Hi Andrew, Emilis' Garmin 12XL is showing a diagnostic saying something like 'internal battery low' as well. Something like 3-4 years.
Sounds like a production issue. But here's the potentially good news. We just logged a query with Garmin technical support about the unit, and they got back to us and told us how to get it replaced free of charge, if feeding the unit new batteries and leaving it off for a few days didn't cure it. You might want to consider doing the same. As I own an organisation that lives or dies on customer service, I appreciate, perhaps more than some, how frustrating it is to be damned in public before one is asked, in private, to just fix the problem. Because when people ask a good organisation for help, they get it, regardless of the nominal warranty period. I know it's the great Australian way to presume that people you buy things from don't give a stuff about you, and I wish it wasn't the great Australian way. Have you tried asking Garmin for assistance with this? You might find that they're just as happy to replace your unit as they seem to be to replace Emilis' one. We just filled in this form: http://www.garmin.com/contactUs/techSupport.html And explained the error message we get on power-on, and asked for help. They offered (despite their one year warranty) to replace the unit if the error didn't go away after putting in a new set of batteries. So my experience, and opinion, of Garmin, is the precise opposite of yours, as a result of exactly the same initial fault. Cheers, Simon At 12:37 PM +0930 26/10/01, ANDREW WRIGHT wrote: >Dear All > I think I have just been stung badly and would like to pass this info >onto users or potential users of GARMIN handheld GPS. > GARMIN handheld GPS have an internal lithium backup battery in >them that is kept charged by the main power batteries ( usually 4 X AAs). >This internal battery maintains the waypoints etc when the unit is turned off >and the main batteries are less than fully charged or removed. When this >internal battery dies, which it is designed to do after about 10 years, you >throw the whole bloody GPS out the window!!! This is because the internal >battery is sealed in place and CAN NOT be replaced. > How crazy is that !!! Like scraping your car because the ash tray >is full! I expected to be able to use my GARMIN 12XL for a lot more than >10 years ! > As my GARMIN 12XL internal battery has just died (after only 4 >years I might add), I will definitely not be buying another GARMIN. I would >rather spend more on something that is serviceable and will give me years >of service if looked after. Perhaps if we all did the same they (GARMIN) >would get the message! > SIGNED > Pretty pissed off. > >-- > * You are subscribed to the aus-soaring mailing list. > * To Unsubscribe: send email to [EMAIL PROTECTED] > * with "unsubscribe aus-soaring" in the body of the message > * or with "help" in the body of the message for more information. -- --- Simon Hackett, Technical Director, Internode Systems Pty Ltd 31 York St [PO Box 284, Rundle Mall], Adelaide, SA 5000 Australia Email: [EMAIL PROTECTED] Web: http://www.internode.on.net Phone: +61-8-8223-2999 Fax: +61-8-8223-1777 -- * You are subscribed to the aus-soaring mailing list. * To Unsubscribe: send email to [EMAIL PROTECTED] * with "unsubscribe aus-soaring" in the body of the message * or with "help" in the body of the message for more information.
