Problem with antenna

[locksmith]

Anyone else had this?

My quest has been working perfectly since I bought it last August.

Gave it it's first real test with a 6 day French motorcycle tour last week. Within an hour of hitting French soil it kept losing satellite coverage. As it was terribly overcast I put it down to cloud cover although it's never happened before. Well further south and the skys were blue and the sun shining and still it was not working a lot more than it was working. it mattered not whether it was on the bike or in my hands.

A couple of days later after a lock up and a reset I discovered that with the antenna fully flipped up a bit of pressure on it pushing it to the right and it worked! So 1 cable tie later around the antenna keeping the pressure on and it worked for 600 miles - which was very helpfull around Paris !!.
Then around 50 miles before Calais it went again and no amount of fiddling would persuade it to work.

Back home I can't find the receipt so I guess Garmin will not do it under warranty

So I try it again and the flipping thing is perfect again. I've been using it constantly to try and get a re-occurence of the problem and it will not go wrong. Poinless contacting Garmin I suppose.

So is this a one off or has anyone else experienced
this problem?

I'm off to Germany in July so will it conk out again!!!!

[bigbob]

I would be inclined to get an external antenna :-
http://www.globalpositioningsystems.co.uk/c-accessories-apla3669c94.html

[Berisford]

I'd still try Garmin for a repair.

Give 'em a call and explain.

What have you got to loose?

[Kritou]

Threw my bike and two year old Quest down the road recently. Rang Romsey the next morning to explain that the antenna was now b******d but the machine was OK otherwise. "Here's your RMA and give us four working days" Sure enough it was home three days later, fixed and FOC

Yet again great customer service

[locksmith]

Been using it trying to get it to go wrong again and it finally did this morning in the van even with the ext aerial connected. Gave the unit flip up aerial and good wiggle and hey presto started working again. Looks like a lengthy telephone call on monday Still cant find the receipt, wonder how much they charge for repairs?

[adrianh]

I also had a similar experience this past weekend on a trip to London. While driving along an open stretch the unit said "Lost satellite comms"
I found the following and could simulate it at regular intervals. With the unit in its cradle and attached to the windscreen with the suction cup the flip up antenna could not click into the horizontal position so I had it half way between horizontal and the fully flipped up position. This is when it lost comms. As soon as I flipped it to the full "click" position the comms was restored. As I said before I was able to simulate this a no of times just by moving the flip-antenna off of the full "click" position. It takes approx 2-3 min before losing comms. I can therefore only conclude that the connection of the antenna only makes contact with the internal motherboard when in one of the 3 "click" positions. Would like to know from Garmin if the antenna should be in a "click" position to operate correctly. Anyone else have this strange anomoly and can you simulate comms failure as I was able to ???

[locksmith]

After two days of trying to phone garmin eventually got through only to be told their systems were down and they couldn't raise a return reference Was told to email the details across. Well three days later I get a reply

What sort of customer service is this?

Is it worth trying to complain - probably not.

I'll be looking at the next phone bill to see how much a couple of hours queing has cost

Been told a 7 day turn around, I've got 14 till I need the quest for my German trip - I wonder

[Berisford]

If you'd sent it in June when you first complained it'd been back by now, fixed, probably FoC!

If it isn't working I think the only option you've got is send it to Garmin, First Class Next Day Special Delivery with a grovelling letter and keep your fingers crossed!

[locksmith]

[Kritou]

[Berisford]

Is it back yet Locksmith?

[locksmith]

It arrived yesterday, a brand new Quest !!!
Top marks for the repair men, replacing it even though I didn't have proof of purchase :D
On the down side, I spent two and a half hours on the phone on hold without getting through :x

[Berisford]

Well there you go, just as I said, good company for aftersales Garmin.

I've had three problems over the last 12 years and all have been sorted swiftly without charge by Garmin.

I even got a upgrade from a II to a IIplus on one occasion.

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