoo
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It's a shame it doesn't work the other way around - the resistive screens that can be operated with other than your finger are the most prone to scratching, especially when panning. If you get into my neighborhood, I'll show you a couple of automotive GPS units with resistive screens that have quite a few fine scratches and those tend to show up when the incident angle of the light is wrong. That's where it becomes a PITA.

Yup. I'm always very reluctant to put any screen protectors on anything, but will do so as soon as I see slight traces of scratches. The Oregon's screen doesn't scratch easily, but will under certain circumstances. In my case, it was a tiny grain of sand (is what I assume anyway) stuck to my finger nail when I used it to scroll around. Made a nice long straight scratch. The screen protector luckily covers that up now. If you never use the touch screen to scroll around anything, you might be fine, even though that would make it very hard to use the map fully.

 

But scratching isn't the reason why Michael here is complaining.

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I had a Montana 650 two years ago and accidentally dropped it. The unit was 28 days old at the time. The plastic cover over the screen was so brittle that it had shattered and came off in pieces. The glass screen below the plastic cover was intact. That unit had its warranty voided because of this. I had to have the unit repaired at my expense. I received a refurbished unit. I was advised to use the Garmin screen protector.

 

I have used the Garmin anti-glare screen protector on my Montana 650 without any problems until today. The screen protector has been in place for more than 18 months. Over the past month I had been having problems with the screen calibration and it was suggested that it could be the screen protector that was causing the problem. Today I decided to remove the Garmin anti-glare screen protector. This was a big mistake. I carefully peeled back the screen protector and was very pleased when it came off intact. I was shocked to find a thumb size piece of the permanent plastic screen cover stuck to the Garmin anti-glare screen protector. The GPS unit is permanently damaged.

 

I guess I will have to pay for another replacement unit. Definitely the most expensive GPS unit I have owned, and the cost keeps climbing.

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I guess I will have to pay for another replacement unit. Definitely the most expensive GPS unit I have owned, and the cost keeps climbing.

 

Did you save the screen protector? I would contact Garmin and explain that you were changing it out and what happened. Don't go in guns blazing. They are usually pretty good about taking care of customers. Just stay calm with them.

 

I fell on mine and owned up to it and they cut me a deal for half the cost of replacing because I didn't try to screw around with them.

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