Garmin home repair

The Garmin etrex GPSrs are great little units but do occasionally (some would say regularly) suffer from some common faults. The following instructions detail a few home repair solutions for these common faults.

There are instructions as to how to repair etrex units at various sites on the Internet, just google it! A couple of good sites to help you understand the inner workings and click stick repairs are Dead eTrex? - How to open, disassemble and repair an eTrex and Deconstructing a Garmin Etrex Vista

Click stick failure on etrex

 Be aware that opening a unit will probably void your warranty, if the unit is still in warranty.

1. Carefully remove the rubber seal around the unit. Warning it will be very sticky underneath the rubber!

2. Remove the clear tape around the unit and prise the 5 clips open. There are two clips on each side of the unit and one at the bottom.

3. A ribbon cable connects the screen & click stick to the rest of the unit. This cable might just be loose or the connections dirty.

4. Carefully remove the clips at the side of the ribbon cable and remove the ribbon cable. Clean the end with some suitable cleaner and stick it back in. Do up the clips at the side of the cable again to hold it in place.

5. A quick test and it's time to stick it all back together again. If the clear tape is reusable then place it back on the unit, if not then you can replace it with electrical tape.

6. Put the rubber seal back on making sure that the buttons on the outside line up with the buttons on the inside.

You might need to perform a bit of a clean up of the outside of the unit if the rubber glue has spread around.

(Gratuitous plagiarism of a Geocaching Australia Forum post by Ebenezer)