Garmin woes (rant)

[TomDac]

got a Nuvi 750 for Xmas when it first came out.. 2007, I think. It was 400 bucks. Nice unit.. We bought the lifetime maps update and it's been updated several times.. Then I got back into motorcycling and got a bike and wanted to use it for motorcycling... SO... got a Ram mount for it, and a special cable to hardwire the thing to the bike for power.. Worked pretty good until recently... power would go off and on intermittently, with the "external power lost.. should I say on battery power or shut off" message. I checked the cable, the connector, etc. and everything seemed fine... Not sure why it was doing this, but it's annoying as hell.

The battery ran all the way down and long story short, the unit will not power on any longer.. even after I charged it overnight.. So I looked at getting it serviced... That's $99, which is OK until I realized I can get a used 750 for $69 on flea-bay... I would do that, but then I lose my lifetime maps subscription for the one I bought.. Garmin says the $99 repair cost is just a swap out with a refurbished one and the lifetime maps will be transferred over to the refurb'ed one they send me.

So, I'm doing that.. But what I would really like it to be able to upgrade the 750 to a newer unit and still keep the lifetime maps... Of course, Garmin says they don't do that...

But I was looking at getting a motorcycle specific one anyway and WOW.. the Zumo's are insanely priced. Anyway, after I did some more research, I ended up buying another Garmin.. a Nuvi 550, which is waterproof and more motorcycle oriented.. Will leave the 750 in the car after it comes back from service.

Anyway... just thought I would vent a little.. Grrrr

[Fudmucker]

I had this 'intermittent power' too with my Zumo 500 when it was first installed.
Then I discovered that the single wire of the power supply was vibrating enough to get metal fatigue and shear through close to the battery pole.
I reconnected and securely cable-tied it to the other battery cables.
Problem solved.

[drbike]

I know this is an old post but....Rant.....

I have had a 550 for a while now but in the last 4 months I have gone through several mounts and a harness.

The mounts are rotting out at the brass nubs on the mount. Had 4 replacement mounts two warranty and two bought add to this the original that started the process. The nutty thing here is that the corrosion starts within a few days, when I called Garman they sort of ignored it and advised I go to the local supplier and get a new mount. Yeah sure, not easy to do when you are on a roadie. The first time it happened the corrosion actually ate through the base on the GPS, to Garmans credit they replaced the unit no charge.

I know I am not the only one who has this problem but for a bike specific setup you would think that it would be better.

I too had just bought the lifetime map upgrade, how did they do that corporate plot perhaps