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Nav VI problem

hmfriedman

New member
On attempted use the other day, the map on my nearly 2 year old Navigator VI was vibrating and the unit would not accept any input by touch or from the wonderwheel. The unit could not even be shut off except by removing the battery door.

At home after the ride, I attempted various reboots and screen recalibration; nothing really fixed the problem. Every once in a while during my efforts, the unit seemed to work just right for a minute or two, then didn't again; random changes of screens, rebooted instead of shutting down, no input from the screen. You name it.

When I called Garmin support and told them only that my Nav VI had lost its mind, the tech support guy described the problems before I could say another word, and told me to send my Nav VI back for warranty replacement. So, I'm guessing this is a known problem; has anyone else here had similar?

Needless to say, I hope Garmin has worked out the bugs ...
 
I had something similar happen with my 2 year old NAV VI a few months ago. In my case it did shut down normally. The odd behavior came back a few times before seeming to stop permanently. Good to know Garmin is addressing the problem.
 
Garmin has been excellent in their response to complaints about the Nav VI and both my brother and I are on unit #2. I just had a glitch in mine but a reboot has fixed it so far.... One can hope..
 
I'm on Nav-VI unit #3. Contact Garmin. They will walk you through the standard tests to see if just a reboot, etc., will fix things and if not they will review and if needed provide you with a replacement. They will cross-ship if time is an issue (putting a temporary charge on your credit card).

As mentioned, Garmin has been great on handling it. Much prefer that there wasn't anything to handle but that's life. The units are great and I use many of the features so not planning on switching to anything else.
 
I'm on Nav-VI unit #3. Contact Garmin. They will walk you through the standard tests to see if just a reboot, etc., will fix things and if not they will review and if needed provide you with a replacement. They will cross-ship if time is an issue (putting a temporary charge on your credit card).

As mentioned, Garmin has been great on handling it. Much prefer that there wasn't anything to handle but that's life. The units are great and I use many of the features so not planning on switching to anything else.

The Garmin support rep didn't even want to walk me through the tests or send me to a local dealer to confirm the problem. He told me to just send it back and they will send a replacement.

BTW - I tried the reboot and other tests that I found on the Garmin website; didn't do anything.
 
The Garmin support rep didn't even want to walk me through the tests or send me to a local dealer to confirm the problem. He told me to just send it back and they will send a replacement.

BTW - I tried the reboot and other tests that I found on the Garmin website; didn't do anything.

Ditto here; I've just posted my 2nd Nav IV back to Olathe, KS. They indicated in their email another will be shipped. Something about the Serial# told The Guy it was manufactured in a batch with known screen problems. They have all my details on record. T'would be nice if they were proactive, and contacted us owners regarding Known Manufacturing Defects -- similar to automobile recalls.

Ain't gonna happen; that makes way too much sense! :banghead


Ciao, HSV-Phil
:dunno
 
Garmin support

I've had many Garmin products for almost 20 years. For my boats, motorcycles, cars & trucks, handhelds and now In Reach. I've used their support a hand full of times to my complete satisfaction. Earlier this year had an issue with my nav 6. Described the problem and they immediately decided to replace the unit which I received 2-3 days later, obviously I sent back the malfunctioning unit. I understand stuff happens and they've come through every time.
 
The Garmin support rep didn't even want to walk me through the tests or send me to a local dealer to confirm the problem. He told me to just send it back and they will send a replacement.

BTW - I tried the reboot and other tests that I found on the Garmin website; didn't do anything.

Mine is less than 2 years old and started exhibiting screen issues. Nothing worked during reset or screen calibration. The Garmin rep gave me an RMA to send it back for replacement. Great support in my opinion!


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We have now had 4 of our Nav VI units go out on our fleet of 14 of the 1200 RT bikes. Worries me a little as I just spent $900 buying the Nav VI for my personal 1250 GS I just got. Good to know though that Garmin is standing behind their product.
 
We have now had 4 of our Nav VI units go out on our fleet of 14 of the 1200 RT bikes. Worries me a little as I just spent $900 buying the Nav VI for my personal 1250 GS I just got. Good to know though that Garmin is standing behind their product.
One thing for people to remember is that if your Nav-VI or V does need a warranty replacement, and time is critical, Garmin will cross-ship.

