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What is going on?
samogps
3 Points
In last 6 weeks I returned three brand new Garmin devices: two Montana 680T and one eTrex touch 35. First Montana did not charge battery more than 91%, it turned off at 40% battery, sometimes it has frozen. Same for second Montana which cause problems from the first second because it was not able to load geocaching files. Worst was eTrex 35 which stopped to respond on "Map" icon after two days. It also frozen when using "back" option in Map menu.
So does somebody know what is going on? Statistically this cannot be coincidence. Is Garmin one of the companies which lost themselves like a hiker in the middle of dark night with Garmin handheld unit in his hands?
Is there any handheld unit which is known to function at least 90% of what it should function? Now I am afraid to buy any Garmin device of course. On the other hand I need it and I am pretty satisfied (sometimes freezes, etc.) with 10 years old eTrex vista but it cannot accept sd card larger than 2 GB. I need handheld unit for Topo Europe Map (or sdria Route) and for Europe City Navigator.
And lastly: which devices are used by "serious people" like professional climbers or those whose life depends on orientation (expeditions in wilderness, etc.? I cannot believe that they use Garmin. It sounds like using Windows in airplanes with 400 passengers on board where in case of troubles the pilot would get a note on the screen "file error No. #, please contact your ISP or start troubleshooting in Start menu"
Any comment deeply appreciated. Thanks.
So does somebody know what is going on? Statistically this cannot be coincidence. Is Garmin one of the companies which lost themselves like a hiker in the middle of dark night with Garmin handheld unit in his hands?
Is there any handheld unit which is known to function at least 90% of what it should function? Now I am afraid to buy any Garmin device of course. On the other hand I need it and I am pretty satisfied (sometimes freezes, etc.) with 10 years old eTrex vista but it cannot accept sd card larger than 2 GB. I need handheld unit for Topo Europe Map (or sdria Route) and for Europe City Navigator.
And lastly: which devices are used by "serious people" like professional climbers or those whose life depends on orientation (expeditions in wilderness, etc.? I cannot believe that they use Garmin. It sounds like using Windows in airplanes with 400 passengers on board where in case of troubles the pilot would get a note on the screen "file error No. #, please contact your ISP or start troubleshooting in Start menu"
Any comment deeply appreciated. Thanks.
Comments
I think Garmin is pretty much the "only game in town" unfortunately. Magellan has gotten a lot of negative feedback over the years. They could be better now, but there are very few people who use them. DeLorme used to be highly respected but Garmin bought them and discontinued their regular GPS line.
There's a company called TwoNav that makes handhelds. Have never seen one but I have used their software on Macintosh, Windows, iOS and Android. It seems very nice.
Then there's memory map. Have not used one of these, they look cool but are rather expensive.
Most of the market is moving to smartphone apps, I think there will be very few dedicated devices in a few years. You can buy a rugged waterproof Android phone for $100 or less and there are plenty of inexpensive apps to choose from. You can get cases with external batteries and solar chargers, etc. Not sure if those would work for you... I don't meet your definition of a "serious person". ;)
Doubt that I'll buy any more Garmin devices, have spent thousands on them over the years. Just last week the power button broke on my Montana 600, I bought it in July 2011 but it hasn't seen very heavy use. Was always happy with it over the years. Could see about getting it fixed but not really very interested at this point. I use my phone, but I don't do long hikes anymore.
I wish they had something new that could get me excited, but they just don't. The GPSMap 276cx looks kind of cool but has gotten a very negative response. There was a nice in-depth review where the author recommended it. He got such an angry response from disappointed buyers that he eventually had to change his review and say he didn't recommend it. I'd be willing to give it a chance, but not for $600 - that's ridiculous. And it is really only suited for vehicles and not handheld use.
Your response (explanation of some details) is completely in agreement with my opinion. Briefly, we live in hysterical times, where color of maps and shape of buttons is far more important than reliability of devices. These are so complicated and full of non-tested software that they simply cannot work reliably in practice.
So it is take it or leave it. I feel stupid to give Garmin let's say 500 eur for their toy (nothing more than a toy !). and it is worse from year to year.
I do believe in theory of conspiracy in certain limits. I have always believed that certain countries are considered as third class countries and definitely Slovenia (my country) is among them by my modest opinion. Despite of the fact that we are current European champions in basketball, and that engineer of Boeing 747 has Slovenian roots I believe the goods sold or sent here are sup-optimal in general.
First Montana was bought in the hypermarket in Slovenia, 50 km away from Garmin dealer. I returned it to Garmin dealer and they gave me back different unit with different serial number and with practically same fault(s). They even did not turn it on because I had troubles from the very beginning because it did not load geocaching files. Of course i returned the unit (it did not charge more than 91%). Third unit was bought on amazon.de. After two days of practicing in our apartment it stopped to respond on "Map" icon.
Any reasonable explanation? Does Garmin has two production lines (one for first class people and one for third class ones)? Do they (like almost whole world) consider Slovenia (when they do not mistake it for Slovakia or Slavonia of course) as Sub-Saharan country, despite of the fact that it is practically in the middle of Europe? I would really like to hear some opinions how it is statistically possible that I got three faulty units of three purchased ones. Thanks.
The 680T I finished with only charges to 99%, should not be but I live with that.as it's fairly insignificant.
The 50LMT-D had the battery become disconnected and gives the occasional very strange routing. The battery is next to useless for route planning and you have to connect it to power to route plan (I'm not a basecamp fan and don't like over using the fragile looking USB socket)
Favourite unit of mine at present for bike/walking is the second hand Monterra I bought recently, battery life and sunshine readability are better than the 680T in my view.
Aside from all my Garmin criticisms, something odd is happening to @samogps . You really should not have that many problems. Garmin simply wouldn't survive as a company if these problems were common.
I ordered GPSMAP 64s yesterday and expect it here in couple of days. I wonder what will go wrong this time. If it will, it is definitely the last gps handheld device in my life and I will start to use my android phone.
I've had 3 handheld Garmins, been very happy with all of them, and still have two. Your experience is unusual.
Yes, I was talking about the Monterra, Garmin's Android based model that sold for $800 and was something they would like to forget ever existed (just like the NuviFone, their disastrous attempt at an Android cellphone). Sounds like @Chris_Sav got a good deal, and after all these years apparently they have finally shaken out most of the bugs. But a lot of others weren't so lucky.
Looking through their lineup again, the GPSMap276cx is really the only product that interests me. And, putting aside all the issues, $600 is just way too much for me. At $300 I'd be tempted, but that ain't gonna happen. I think a 5" screen is a minimum for me, having been spoiled by tablets, big phones and even their own Nuvi and Dezl units.
www.apple.com/iphone-battery-and-performance/
Never had any real problems with my Montana 600 and the rechargeable battery pack still holds a respectable charge while all my Nuvi's of similar age will only run about 15 minutes on battery. The power button broke on my Montana last month though - the actual pushbutton inside is OK but the covering cracked and fell off. I think I've had it for at least six years, it was one of the earlier ones.
So look at your setup,hardware,updates,etc. And I still don't agree with Boyd... these will never go away.. Cell phones are cheap garbage compared to these units. And my 61s Drive Smart... and I own a Note 8...piece of junk compared to my Garmin units in function and hardware build.