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eTrex Click Stick cover keeps falling off


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My eTrex Legend has been sent back to Garmin twice in the last year for repair. The rubber boot covering the click stick just falls off exposing the stick mechanism. I am about to send it back for the 3rd time. It is out of warranty, but Garmin said the will fix it, no questions asked.

 

I wonder if this is a common problem that Garmin knows about and that is why they are taking it back. Anyone else ever experience the loose boot?

 

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Wow... either I am having some good luck with my unit or you're having seem real bad luck. I've owned my Etrex Legend for almost three months now with no issues. However, I've heard of several other people complaining about the rubber coming off somewhere in these forums.

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As much as I like my Legend, it seems that Garmin may have some manufacturing issues. While I have never had a problem with the stick, I've had other problems that seemed to recurr on a specific unit, maybe due to a flaw in the manufacturing process.

 

My first legend had a problem where the rubber seal around the edge kept coming unglued, which compromised the waterproofness, and also meant that the buttons along the side didn't line up with the holes in the plastic underneath either, making certain buttons very difficult to use (zoom in particularly.)

 

I sent it in for repair, and while the repair was quick and well done, the problem recurred a few months later. When I sent it in the second time, i had another problem which necessitated the replacement of the entire unit*. Since they sent me a new one, it hasn't been a problem. (fingers crossed).

 

-- Mitch

 

* They sent me a replacement unit that had obviously been another product return. Although they loaded my waypoints and routes into it, they hadn't cleared the unit since it had been returned, and it had several "other" waypoints, and until I deleted them, I could have told you exactly where the other person lived (in Illinois, near chicago), since the first thing he did was mark a waypoint called "001".

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I have a Vista, with no such problems, but I have played with a Legend and I noticed that the data connector was not as precise and sure a fit.

 

I don't know if it relates to your problem, but the semiclear sparkly plastic may not produce as sharp and accurate a press as the high impact material used in the original eTrex and the Vista.

 

You might consider asking Garmin to replace the front half of the case, as well as re-installing the boot.

 

Good Luck,

-jjf

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On my Vista, which I've had since September last year, the rubber along the side is loose. The glue isn't steady any longer, but flexible, which means that the rubber can slide around, even if it doesn't fall off completely.

An occasional click stick problem, when it didn't want to go sideways, only up or down. But that fixed itself.

 

Anders

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Since it seems more or less obvious that Garmin doesn't know how to attach the rubber around the eTrex line, I tried myself.

 

Where I work, we build precision machinery of various kinds. We have a nice workshop, and some of the machines we make are definitively world leading in their market. Making machines involves a lot of material choices and bonding and gluing.

 

So, I took the chance when we had one of the leading experts in gluing in this part of the country here. I showed him my Vista, with the rubber seal just sliding around on the soft glue.

 

Tss, tss, he said. Wrong type of glue. Now do like this: Remove the rubber, then clean off all the old glue. Use an alcoholic detergent, or technical petrol (gasoline). When you get as much as possible off, preferably all of it, just put the rubber back on. Then, except for where the buttons are, you apply a little, only very thin, of this, and he handed me a little bottle with something called Scantech Cyano XL.

 

The rubber is now rock solid on the unit, and according to the expert, this glue is water-, freezing- and oil resistant, but also flexible enough to be bent around 180º, which means that it will follow the possible stress that will be applied to the soft rubber, when the unit is used. It's also supposed to be heat resistant, so it will not melt away just because of being heated by the sun in the summertime.

 

I'll come back with a report after a while, when I've used it a little more.

 

Anders

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quote:
Originally posted by Alan2:

Anders: Where do you get Scantech Cyano XL? I cannot find it through a search engine.


 

Well, we have it in our workshop. "Scan" is for "Scandinavian" something, so perhaps the same thing has antoher name in other countries. Shall I investigate its properties better, and post?

 

I found that they do have a website, but there is no product information in English. Anyway, their Cyano XL product is said to be suited for gluing rubber to rubber, plastic or metal, which of course sounds good in this case.

 

If someone wonders about the ability to open the GPS for service, I can't see any problem with that. Under the rubber, there is a transparent tape, covering the opening between the two halves of the case. It also covers the buttons on the side. Since that tape has to be removed anyway, to open the device, it doesn't matter if the rubber sticks harder to the tape. You can hardly open the unit without ruining the tape. Maybe the rubber will be ruined, if you try to remove it now, but it seems that Garmin replaces the rubber after service anyway (perhaps because it often is loose and damaged).

 

By the way, after frequent use during the midsummer weekend, the rubber still attaches perfectly to the unit!

 

[This message was edited by Anders on June 24, 2002 at 02:24 AM.]

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quote:
Team Tecmage (R&T)

The rubber on our Click Stick also broke off. Funny thing is the thing works better now! Before, it was very stiff, and we both had trouble getting it to move up.


 

Well you are right the click stick is working more easy without the rubber protection..

but I think it will not be waterproof any more..

