Buying a garmin GPS

beiffe · Guru

Buying a garmin GPS

Landfall · Guru

If it was still inside the warranty period and you can find the receipt, I would seek more legal advice on that.

Providing it was an Australian delivery. not imported by your dealer, then the warranty should be honoured.

Been there, done that, with Navman.

If your Garmin is anything like the one we had, no great loss.

Ken

ROWDYRABBIT1 · Senior Member

Iff you are going to replace it enquire about the hema HN5I AS THEY ARE RELATIVLY EASY TO USE AND YOU DONT HAVE TO BUY MAPS OR UPDATES ROD

PS 3 YEAR WARRANTY

-- Edited by ROWDYRABBIT1 on Thursday 19th of December 2013 01:37:38 PM

Vic41 · Guru

The only time my Garmin shuts down is when the battery goes flat, so with mine either needs to be recharged on 240V or plugged into the ciggy socket while travelling....otherwise it is ok so far..

beiffe · Guru

Your lucky Vic. Mine is dead. tried two chargers plus connection to PC.
Like most travelers we don't keep receipts for extended periods so I cant find it even though they know it is registered to me and I can advise the purchase date and the supplier that they would have dispatched it too they are still not convinced I purchased it.
Regards
Brian

Yuglamron · Guru

Receipts...... The biggest rip off going. Most are printed on thermal paper so if they are in the sun they blacken or if kept for a while fade badly. Then you don't have a receipt no refund or warranty.

I don't know about other motoring organisations but I have been told that there is a smart phone app from the RACQ that you photograph your receipts and can file them for future use. Not sure of the legality of a photo to prove purchase but I am sure it would help.

lyn-n-ken · Senior Member

Hi Beiffe and everyone,
Welcome to my world,
we are now on our third garmin, that's right third one, we bought one about 12 months ago and had to send it back because after 3 months it froze they were good about it
we had a receipt , so they sent us another and guess what it froze after 3 months so we contacted them again and they sent another hence our third one so I feel your pain.
Even though we had no problem with the company there is no way I would ever buy another its pretty useless with directions. It thinks the middle of a paddock is a city and the Australian voice doesn't pronounce street names right.
We were lucky we hung on to our 7 year old tom tom he's still going well has a bit of trouble with new roads but we forgive him for that and Sean the irish boy speaks better Australian than the garmin.
lyn

mongrel · Guru

What we do with receipts is photo copy or scan and put in a file with receipts of all purchases to print out later. Alright if you have access to these pieces of equipment. Agree with yuglamron, they do fade badly .

Dougwe · Chief one feather

I have been taking a photo of the receipt with my phone camera lately, then store for if needed at a later date.

Vic41 · Guru

beiffe wrote:
Your lucky Vic. Mine is dead. tried two chargers plus connection to PC.
Like most travelers we don't keep receipts for extended periods so I cant find it even though they know it is registered to me and I can advise the purchase date and the supplier that they would have dispatched it too they are still not convinced I purchased it.
Regards
Brian

When I used mine in Esperance to go to Cape Le'Grande and also from Hyden to Southern Cross (dirt highway direct), it led me up the garden path and in the end I ended up turning it off and using my map and any road signs I could find.

On the subject brought up by others on this thread about fading receipts, if they are scanned to your pc and saved they could be printed off in the future when needed. Just a thought....

El Gringo · Senior Member

Hi Brian,

Have you tried a master reset?

Here's how to do it if you want to try...

To perform a master reset on your dezl series:

Note: A master reset will erase all favorites1 and will restore your device to the default factory settings. If you would like to back up your favorites to your computer, you can find instructions to do so here. Please note that a master reset will also delete vehicle profiles, but will leave driver profiles (for Hours of Service) intact with all HOS data. IFTA logging will also be cleared.

1.Start with the device OFF and unplugged from power
2.Touch and hold the lower right corner of the screen with an index finger or the eraser end of a pencil
3.Continue touching and holding the lower right hand corner of the screen then power the device ON
4.Release the power button when the device powers ON
You will see a new message: Do you really want to erase all user data?
5.Remove your finger from the touchscreen when this message displays
6.Touch Yes
7.The device will automatically reset. Follow the on screen prompts and then place your device in an area with a clear view of the sky until it acquires satellites.

Might be worth a try at least.

Re your warranty, you can use the Ombudsman services quite easily http://consumeraction.org.au/help-for-consumers/take-action/

I have found that just the threat of taking it to them is often enough.

Cheers,

leevin · Senior Member

Been using Garmin for years.
Never been led astray.
Maybe because I set mine not to lead me astray.
Fairly simple, choose "Avoid dirt roads" in settings.
If you want to travel on dirt roads, do it, and ignore the prompts.
I have the "Australian Karen" as the directional voice.
I can understand "her".
Remember the voice is electronic/computer generated.
If you end up in a paddock and the "voice" says you are "in the middle of a city"....you either need a new map update, or you are very gullible!

Vic41 · Guru

Mine is the Garmin nuvi 1450LM Leevin, I didn't know about the "dirt road" option, I have lifetime maps on mine and do update it.

Both times it has led me astray has been initially on black tops except the one time when I had to turn off onto a dirt highway (it is listed as a highway, even though dirt) but it kept leading me astray and trying to lead me in other directions. This was both times on country roads.

