Unit would not start as I got it wet.

Sent it to Garmin in Bangkok who kindly called to tell me it "would need a new part and would have to be sent to Taiwan. 2,450 baht and about 2 months".

I said please send it back to me and they, finally, did.

I took it to a local mobile phone repair guy and he said he could not fix GPSs. I told him it had gotten wet and asked him to try. He opened it up, took some of it apart, cleaned it, and it now works fine. 100 baht.

Moral of story: Think before trusting Garmin in Bangkok.

There's a lesson to be learned, but it has not much to do with "trust". Why does it have to be about trust, as if it's a scam?

Garmin has a price to fix a GPS. They gave you the price. They'll repair your GPS for that price and it will work. It's a chunk of money, but hardly a scam.

You wisely chose another option. You had a guy take it apart and dry it off. It worked for yours, probably won't work for most.

Then you'd either be sending it to Garmin or buying a new one.

If Garmin did repair your unit for the same 100 baht, they'd probably be out of business (at least the repair business) within a few weeks when their investors found out all that overhead wasn't paying out.

Your guy has minimal overhead and works pretty cheap. That option is available in LOS. That's the lesson- and a good one at that.

impulse, let me proceed on the assumption that English is not your native language, and re-iterate:

Think before trusting Garmin in Bangkok.

I got a high price from Garmin Bangkok to replace a battery. Then I got a battery off ebay from Hong Kong for 250 baht. To put it in DIY looked tricky and I took to Amorn Electronics (many locations). The guy put it in and said that was free. I gave him 100 baht tip and that was it.

I love using a gps as you can travel around and not just use the large roads. I use it on my motorbike and bicycle.

Obb, you got lucky in this case.

I would do what you did, and try the local guy first if I knew somebody I had confidence in. But let me explain some differences in these two vendors, and our expectations of them:

Keep in mind, your expectations should be totally different between these two vendors. With Garmin, you'd expect it to come back fixed. Absolutely. Garmin knows that, and they are prepared to do whatever they need to meet that expectation. Probably including swapping out or overhauling the unit if necessary. And they price accordingly. I once heard it said (when seeking the manufacturer's services "You pay them for what they know, not for what they do." Sometimes I don't like it, but it's true . . . they've dropped a lot of coin in overhead, training, etc. to be able to fully support their products.

With the local guy, he told you outright that he could not fix a GPS. You asked him to try anyway. If you got it back from him still failing, you'd have accepted it. Or if it failed again a week later, likewise. And you'd seek out someone with expertise elsewhere.

I think the true moral of the story is when in a non-warranty situation, try the local shop first if you know of a place you have some confidence in. And if you have the time.

Check

http://www.ifixit.com/Wiki/Electronics_Water_Damage

For units that are not under warantee, Garmin charges a fixed price from the repair regardless of what's wrong with the unit. It can be a bad deal if the unit has only a trivial problem but it can be a good deal if the unit was badly smashed up. And typcially the unit that you get back from Garmin will not be the same one that you sent them for repair, rather they will send you a refurbished unit of the same model in order to save time.

Edited October 5, 201312 yr by AngelsLariat

Garmin's standard repair fee for my Montana is over $200inc post

And then you get DHL trying to demand more money off you (taxes,import duty, extra fees) if/when they eventually deliver it

So I hope there are more of these local guys thatcan do a good job.

I got a new screen fitted for 300bt

Garmin's standard repair fee for my Montana is over $200inc post

And then you get DHL trying to demand more money off you (taxes,import duty, extra fees) if/when they eventually deliver it

So I hope there are more of these local guys thatcan do a good job.

I got a new screen fitted for 300bt

That sounds way steep. I paid US$110 to exchange my Garmin 60CSx for a refurbished one, but I sent it to Garmin USA not to Garmin Thailand. Mine was having intermittent problems and then was smashed to smithereens in a road accident. Maybe I would have been able to find a local Somchai to fix it for a couple of hundred baht but in this case I suspect that the unit was beyond repair even for Garmin's service center.

Edited October 7, 201312 yr by AngelsLariat

I had a lot nice motherboard repairs in Bangkok....all cheap

When a unit has been wet it is pretty much impossible to tell how much damage has been done (especially if the batteries were left in after it got wet).

Most of the corrosion will be hidden under components and inaccessible.

To properly fix it (with a guarantee) the only practical thing to do is to replace the damaged PCB's.

Or preferably, replace the entire unit.

A Tech can clean the board and re-wire any obviously corroded tracks. With luck and skill he might get it going.

Then with further luck it might go forever. On the other hand it might die again after a short time.

The two prices mentioned are for two completely different services with different outcomes.

Edited October 12, 201312 yr by jackflash

Does anybody know where I can get a replacement battery in Bangkok (Asoke Din Daeng area) for my Alpine unit? As mentioned the dealer wanted to send it away and the of the 3 GPS shops I tried one tried to sell me a new Garmin and the other 2 didn't carry spares just sold new units.

Cheers

Edited October 13, 201312 yr by mca

The Montana is $165 plus $35 postage to repair iirc. Then you have to send it to them in Taiwan as well.

While the Garmin fee is a lot sometimes, it should keep Garmin on their toes regarding quality

Whilst warranty issues may be slightly different, my last 3 replacements have been due to water getting in,

and I believe it is because they were not up to standard.

They should be waterproof to IXP7, and definitely were not