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Garmin Touring: Repair or replace?

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Garmin Touring: Repair or replace?

Old 09-18-21, 04:03 PM
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cccorlew
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Garmin Touring: Repair or replace?

My wife likes her Garmin Touring a lot. She doesn't need power or heart rate, just GPS mapping for touring and a way to log mikes.

Lately the power connection has become fiddley. Bumping the cable at all disconnects it. And the battery is showing its age.

Should we get it fixed? If so, Garmin or a third party? Suggestions?
Or should we get a new device, and if that, what's the most like the Touring (Do they still make it?) What's a reasonable replacement? Price matters, so a top of the line GPS is not in our future.
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Old 09-18-21, 04:11 PM
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You might get a real strong magnifying glass or zoom in on the usb port with your camera and see what's up. Might be just dirty. Might be something bent and out of place.

Even if you could find someone to fix it, I don't think it'd be worth fixing considering that will probably be half what a new one will cost or more. And then you just have a new usb port on a old device that might be ready to give up the ghost for other reasons.

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Old 09-18-21, 04:40 PM
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Repair if possible. Keep it out of a landfill over a minor repair, and avoid a learning curve of a new unit.
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Old 09-18-21, 07:24 PM
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I would say pry it apart. See if the internal cables that connects to the USB or battery are loose. You can then search the part number on the battery and see if there are replacements out there. You can search ‘ifixit Garmin’ to see how they are generally put together, even though I don’t see the exact device you have.

If you really muck it up, well fate has said it’s time for a new device!
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Old 09-19-21, 12:41 AM
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Originally Posted by cccorlew;[url=tel:22235895
22235895[/url]]My wife likes her Garmin Touring a lot. She doesn't need power or heart rate, just GPS mapping for touring and a way to log mikes.
DM me? I have a Garmin Edge Touring I don’t use (I switched to a Wahoo ELEMNT, and can’t imagine switching back), and would be happy for someone else to use for the cost of postage.
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Old 09-19-21, 06:51 AM
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Originally Posted by Seattle Forrest
Repair if possible. Keep it out of a landfill over a minor repair, ...
Great to do.

Originally Posted by Seattle Forrest
...and avoid a learning curve of a new unit.
Not a good reason.

The Explore works the same way but is a much unit (works better and has a much better screen).

Other units (830 or 1030+) mostly work the same (these don't work that much different than any other models). ​​​​​​​
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Old 09-19-21, 07:03 AM
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Originally Posted by cccorlew
My wife likes her Garmin Touring a lot. She doesn't need power or heart rate, just GPS mapping for touring and a way to log mikes.

Lately the power connection has become fiddley. Bumping the cable at all disconnects it. And the battery is showing its age.

Should we get it fixed? If so, Garmin or a third party? Suggestions?
Or should we get a new device, and if that, what's the most like the Touring (Do they still make it?) What's a reasonable replacement? Price matters, so a top of the line GPS is not in our future.
Honestly, the Touring wasn't one of Garmin's best efforts.

If you can fix it cheaply, then fix it.

The successor to the Touring is the Explore, which costs $250 (or less, if you get it on sale).

The Explore has a better, larger screen and will have a new battery. The Explore is a better unit than the Touring ever was.

It works more or less the the Touring (so, don't be worried about fear mongering about "layering curves").
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Old 09-19-21, 07:06 AM
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Originally Posted by cccorlew
My wife likes her Garmin Touring a lot. She doesn't need power or heart rate, just GPS mapping for touring and a way to log mikes.

Lately the power connection has become fiddley. Bumping the cable at all disconnects it. And the battery is showing its age.

Should we get it fixed? If so, Garmin or a third party? Suggestions?
Or should we get a new device, and if that, what's the most like the Touring (Do they still make it?) What's a reasonable replacement? Price matters, so a top of the line GPS is not in our future.
Honestly, the Touring wasn't one of Garmin's best efforts.

If you can fix it cheaply, then fix it.

The successor to the Touring is the Explore, which costs $250 (or less, if you get it on sale).

The Explore has a better, larger screen and will have a new battery. The Explore is a better unit than the Touring ever was.

It works more or less the the Touring (so, don't be worried about fear mongering about "lerning curves").
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Old 09-19-21, 10:14 AM
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Originally Posted by scubaman
DM me? I have a Garmin Edge Touring I don’t use (I switched to a Wahoo ELEMNT, and can’t imagine switching back), and would be happy for someone else to use for the cost of postage.
This is awesome. Random act of kindness from one cyclist to another. Reading this post made my day. 🙂
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Old 09-19-21, 12:20 PM
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Might not work for this device, but people are usually pretty happy with the way they are treated by garmin when something like this happens. Although there are people that specialize in garmin repair.
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Old 09-28-21, 06:46 AM
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Originally Posted by scubaman
DM me? I have a Garmin Edge Touring I don’t use (I switched to a Wahoo ELEMNT, and can’t imagine switching back), and would be happy for someone else to use for the cost of postage.
Sent DM. I Hope it works. If you see this but not the DM let me know.
Or email curtis (at) colrew (dot) com . But no spaces and use the symbols.
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Old 09-28-21, 05:20 PM
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Originally Posted by cccorlew
Sent DM. I Hope it works. If you see this but not the DM let me know.
Or email curtis (at) colrew (dot) com . But no spaces and use the symbols.
Sent via USPS priority mail.
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Old 10-03-21, 08:12 AM
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A bit of public praise is in order here. Scubaman was wonderfully kind and shipped me his Garmin. My wife is stunned, amazed and thrilled. Thanks for the generosity.
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