Poorly Garmin Montana

[Mick F]

I'm off on a ride in an hour or so, doing perhaps 38miles. This will give it a good test.

38miles done.

All perfect.

[nigelnightmare]

Finger's crossed it stays that way Mick F.

[Mick F]

Seems to so far!
40miles on Sunday, and perfect.

[ConRAD]

My beloved Monty isn't well.

... well, after almost 8 years of honorable service, mine either is showing exactly the same problem as yours
So, instead to apply for repairing I decided to repair it by myself.
Perhaps isn't anymore IP_top as the original one but, I'm very sure, just in case, I'll be able to repair it again.










[youtube]8nQwfMAGbAo[/youtube]

[RickH]

My beloved Monty isn't well.

... well, after almost 8 years of honorable service, mine either is showing exactly the same problem as yours
So, instead to apply for repairing I decided to repair it by myself.
Perhaps isn't anymore IP_top as the original one but, I'm very sure, just in case, I'll be able to repair it again

I've done a very similar repair on my Edge 1000 after the outer rubber section over the power switch on that disintegrated. It does seem to be a bit of a design weakness in some Garmin units.

[ConRAD]

... it does seem to be a bit of a design weakness in some Garmin units.

Indeed the power switch-on/off design seems to definitely lack in terms of robustness considering:

1 Repetitive mechanical action to switch it on&off
2 Its continuous exposure to atmosphere agents that in the long term are evidently detrimental to the material (eg UV, temperature, rain, etc.)
3 Its excessive recess compared to the external protective rubber cap
4 No provision for replacing such a rubber cap without having to replace the entire enclosure

[Mick F]

I considered a stripdown following this.
http://www.gpsrchive.com/Montana/index.htm
Go to Hardwear then scroll down to the stripdown section.

I imagined doing a repair from within, and perhaps an improvement on the original.

[Yohammer]

Maybe this is a Solution ;
https://www.gumtree.com/p/other-camping ... 1418123674

[philvantwo]

Mick F has had 2 replacement units sent to him by Garmin since then!!

[Mick F]

Yes, Monty3 is the latest incarnation.
Works perfectly.

As an aside to this, when you send your old/broken one back, they don't want the (perfectly good) Li battery.
The replacement Montana comes with a new Li battery ............. so consequently, I have three of them.

[philvantwo]

Blimey you've done well there Mick F, they're £54 each now. Do you lose the data of your current ride if you change the battery?
I had to put new batteries in my handheld Gps 62 once and was surprised all the data was still there when I rebooted it.
I wonder how it works?

[Mick F]

Any data is still there when switched off and back on (maybe) weeks later.
The battery can be removed, and the data will still be there.

Same as a desktop computer.
Turn it of and even disconnect from the mains, and the data is still there when you reconnect, switch on, and reboot.

SD cards?
Put data on them, pull them out and insert them somewhere else, and the data is there.
Sim cards?
Swap from one phone to another and all's well.

It's been too long since I was into all that data stuff with "integrated circuits" and silicon chips so I've forgotten how it all works, but it doesn't matter. It just works, that's all you need to know.

[PDQ Mobile]

As I understand it, having been curious in the past about "storage", the way it works, is that a tiny charge is stored at the intersections of the lines etched on the silicon.
But other intersections have no charge giving a plus /minus/minus/plus/plus (etc) pattern as the chip is parsed.
The charge is tiny, just a few electrons, and has, on some media, a finite life.
Solid card types shorter than a rotating hard drive.

I am not in the field though.
(Well I am in fields but not those types!)

[Mick F]

Yes, it's "memory" of sorts.
It just stores noughts and ones.

Finite life?
Infinite life?

I have a PAYG Sim card in an unused iPhone. Been in there for months with the phone switched off too. No credit on it.
Turned it on as a matter of interest because of this subject, and the phone still works and receives calls.

Could it be that the phone battery keeps the data there? I doubt that, as you can buy a Sim card from a shop that could have been there for years but it still knows its number and who the service provider is.

[PDQ Mobile]

My guess is that the SIM card is just storing the simple number.
Those big shiny contacts.
Perhaps it's just simply set- not rewritable.

And that more complex and dense storage will be more sensitive.
A memory stick will have a shorter life of memory than a rotating hard drive before it starts to lose the tiny charges.
The charges (and not charges) are interchangeable. So finite but still quite long lasting.
Different qualities may be a factor I suppose.

That's what a Professor of Electronics told me.

Paper map person myself!