 

wonder what what Garmin has to say on this issue.. it seems that more units suffer this problem

 

Irresisti

N12º 55.475

E100º 52.865

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quote:
Originally posted by Team Tecmage (R&T):

The rubber on our Click Stick also broke off. ...out of warranty, we might just use it it as is, rather than pay $99 for them to overhaul it.


 

Per my original post, my Legend is well out of the warranty period. Garmin said they will still fix it at no cost.

 

Why not give them a call and see what they say? I suspect this is so common a problem that they feel obligated to repair them regardless of age.

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The rubber on the click stick hasn't caused me any problem at all. I don't consider the stick unresponsive either. Perhaps they've used different thickness or type of rubber during different production batches.

On a few occasions, I've had the problem that the click stick only acknowledged movement in the vertical direction, not sideways. But that fixed itself, so I assumed that perhaps some dust particle was inside the unit, preventing contact in one direction. It didn't seem to be software related, since frequent manouvering of the stick made it work again. Just like something was in the way, and then fell off.

 

By the way, the side rubber still fits perfectly. icon_smile.gif

 

Anders

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The rubber on the click stick hasn't caused me any problem at all. I don't consider the stick unresponsive either. Perhaps they've used different thickness or type of rubber during different production batches.

On a few occasions, I've had the problem that the click stick only acknowledged movement in the vertical direction, not sideways. But that fixed itself, so I assumed that perhaps some dust particle was inside the unit, preventing contact in one direction. It didn't seem to be software related, since frequent manouvering of the stick made it work again. Just like something was in the way, and then fell off.

 

By the way, the side rubber still fits perfectly. icon_smile.gif

 

Anders

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Anders,

 

Is the rubber boot glued to the outside or is it some how wedged under the case like a flange?

 

I can't tell as I already sent mine to Garmin for repair. But, the support rep said that they have to fix it (as opposed to mailing me to 10 cent part), as the repair affects the waterproofness of the unit. So, I am thinking it is somehow connected to the other rubber seal. Could you determine that when you had yours apart? Any thoughts?

 

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Notice that I haven't had any problem with the rubber sealing the click stick, only with the rubber band around the unit. So what is written below regards the band only, not the click stick!

 

As far as I could tell, when i had the rubber band off, the unit is built like this:

 

1. They put the two halves of the housing together (top with the display window, together with the bottom with the battery compartment.

 

2. The keys on the side are in the gap between the two halves.

 

3. They apply transparent tape around the unit, to seal the two halves, and also to cover the openings for the keys in the housing.

 

4. They glue the rubber band to the tape.

 

As my unit was, the glue was all soft, and only prevented the rubber band from being blown off by gentle wind. As soon as I grabbed the unit, the rubber band flexed and slid around, as if it was glued with wet clay or something. At the corners, there became openings, since the rubber flexed and became bigger than the housing, as soon as the strain from just holding the unit was exposed to the rubber.

I could easily remove the rubber. Its edges are just flat, without anything that goes under any flange or so. It's simply glued to the plastic tape under it.

 

So, I cleaned off the old, greasy glue, put the rubber back and just put in a few small drips of the new glue. Comparing my Vista to another, that's hardly used at all, I can feel no difference. Mine is as good as new again.

 

Regarding the waterproofness, I would say that as long as the rubber comes off as easily as mine did, it doesn't affect the tape under it. And the tape seems to be what seals the unit.

 

While cleaning the old glue, I tested on a small part of the tape first, to make sure that the solvent didn't dissolve the tape too, since that was not what I desired...

 

Anders

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Ok.. the stick is fixed.

 

How's this for service. I sent my eTrex to Garmin last Monday morning via courier. As I am in Canada and Garmin is in the US, it would normally take 2 days to get there as it must clear customs. Well, Friday morning it arrives back at my front door. I don't think I will ever complain about Garmins service. Plus, this was a no charge, out of warranty repair!

 

They have replaced the click stick boot, plus the wide black rubber band that surrounds the unit. The repair notes said the boot was torn free, so this would indicate that the boot was indeed attached the the rubber band surrounding the unit. Hopefully it will last more than a few months this time.

 

They also added 4 tiny strips of rubber to the battery cover. The notes say this was to secure some off size AA's that cause display problems by intermittent contact. This is a problem that I also had frequently that used to require a whack in the palm of my hand to fix.

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The cover on my click stick lasted about a week. I was intitially frustrated but have learned to live without it. My only real complaint is that without the rubber cover the click stick is quite difficult to operate with gloves on as there is so little friction. I use mine so much that I'd go nuts trying to find a time to send it back for repair, free or otherwise. I also have my doubts about whether a new one would last.

 

GPS is such a wonderful thing!

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It's now more than a month ago that I glued my rubber gasket. It became a little loose beside the data connector flap (I accidentially pulled the flap rather hard), but a new drop of glue there fixed that again. Otherwise, it fits perfectly.

 

Yes, I have used the unit, if not every day, so almost, during this summer month. For caching, among other things.

 

Anders

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