I have done this both times on my Nav-VI replacements because I was going to be travelling within a short time of the issues arising, fortunately, nothing has happened while travelling so far (crossing my fingers). Just remember, to cross-ship you need to provide a credit card deposit until your unit is returned to them. My experience has been that my deposits have been refunded back to my account within 24-48 hours of my getting notice from Garmin that they have received my defective unit. As has been mentioned by others:
  • good customer service
  • it would be a whole lot nicer if these issues weren't as frequent as they are - would provide a greater sense of dependability
 
[*]it would be a whole lot nicer if these issues weren't as frequent as they are - would provide a greater sense of dependability
[/LIST]

I wonder if in adapting the NavVI unit to work with BMW-provided electronics increases the likelihood of problems and the cost of purchase?
 
I wonder if in adapting the NavVI unit to work with BMW-provided electronics increases the likelihood of problems and the cost of purchase?
John, my observation has been that at least some of the issues I've experienced with these units (others have reported similar issues), seem to be traceable to the GPS unit's internal connection to the 18-pin connector on the back of the unit, but this is not unique to the Nav-Vi or V as it is the same connector on the Zumo models like the 595LM. No idea if they have any issues or not.

The reason I say this is because the GPS units for the power issues typically don't exhibit a problem while removed from the bike mount but do while mounted on a bike. Secondly, when switching a properly working unit and a problem unit between bikes it is only the problem unit that exhibits any issues, therefore it would appear that the bike mounts are working.
 
John, my observation has been that at least some of the issues I've experienced with these units (others have reported similar issues), seem to be traceable to the GPS unit's internal connection to the 18-pin connector on the back of the unit, but this is not unique to the Nav-Vi or V as it is the same connector on the Zumo models like the 595LM. No idea if they have any issues or not.

The reason I say this is because the GPS units for the power issues typically don't exhibit a problem while removed from the bike mount but do while mounted on a bike. Secondly, when switching a properly working unit and a problem unit between bikes it is only the problem unit that exhibits any issues, therefore it would appear that the bike mounts are working.

I deleted saved tracks, did a screen calibration, still same issue. Added an SD card for more memory - still did it. Did a master system reset, still same issue. Removed from cradle and ran off battery on a jeep ride - same issue. What's weird is it worked perfectly without ever doing it until one day when I loaded several tracks it started doing it so I hoped it was a memory issue. Not the case. Ever since that day it's been doing it.
 
The Garmin support rep didn't even want to walk me through the tests or send me to a local dealer to confirm the problem. He told me to just send it back and they will send a replacement.

BTW - I tried the reboot and other tests that I found on the Garmin website; didn't do anything.

Just two followup questions: 1) Did you receive the new unit and 2) How is it working?
 
I deleted saved tracks, did a screen calibration, still same issue. Added an SD card for more memory - still did it. Did a master system reset, still same issue. Removed from cradle and ran off battery on a jeep ride - same issue. What's weird is it worked perfectly without ever doing it until one day when I loaded several tracks it started doing it so I hoped it was a memory issue. Not the case. Ever since that day it's been doing it.
If your issue is the same as outlined in the OP, then I would suggest that your unit is displaying one of the typical reactions to a unit that needs to be replaced. A call to Garmin Support should get you an RMA and instructions on how to proceed. If you can't wait for them to receive your unit and ship out a replacement Garmin will "cross-ship" by charging your credit card for the replacement (at a net-cost) and will refund/reverse the charge when they receive the faulty unit that you ship to them. A bonus to using that method is that you just use their packaging that the replacement came in to return your unit.

Don't fall into the age-old trap of confusing coincidence with causality. The fact that "when I loaded several tracks it started doing it". Does not necessarily mean that was the cause, only that that is the time the issue presented itself. Naturally, when something like that occurs we suspect what was changed or done immediately preceding the failure was the culprit and it is appropriate to investigate, but not necessarily related. With the testing you have done, I would suggest you let Garmin Support know. It is frustrating that folks are still having these issues, but, at least Garmin have been very good at responding to them for me and the majority of those I've run across with similar issues. Hope yours gets straightened out quickly and satisfactorily. Keep us posted.
 
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