Keep the old Quest or update?
 

I've have my poor old Quest I for about 3 years now, 2 of which have been doing a RTW trip and is now showing its age a bit...

After being dropped countless times and being yanked at by sticky fingers in India, the whole thing is basically held together with duct tape and was barely charging by the time I got home though that seems to be more to do with the TT mount/cable failing than the unit itself (I've needed 2 power cables since 2006).

Anyway, Garmin can apparently revamp it with a new case etc and make it like new again for £85 so my question is this: should I just spend £85 or spend a fair chunk more for something a tad more up to date like the 60CSx which means getting another handlebar mount etc? I'm not that techie with these things but what are the advantages of the newer units?

http://i292.photobucket.com/albums/m...e/IMG_0001.jpg

http://i292.photobucket.com/albums/m...e/IMG_0002.jpg

That looks like the Quest I sent in last fall for repair. Same problems and taped parts.

I sent in the European model to the USA repair shop and got back a US model Quest (which has a smaller memory and a US base map). They didn't rebuild mine, just replaced it with what was handy. Upon complaint they sent me a free Europe map set for it and told me that was the best they could do. As a very long time customer of Garmin this did not make me very happy.

Last spring I bought a Quest 2. It has never worked right. The screen locks up and won't redraw for time periods of several seconds to several minutes. This makes it difficult to follow a route. I have returned it twice and gotten it replaced. All three have had the same problem. The problem is not local disturbance because I have used it in the NW USA and Europe with the same problem. Tech support has been good and cooperative and doesn't know what the problem is either, but the Quest 2's have been unusable.

My advice, repair the Quest. It is a great little machine. Just make sure you get back what you sent in. If it is the European model send it to the Garmin office in Europe! Be sure and get new unlock codes for all your Mapsource files that need them. The old ones will NOT work.

A brand new Quest 1 is only £100..

My mate bought one 2 weeks ago with UK maps.

s##t dont tell my work mate that, i just sold him my 3yr old quest for £120!! :innocent:

though to be fair it did have the garmin m/c mount and RAM fitting, and new maps, and it was in VGC not held together with tape!

used the cash to get a zumo 400 and it is loads better, but the quest was fine

I thought you said he was a friend... :oops2:

i didnt know they were that cheap, or that you could still get them, they stopped doing the quest ages ago

Ted, where did he get a new one for £100?

I've just emailed him to find out...

It was a US model but loaded and supplied with UK maps.

As it happens, he has troubles seeing the screen so is thinking of getting a different one...

He "might" sell it for what he bought it for if anyone is interested ????

Thought it must have been the N American version, it's got about 1/2 the memory as the Europe version and no base map for Europe if I remember right. I reckon I'll probably just send mine in to Garmin for a revamp...

This was the place

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My mate has informed me that he doesnt have any left at that price though...

Why would you want base map anyway... its totally useless !!

The US model (known as North America) has 115 MB, the EU model (known as Atlantic) has 140 MB. Each has the base map of its designation.

I think the Europe version actually has about 256MB of internal memory, not really sure why both versions weren't made with the same amount.

Update: got my replacement Quest in about 3 days, looks brand new so am quite happy with that. Cost was £65.