deilenberger
A bozo on the bus
Doofus, the NAV-IV, started misbehaving when about 20 miles from the Intergalactic Headquarters of Garmin International, in Kansas. Unfortunately, I wasn't able to find that out because (1) I was headed to Engel's in Kansas City for an emergency repair (2) Doofus wasn't responding to anything - so it couldn't tell me "Take me home.."
It seemed temperature related. It did this two more times during my return trip from California - both on rather hot days (above 90F, probably close to 95F).
I assumed it was just temperature related. When I got home, it seemed to be better, but then it got worse - and any hot day it would freeze up. The pattern of freezing was interesting - first the music would cut out, although the player screen showed it as still playing, but the music never advanced. Then the voice directions would stop. Then the screen would simply lock up, and no combination of buttons, presses could unlock it, and it wouldn't even turn off. Removing and reinstalling the battery seemed to "fix" it - but the next freeze cycle occurred more rapidly then the first.
I looked on Garmin's site, and decided to send it in for repair. Filled out a repair order, paid my $165, sent it off USPS Express. Meanwhile I asked the support people if they'd heard of this problem. A young man got to conversing with me (via emails), and pointed out that since it was apparently thermal - asked some questions: did it sit behind a windshield where air couldn't reach it? - Yes. Did it stay on the mount when I went in for lunch - sometimes, if not, it was in the top pocket of my tank bag, which is black, and a few other questions that made it seem like changing the use conditions might cure the problem. He said there is a thermal cutout that shuts it down if the internal temperature exceeds 135F (the owners manual says 151F..)
So I asked to have it sent back to me. Which they did, and cancelled the repair order.
It's still misbehaving, and at what appear to be lower temperatures to me - like around 85F. Same pattern, music first, then voice, then everything. In searching the web I came up with a few more reports of the same behavior - where Garmin had replaced the person's unit, and the new unit exhibited the same sort of behavior.
I did a factory reset, and then an OS update to the latest version. I moved my music to a new memory card. I cleaned out any old garbage files I could find. I modified the mounting point so it gets some breeze over it when moving. I take it off the bike and stick it in my stitch pocket when off the bike. Behavior continues the same.
FWIW - I did try no music. GPS seemed to work OK for an entire 7 hour ride. Coincidence? Mebbe but it was hotter that day then the 85F day when it started acting up again.
Anyone else? Any ideas? Paint it silver? Never had ANY problem like this with the Garmin 660 that preceded the NAV-IV, and mounted in the exact same spot, but of course the 660 uses a mount that exposes much more of the back of the GPS to the breeze.
It seemed temperature related. It did this two more times during my return trip from California - both on rather hot days (above 90F, probably close to 95F).
I assumed it was just temperature related. When I got home, it seemed to be better, but then it got worse - and any hot day it would freeze up. The pattern of freezing was interesting - first the music would cut out, although the player screen showed it as still playing, but the music never advanced. Then the voice directions would stop. Then the screen would simply lock up, and no combination of buttons, presses could unlock it, and it wouldn't even turn off. Removing and reinstalling the battery seemed to "fix" it - but the next freeze cycle occurred more rapidly then the first.
I looked on Garmin's site, and decided to send it in for repair. Filled out a repair order, paid my $165, sent it off USPS Express. Meanwhile I asked the support people if they'd heard of this problem. A young man got to conversing with me (via emails), and pointed out that since it was apparently thermal - asked some questions: did it sit behind a windshield where air couldn't reach it? - Yes. Did it stay on the mount when I went in for lunch - sometimes, if not, it was in the top pocket of my tank bag, which is black, and a few other questions that made it seem like changing the use conditions might cure the problem. He said there is a thermal cutout that shuts it down if the internal temperature exceeds 135F (the owners manual says 151F..)
So I asked to have it sent back to me. Which they did, and cancelled the repair order.
It's still misbehaving, and at what appear to be lower temperatures to me - like around 85F. Same pattern, music first, then voice, then everything. In searching the web I came up with a few more reports of the same behavior - where Garmin had replaced the person's unit, and the new unit exhibited the same sort of behavior.
I did a factory reset, and then an OS update to the latest version. I moved my music to a new memory card. I cleaned out any old garbage files I could find. I modified the mounting point so it gets some breeze over it when moving. I take it off the bike and stick it in my stitch pocket when off the bike. Behavior continues the same.
FWIW - I did try no music. GPS seemed to work OK for an entire 7 hour ride. Coincidence? Mebbe but it was hotter that day then the 85F day when it started acting up again.
Anyone else? Any ideas? Paint it silver? Never had ANY problem like this with the Garmin 660 that preceded the NAV-IV, and mounted in the exact same spot, but of course the 660 uses a mount that exposes much more of the back of the GPS to the breeze.