I also had one recent direction in the country when Karen told me to turn left instead of right. Someone said sometimes you may need to let the settings know which direction you are coming from, I don't know if this is the case.

I assume that if nobody has notified Garmin of any road changes (including name changes) this is possible, but not really sure how they work.

PS: I also have "Karen" on mine as well.

-- Edited by Vic41 on Friday 20th of December 2013 03:16:40 AM

Cruising Cruze · Guru

My wife has an App that makes photo's from your receipt and it will centered on the page

amazing good can't tell you the name she is still a sleep but send me a pm if you like more info

Cheers John

beiffe · Guru

Hi John the problem I have is I cant find the receipt and therefore no warrantee.
I will try the reset and see what happens, but not expecting too much as I cant access with the computer link so I think it may be completely dead.
Might try an Ebay special as surely it will last at least a year before they die and besides at the same $$ to buy one every coule of months will be cheaper LOL
Regards
Brian

brian · Guru

To my knowledge, Garmin, for some strange reason, still use the mapping system produced by Sensis who are the same people who print the yellow pages.

The device can only respond to what the mapping tells it, so if the map shows a road or a city in a certain position, then the device conveys that information to you.

Their mapping data is decades out of date.

I have been reliably informed that they originally simply scanned old maps to digitise the data, and have done very little to update that information since then.

To give you an idea of their quality work, Sensis mapping treated an old 4x4 track that can be accessed across the mouth of the Murray River in times of extreme drought as a standard thoroughfare, it still shows the old road around the western side of Lake Awoonga as being the main road decades after it was relocated and now years after it went under water, and the list goes on.

You may pay for/get free updates, but the degree of updating that occurs to the actual maps leaves a lot to be desired.

Is it any wonder the poor device gets itself confused and you lost.

El Gringo · Senior Member

Garmin haven't used Sensis maps for about 2 years now, caused a hell of a mess as most could no longer get map updates, even with lifetime updates purchased.

They now use Navteq like virtually all other GPS on the market.

I found it is possible to convert from Sensis to Navteq - quite easily actually and have had no problems with mine since doing it, an older 265W.

To get 'Karen' to enunciate properly you only have to do the updates for the voice, it's been fixed for a long time.

Any GPS can lead you astray, you still need to use some of your own good judgement and ignore them from time to time.

Cheers,

KFT · Guru

I think the latest update to my Garmin was a sensis map.

I will go and check that though. there was much criticism of the navteq mapping and the routing it uses was causing lots of problems.

frank

El Gringo · Senior Member

Yes, they did do a recent Sensis map due to the public outcry, but it is still way out of date.
Much better to convert to the navteq if you can be bothered.

Cheers,

Maggie and Alex · Veteran Member

Yuglamron wrote:
Receipts...... The biggest rip off going. Most are printed on thermal paper so if they are in the sun they blacken or if kept for a while fade badly. Then you don't have a receipt no refund or warranty.
I don't know about other motoring organisations but I have been told that there is a smart phone app from the RACQ that you photograph your receipts and can file them for future use. Not sure of the legality of a photo to prove purchase but I am sure it would help.

Not sure how that would go cause anyone good with PSP or photoshop could probably doctor it. If you buy from a store that has a loyalty card they can check their records and tell you when it was purchased.

03_troopy · Guru

Bigger chain stores can go through their computer records if you know the date you purchased it. We have done that at big dub with a coffer machine that we lost the receipt for and had to return.

native pepper · Senior Member

The best approach when you buy things of importance, is to ask for a tax invoice, which by law they must provide. You may also find you are entitled to a tax invoice for everything you purchase, even from supermarkets.

Had a run in with a supermarket manager a few years when purchasing some supplies we had run out of and couldn't get delivered for a few days for our business, he refused and asked me to leave. So told him to call the cops and his head office, he stormed off and when he came back, he was fuming, yet handed my tax invoice on the companies letter head. Don't be conned by retailers, what they tell you and what the law is, are totally different and many companies use lies, bullying and stand over tactics to try to put people off getting what they paid for and the service you'd expect

beiffe · Guru

I have tried the reset and it displays a screen but not what it suppose to give and then it just locks up and goes no further.
I think I will buy a cheapie from Ebay and cut my losses but will tell all I know to steer clear of Garmin unless you buy from the big suppliers.
I have had no responses from my emails to Garmin.
Thanks all
Brian

KFT · Guru

Hi Brian, when you bought the Garmin did you register it with them? I had to send them a pic of the bar code and the receipt so my purchase was verified.

I did with mine and help was available via the "my garmin" log in on their site.

if you bought using a credit card do you have access to the statement showing the transaction?

just some thoughts that might be of assistance.

frank

beiffe · Guru

I think the easiest method is to buy a cheap one from Ebay as for the cost of the Garmin I can buy 6 cheapees and if the Garmin warantee is not worth the paper I have decided to change.
I registered the garmin just after I bought it but I don't think they wanted a barcode.
The accepted that the unit is registered in my name etc but they need a copy of the receipt.
I gave them the purchase date and the approx date the unit left their store (it was a special order) and the company I bought it from, but that is not good enough and now they have decided to not respond to my emails so I believe it is a lost cause, BUT I would now advise all to think before they buy and make sure they either hang on to the receipt and also to only purchase from the few preferred suppliers.
Regards
Brian