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GPSR Life Expectency


rm17

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...I'd say indefinitely. I guess it really depends on how rugged a unit you buy.

 

I'd say the most likely candidates to have problems would be those with moving parts (e.g swivel antennas), followed by push button controls. As long as they keep their integrity so dust and dirt can't get in, I'd expect they should last quite a while.

 

In short, I'm not too worried about my receiver wearing out anytime soon. It's more likely I'll loose it.

 

George

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I don't know about the handhelds,but we have a perminent dashmount unit on the commercial fishing boat I work on and it has over 50000 miles on it.Oh and by the way the boats top speed is around 8.5 knots,that's about 10 MPH and when we are towing a net which is most of the time we go 2.5 knots.So this unit has seen a lot of hours of use.The brand name is Furuno,but I don't think that has a lot to do with it.Take care of your unit and it should last a long time. icon_biggrin.gif

 

fishin'fool was here!

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I agree with EraSeek that our GPS receivers are likely to last until newer models come along with enough features to make us want to replace them.

My eMap is now three years old and has over 16000 miles of use strapped to the handlebars of my bicycle in addition to all the time its been used while hiking, driving, kayaking, etc. But the bicycle use is probably the most challenging in terms of vibration and shock. It's holding up fine, but the lettering is starting to wear off the IN/OUT zoom and the FIND buttons - of course I no longer really need to read the words on the buttons anyway.

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Well, I have a Garmin GPS45 that must be 15 years old now thats still working fine. I then bought a GPS12 about 6 years ago thats still working fine and now have upgraded to a Garmin 76s thats about a year old. never had ANY problems with any of the units,except a broken ant. on the 45,which I replaced last year just for the heck of it so I could play around with my OLD school unit again icon_biggrin.gif

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Having purchased a Garmin 12XL 6 years ago and upon finding out you couldn't change the lithium battery for the internal memory I emailed Garmin asking how many years of service I could expect before the lithium battery went dead. Now this is only what he emailed back. The life expectancy of the internal lithium battery ( Which he said was approx. 10 years ) would out live the useful life of the gpsr. I thought that was a little odd but seeing as I had just purchased the 12XL I thought that in 10 years I would be replacing the unit. Well after having the 12XL 6 years I started having a problem with loosing all my saved waypoints and routes everytime I had to change the 4 AA batteries. Emailed Garmin again and they told me replace the 4 AA batteries and let the unit sit for a couple of days which I did but still the problem occured. After further emails to Garmin I was told to sent the gpsr unit into Garmin. They sent me back a factory reconditioned 12XL which was OK with me as I had thought my old gpsr was well out of warranty. I passed the old gpsr onto my son which is working fine and have since bought another Garmin, but that was my experience with the life expectancy of a gpsr.

sidewinde

 

LOST AND FOUND DEPT.

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quote:
Originally posted by EraSeek:

Till it is obsolete. icon_cool.gif


 

icon_biggrin.gif even obsolete ones still work.

 

I suppose if the manufacturers controlled the system (horrid thought) then "obsolete" would take on a whole new meaning icon_wink.gif. Aren't we lucky they don't icon_smile.gif

 

Cheers, Kerry.

 

I never get lost icon_smile.gif everybody keeps telling me where to go icon_wink.gif

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quote:
Originally posted by The Face:

Well, I have a Garmin GPS45 that must be 15 years old now thats still working fine ....


 

The 45 was/is about 1994 vintage but if it was 15 years old then one would have paid a small fortune for it icon_razz.gif. Even when the 45 was released it was still a small fortune at the time compared to today.

 

Cheers, Kerry.

 

I never get lost icon_smile.gif everybody keeps telling me where to go icon_wink.gif

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I have a Garmin II that I bought in 1997. It is in perfect condition and works but I consider it outdated and ineffective because:

It is an 8-channel sequential receiver. It takes a long time to acquire, is not very sensitive to sat signals, reacts slowly to direction changes, somewhat difficult to read screen.

 

Newer GPSrs like my Legend are much superior in most aspects. When your GPSr stops being considered as a useable backup, then the life expectency is over.

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I still have an ICOM GP-22 that was bought new about ten years ago and it still works well, although probably not as sensitive as the newer ones. It has never had any problems, and has been very handy on Rescue/EMS calls when the bird is called in to fly a patient out.

 

I am also using a DeLorme TripMate with a ThinkPad, and the TripMate has also been flawless after many years of use.

 

My newest GPS unit, a Garmin eTrex Vista, will arrive this week (the last I knew, it was en route via FedEx). Now that should be a great GPS receiver, and it is a lot more capable and portable than the ICOM, which I may keep around as a spare to use on calls.

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quote:
Originally posted by Kerry:

quote:
Originally posted by The Face:

Well, I have a Garmin GPS45 that must be 15 years old now thats still working fine ....


 

The 45 was/is about 1994 vintage but if it was 15 years old then one would have paid a small fortune for it icon_razz.gif. Even when the 45 was released it was still a small fortune at the time compared to today.

 

Cheers, Kerry.

 

I never get lost icon_smile.gif everybody keeps telling me where to go icon_wink.gif


 

I stand corrected?..I dont remember the exact year,but I remember rushing out and getting my 45 the first DAY it was avilable in town here.I'm thinking it was around 250-300$ at the time,and worth every penny for me.

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Most of the components in modern electronics are rated for 10,000 hours of lifetime. Some will last much longer, other will not make nearly that long. If you had a couple of million of each part, the average life time under specified conditions of use should be more than 10,000 hours.

 

Temperature extremes shorten lifespans of electronic equipment more than anything. Dropping is not good--but changes in temperature are what usually cause equipment to fail.

 

If you use your GPSr for a few hours a month, and don't drop it or expose it to significant temperature changes, it should last until obsolete.

 

Dave_W6DPS

 

My two cents worth, refunds available on request. (US funds only)

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quote:
Originally posted by The Face:

.... I remember rushing out and getting my 45 the first DAY it was avilable in town here.I'm thinking it was around 250-300$ at the time,and worth every penny for me.


 

A GPS45 here in 1994 was around A$1500

 

Cheers, Kerry.

 

I never get lost icon_smile.gif everybody keeps telling me where to go icon_wink.gif

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quote:
Kerry said: A GPS45 here in 1994 was around A$1500

 

Not knowing what the exchange rate was, that sounds like an awful lot of money. Hope things aren't as bad as that price makes it sound icon_smile.gif Over here in the US, towards the end of 94 you could pick up one of the old boxy Meridians for around $450, and the Garmin 45's were going for just under $300. By the fall of 95 I finally decided the gadgets were worth the money and jumped on the newly released Magellan 2000 for a sale price of USD $150. The retail price at that time was $199.

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