Beware Garmin GPS 72

[John Vigor]

Garmin's GPS 72 is on sale for less than $100 at West Marine and other places right now, and I just found out why. I bought one. It is defective.

Nevertheless, they're still selling them, so if you're in the market for a cheap back-up GPS, beware of the GPS 72.

The problem arises when the GPS receives WAAS signals. The screen goes totally blank except for a thin blue line running from top to bottom.

A tech support rep at Garmin told me they are aware of the problem and are working "frantically" to correct it. He said if I register the unit, they will inform me when a software download is available that will correct the problem.

This, of course requires a special cable from your PC to the GPS. When I asked who would pay for that, the answer was that I would have to.

The temporary "fix" is to selected "WAAS disabled" from the menu, so that WAAS does not kick in.

Incidentally, after waiting for 10 minutes to speak to Garmin's tech support, someone picked up the phone and put it down again, cutting me off, so I am not very kindly disposed to a company I have supported faithfully for many years.

The service is poor, the product is shoddy. There's no point in my returning it and getting another GPS 72 in exchange, because they all suffer from the same disease according to the man I spoke to, and they don't know how long it will take to fix it.

However, if you find yourself with a blank screen when you really need help, here's what to do:

(1) Remove a battery and then replace it.
(2) Press "Page" twice
(3) Press "menu" twice
(4) Scroll down to "Setup"
(5) Scroll down twice to "WAAS"
(6) Select "Disabled"
(7) Press "Enter"
(8) Press "Quit"

You will now find that all your stored data has disappeared--waypoints, routes, everything--and the factory defaults will have come back. But you will at least receive satellite signals and get a position even if it is not WAAS-corrected.

Cheers,

John Vigor

[mgphl52]

Hi John,

That is very distressing news! I have also been a great fan of Garmin products for many years. Several years ago, my 48 started acting flaky - the lithium battery was nearly dead after only about 2 years. I was told then that it would cost $100 to have it refurbished. Since the battery was supposed to last for ten years, I skipped the fix. To compensate, I made sure I had fresh AA's in it all of the time. Fast forward about a year later and it got worse: the unit would shut down (on its own) before even syncing satellites... I called to get an RMA and was willing to pay the $100 to get it fixed/refurbished. Well... the support tech said "send it in under warranty" and I tried to explain that it was way past warranty. He insisted that they would fix it so I FedEx'd it to them.Three days later, I got a phone call from Garmin; they apologized that they didn't have any 48s available to send me but wanted to know if would accept a 76 instead.OK, I did pause about 5 seconds, but I said "Sure!" A few days later the "newly" refurbished 76 arrived and I started the arduous task of reloading all of my local waypoints... only to find that they had already done that! Not just my waypoints, but even the last tracks were transferred! Since then, I have been a fervent fan of Garmin.

As for the 72 problems, I wonder if once they find the real solution, they just might "fix" any of them that are registered and returned to them for the upgrade and do it for free. Sometimes, it just depends on which service rep you get on the phone. That's unfortunate, but it is a reality. You might even try calling them again in hopes of getting another tech, or ask for a manager.

-michael

PS: I really do like the 76, once I got familiar with the different menu structure. Plus, it only eats 2 AAs at a time and they seem to last longer than the 4 big in my old 48!

[tartansailor]

Purchased a 72 about 5 or 6 years ago.
WAAS enabled since new.
No problems to date.
My s/n is 82223718 Made in Taiwan

I suspect some cost cutting move on their part back fired.
IMHO

Dick

[Matt Cawthorne]

I have also had great luck with my Garmin GPS 48 and had the same problem with the battery that they fixed for free. It helps to take the unit to the boat show when the sales person is trying to sell to a crowd. Ask for help in front of others and it will be fixed for free.

If you check ebay you will probably find that cable for about 5 bucks. I did for my GPS 48.

Matt

[Dick Barthel]

John,

Why won't West Marine give you a refund for defective merchandise? They are pretty good about that especially if you are a good customer.

Dick

[Joe CD MS 300]

I had five Garmins over the years:

GPS 12
GPS MAP 12
GPS MAP 76
GPS 3006
GPS 478

The only one I had any problems with was the GPSMAP 12. It started to get some moisture in the screen and the screen eventually failed. It was out of warranty but they replaced it for a nominal fixed fee, Again, as with Michael it was returned with all my waypoints and routes loaded on the new unit.

I have always found their products and support to be great. No one comes close in the variety of units they offer.

John, you should really get the PC cable for the unit. They are pretty cheap and it is really helpful for storing and transferring waypoints, and routes to / from you computer to new or additional units. They really are good about updating their software and make it easy. Its is also much easier to enter waypoints on the computer then download them to the unit. Much less likely to make mistakes.

Joe

[oldragbaggers]

We're using a Garmin 72 that we have had for several years and have never had a problem with it. It's unfortunate that you are struggling with yours.
I like that suggestion about bringing it to the boat show. I will certainly keep that in mind the next time I get a lemon.

[John Vigor]

John,

Why won't West Marine give you a refund for defective merchandise? They are pretty good about that especially if you are a good customer.

Dick

Oh, I'm a good customer of West Marine's, all right, Dick. They have vacuumed the cash from my pockets many times. But I didn't buy my Garmin 72 from them. I used an Internet store called Megagps in Alpine, UT.

They will refund my money, less 10 percent restock fee, and I'd have to pay postage. But I haven't yet decided whether I want to do that or wait until Garmin comes up with a software fix.

