Re: Garmin spares ...


<danr_18@xxxxxxxxx> wrote in message
news:1141923360.051101.295760@xxxxxxxxxxxxxxxxxxxxxxxxxxxxxxx
I'm thinking about buying a 3200 -- and the battery is my biggest issue
now. How long do the batteries last before replacement is needed?

The pdainternalbattery.com website no longer exists and other than the
European website I see here, I don't see any other place which sells
one. Is it a matter of screws and un/plugging a socket -- or is it a
de/soldering job. The european website makes it look like a socket...
Do the 3200 and 3600 use the same battery?

How do you like the 3200 as a GPS? Is there a case I can use to make it
less fragile - especially for hiking?

Thanks

Hi

I actually like my 3200 just fine. I have never had any cause to fault its
operation as a GPS, or a Palm. I think that there is a case available - I'm
sure I saw one in an e-Bay shop - but actually, the flip down cover that's
across the front of it, does a pretty fair job of protecting it anyway. I'm
not sure how practical the rear mounted fold-out flat panel antenna would be
for hiking, but it does of course, have an external antenna socket. I've
never done hiking, but I think it's not unusual for people to use external
hat mounted antennas, from some of the posts I've read.

As far as the length of time a battery should last. I'm not sure that I
really know the answer to that. As far as I'm aware, it's a lithium polymer
battery, which should be good for at least a 1000 cycles, charged properly.
However, I'm not sure that the Garmin charger, is particularly
sophisticated, in this respect. A couple of times, I've accidentally left
the unit connected to the charger for a couple of days. I had assumed that
this would not cause a problem, expecting the charger to have cut itself off
when the battery was fully charged, but in view of the current battery
issues that I have, I'm now not so sure that this is the case. I still get a
reasonably good standby time of 7-10 days from the unit, but as soon as
there is any load on the battery- the GPS on for instance - it soon seems to
be showing low battery. I would have expected to have got several hours, but
I don't think that I have really ever got that much from it. It may be that
the battery was defective in the first place, from new. As I originally
said, it's not really too much of an issue, because I mostly use it in the
car, where it's powered from its cradle. I just thought that if a
replacement battery was readily available, at a sensible price, being an
engineer, I would just go ahead and change it.

I haven't been inside to look yet, but I'm pretty sure that it's going to be
a plug and socket job. As far as I can see, the rear case is just secured by
two Torx screws. They look to be about T1.5. The 3200 and 3600 are both the
same size, I think, so I would guess that the battery would be the same,
although I can't say for sure.

I'm surprised that you say the US website doesn't exist any more. I went
there from the link, and the site came up ok, with the picture of the
battery. I put in an enquiry about international shipping, and it flew ok,
and hasn't bounced, but I have to admit that I haven't received a reply as
yet, which is unusual for a US company.

If anyone else knows of any other sources, UK or US, or has any other
observations to add, I'd be very interested in hearing them.

Arfa


.

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