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Noticed my new (half month old) garmin wasn't getting the same range as some of my buddies units.

Called garmin to see what was up and if I can get a return to get a new one. The first question they asked me was if I use a marine radio, which I do, then it dawned on me about all the talk about "burning" the units out as to why they would ask that question.

Anyways, long story short they are charging me $150 for a new unit because I said I used a marine radio near it.

I thought I remember people getting a one "free" replacement unit leeway on burning out a garmin. Apparently they must have recently changed this policy. Just my damn luck.

Also, is diminished range a symptom of a burnt out unit? I figured a burnt out one just would not work period.

So anyways word to the wise for all you out there.

Seems like all tracking boxes do something wierd like this...

Our Wildlife Blue boxes would ding like the truck door when it is open... Also on our 216. collars if someone was talking on the radio we could hear them actually talk.

Does it say anything in the Garmin handbook or whatever about the radios possibly ruining the system? If not you might have some way of telling them to give you a new unit free? IDK.

So from the number of views and lack of replies I guess this "policy" was common knowledge and I shot myself in the foot for not being more careful?

I sure thought I remember people getting a one time return on a burnt out garmin.....


And Zeluva ya I have had that on my 151 (icom) tracker as well but it never ruined it like apparently marines can do to garmins.

First I have heard of that policy. Talking to them on a least once a week it has never been mentioned. Just got 2 RMA's for customers the other day. Never asked about radio use. Yet, I was able to tell them what was wrong with the unit.

Simple solution is to not tell them about radio use. problem solved. Although the use of a marine radio alone will not damage them. The use of them when combined with the mag mount antenna on the Garmin is what does it. Over a year now on units using nothing but a longer rubber ducky by diamond, or the portable long range antenna without a problem. Anything in the 151, and 154 area is a big no no. These are the channels Garmin uses. Murs band actually.

Decreased range, or constantly loosing signal could be another problem. When changing antennas. Folks have been tightening them to much. This causes friction to loosen the nut that holds the connector in place. The result is it breaks the solder connection. Easy to tell if it is broke. Grab it with your fingers. If it wiggles it broke. Not jsut a garmin problem either. Tracker has had the problem with the connector for the yagi doing the same thing. Also the icom scanners do it. I have repaired probaly 100 icom scanners that broke the connector. Icom and Tracker have taken steps to help prevent this. Told Garmin again just 2 days ago they need to get this fixed.

When changing an antenna just lightly snug it down!!!

Ya, thanks for the reply Steve.

I do not use a truck mounted antenna for it, I just use the telescoping antenna and the rubber snubber one. So apparently you can still burn it out with those.


And if I would have known what I know now I would not have mentioned the use of the radio .

They didn't tell me of any charge until AFTER I gave up my serial number so I figured at that point they had me pegged. I've heard of so many people returning with no charge that it never crossed my mind as to why they would ask the radio question.


Like I said just my luck that I get a phone rep that was on his game that day

And I've heard of that antenna connection problem too so I was careful as far as that goes.

Hounder- You may not have burned it up. Someone else transmitting elsewhere may have. Never go to walmart with your garmin on. They use the murs band for their radios. Also there are some folks that use the murs band for what ever reason. I even know where there is a repeater being used in N WI for that. Also some of the county/town trucks in WI use channels in the 151 area. Some Law/EMS use 154. Even though most of those are going digital. Guess what I am getting at is if you get near a radio source of these it could cause the problem.

Just wondering how far from a source of like marine band do you need to be from your garmin, not to have any negative affects on your unit?
thanks

All depends on the strength of the source, and how close of a match it is to the MURS band. Not a test I really want to make. Since I have had no trouble with marine band would guess 8-10 ft in most cases would be fine.

Thanks for all the info Steve


Bottom line I wanted to warn everyone out there, be careful, garmin is getting much stickier on their "guaranteed" warranties

Reading the chat here and just wanted to get this straight,

Is it a problem with marine radios only or will the little motorolas (22 mile range ect.) also damage them? I know the marine radios have higher freqs. and I think more watts on the handhelds ( 1 to 5 watt outputs)

Thanks.

Steve

Could you tell me where to get the longer rubber duck style antenna from diamond, somewhere where I could look online for it, model # or anything or the longer colapsable metal antenna.

Thanks

Yard dog- You will have no problems with those type of radios. They are on the UHF band. Garmin uses VHF.

Crush- The 2 best places for the long rubber duckies are Hamradio.com, or my preference RandL.com there are 2 models that are basically the same. The diamond SRH77ca or the Jetstream JT776SMA. The Diamond cost a bit more. It is also a bit more sturdy. Not as whippy as the Jetstream. Still the results are the same with them.

As for the telescoping model. That is available from dealers like myself or Buddy. I would not suggest using a telescopic antenna connected directly to the Garmin. It can break the antenna connector.

Thanks Steve, appreciate the help

Steve,

What do you feel is burning these units up. i have read a lot of your posts about this and i still can't come up with a definate answer. i am on my third unit right now and so far this one has lasted the longest and seems to still be working good. with this one i have tried to be real careful with how i use it. i only have it on when i need to and only have my handheld radio on set on 1 watt. the first 2 units were fried while using channel 71 on a mrine band radio. i think that frequency is 156.575. both were used with just the standard rubber duckie antenna. that was before the knowledge of the marine bands burning them out. thanks for your info on this because every time i try to call garmin i am on the phone for 30 minutes and still no answer so i just give up and hang up.

as for the topic at hand. i had been told by Garmin that i would get one unit for free then the rest would be charged due to the radio burning the unit out. the second one i sent in i put in my dads name so they replaced it as long as it wasn't over a year old.

BP- Really it hard to say on an individual basis. Overall the above posted stuff are the reasons. In my use have yet to burn a radio up using marine band or above that on private channels. That's about 7 units with out a single problem. Truck radios always on high.(65 watts) Handhelds always on high(5 watts)

What I am seeing more of that is being blamed on the radio's is the antenna connectors breaking. Even had a guy stop by yesterday with one. Said he thought the radio burned it up. A quick look and the antenna connector was broken.

Also have seen where the connection to the dogs is being lost, and it is a software problem. Updating the units software fixes this. The current SW version is 3.0. Same for the collars.

A decrease in range can also be a broken antenna. A break amy mean it will work sometimes, and others not. Have seen a few collars where the antenna connector has come loose.

Most of the time I have to say if you are not using the mag mount. Without any other radio transmissions on the wrong channels nearby. It seems to be rare to burn a unit up. Also the new units have a stronger shield that should protect them from standard 25 watt marine radios.

Another thing to think about. Is poorly tuned, or not tuned radios. A high SWR will cause there to excess RF leakage that could be a problem. Not to mention hurt the radio itself.

I have had only had 2 units go bad myself. One my daughter broke the antenna connector. The other I hunted with a group using 151, and forgot for a few minutes to turn the unit off. Sure enough. A few seconds of transmitting blew it right up. Both user errors.