Garmin has now offered to send me the PC cable I'll need to download the correction, but they have not commented on my suggestion that they stop selling the flawed GPS 72 meanwhile.

I think that's what upsets me most about this business--it's the lack of moral probity. They're selling a flawed product. They know it's flawed, but they're still selling it. And presumably all their retailers know it's flawed. The word gets around. But they will still cheerfully sell you one and even promote it as a sale bargain.

And if you accidentally find out about the flaw, they'll blithely tell you that you'll be able to download a correction from the Garmin website at some unspecified date in the future.

If this were a health issue, this product would be pulled from the shelves. But heck, it's only a few dumb sailors whose lives might be at stake.

Perhaps the corporate lawyers have assessed the chances of being sued by someone whose boat hit the rocks because their Garmin 72 failed and concluded that if the Garmin goes down with the boat . . . well, there went the evidence.

We are warned, of course, never to rely on one method of navigation alone, especially GPS. I have owned three Garnmin GPSs, now--a 38, a 12, and now the 72--and two out of three have malfunctioned. The exception, the 12, is still going strong but it eats batteries and must be 10 years old, so I guess its days are numbered.

If it weren't for the Eyeball Mark I method of navigation, combined with paper charts and a hefty dose of old-fashioned prudence, I'd be in real trouble.

Cheers,

John vigor

[Jim Davis]

GPS May be Unreliable in Large Area of Chesapeake Bay, April-Oct:
The following announcement is from the USCG 5 th District LNM 15. The GPS Coordinates given below are for the Patuxent Naval Air Station, located on the southern bank of the Patuxent River on the Chesapeake Bay in southern Maryland:

THE GPS NAVIGATION SIGNAL MAY BE UNRELIABLE FROM 01 APR 08 - 31 OCT 08 DUE TO INTERFERENCE TESTING ON GPS FREQUENCIES USED IN SHIPBOARD NAVIGATION AND HANDHELD SYSTEMS. SYSTEMS THAT RELY ON GPS, SUCH AS E-911, AIS AND DSC, MAY BE AFFECTED WITHIN A 35 NM RADIUS OF POSITION 38-15-41N, 076-26-01W DURING THIS PERIOD. GPS USERS ARE ENCOURAGED TO REPORT ANY GPS SERVICE OUTAGES THAT THEY MAY EXPERIENCE DURING THIS TESTING VIA THE NAVIGATION INFORMATION SERVICE ( NIS) BY CALLING (703)313-5900 OR BY USING THE NAVCEN'S WEB SITE'S 'GPS REPORT A PROBLEM WORKSHEET' AT WWW.NAVCEN.USCG.GOV"

Another good reason to keep paper handy.

[barfwinkle]

Does this same flaw afflict the above mentioned units????

[Joe CD MS 300]

Bill,

Which units, John's or the ones I mentioned? I haven' had any problems with the 5-6 units I have owned. I use my GPSMAP 478 for driving all the time and it is a great unit. I don't think this issue would cross over to other units, maybe similar units like the GPS 76 or GPSMap 76 models.

The Garmin GPS 72 is somewhat of an older model. Its been around since 2001 or 2002 I believe. The last software update was back in 2005. My guess that John's issue probably relate to some type of recent manufacturing issue that did not exist with units manufactured in the past. Maybe they got some bad parts recently and are trying to do a software fix to overcome it. I looked at product reviews from a variety of sites like Amazon.com, bisrate, etc. and the model seemed to get almost universally good reviews. Only recently in a couple of blogs did I see the WAAS issue come up. That's what makes me think it is a recent hardware issue rather than software.

Ultimately, if the product is registered and under warranty I'm pretty sure that Garmin will honor the warranty and will work it out somehow if they can't do the software fix.

John,

You don't need to have purchased the unit from Garmin to return it to Garmin for service or replacement. I haven't purchased any of my units from Garmin, all from several online vendors. But I did register them all with Garmin.Did you register the unit on Garmin's website? It might be a good idea to register if you need to return it to Garmin.


Joe

[John Vigor]

Joe, yes I have registered it with Garmin and they have promised to send me the PC-GPS cable so I can download the correction at some future unspecified date when they get around to it.

But my main concern is that they are still selling the defective unit to unsuspecting suckers like me, knowing full well the program will crash and the screen go blank as soon as WAAS kicks in. Then, if you don't know how to re-boot the program and disable WAAS, the unit is totally inoperative. That could be a very nasty surprise in fog at sea, and a potentially dangerous one.

Cheers,

John Vigor

[Kurt]

I talked to Garmin and they said the problem was brought about by the Dept of Defense when changes were made to the GPS satellites about 6 months ago.

[John Vigor]

I talked to Garmin and they said the problem was brought about by the Dept of Defense when changes were made to the GPS satellites about 6 months ago.

And is the GPS 72 the only unit affected? And have they been selling them as fast as they can for six months knowing all that time that they were defective? It gets worse and worse.

John Vigor

[Joe CD MS 300]

Kurt,

That actually makes sense since it seems that this problem only surfaced recently on a unit that has been around for quite a while.

It helps make the case for redundancy with critical equipment. After many years of chartering and not knowing the exact equipment I would find on a charter boat I always took my own charter boat travel kit with me: my own charts, cruising guides, hand held VHF, hand held GPS (often two), flashlight, knife, batteries, small set of tools and repair items like tape, epoxy, screws, etc. . Everything except the charts fit into a small brief case. Even though I now know what I have on board I still carry the same briefcase with most of the same items except for the charts and cruising guides as a back up. They have been replaced by the small Maptech foldup charts.


Joe