My Garmin Aera 660 quit.......

kgruber

kgruber

Final Approach
Joined
Jan 3, 2007
Messages
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Location
Western Washington
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Skywag
Home Airfield
KPWT Bremerton National
...........can I send it to Garmin or does it need to go to a dealer first?

It won't charge anymore. I replaced the battery and tried wall wort and 12V from cigar lighter. Nix!
 
It needs to be done through a dealer, most likely. Sometimes the dealer will get the RMA, and have you send the unit directly to Garmin under the RMA, then Garmin will send it to the dealer who will forward it to you. If it's under warranty, then you would need to deal with the dealer you bought it from. If not, then any Garmin dealer should work.
 
I have had good success in communicating with Garmin support on their website. They have been good about timely response and very helpful. I would send your question to them.
 
Call Garmin. Unfortunately, they sometimes suck at supporting portable devices. One of their firmware updates bricked my GDL-50. Because it was out of the 1 year warranty period, their answer was to buy a new one. That experience left me determined to no longer tie myself to their ecosystem. Hopefully your luck is better.
 
I hope they fix it................we'll see! I bought it at Pacific Coast Avionics, and they aren't answering their phone right now.
 
Well............In essence........... Garmin says to go pound sand. I can return it, they don't fix them and they'll send a used one out for $385.
 
Ahhh...the aviation equivalent of taking a hamster to the vet.

That SUCKS.

kgruber said:
Well............In essence........... Garmin says to go pound sand. I can return it, they don't fix them and they'll send a used one out for $385.
Click to expand...
 
Ahhh...the 660 is a hamster; at least it isn't a gerbel.
 
kgruber said:
Well............In essence........... Garmin says to go pound sand. I can return it, they don't fix them and they'll send a used one out for $385.
Click to expand...

Try that with any consumer electronics (phones, tablets, etc), no one repairs anymore, it’s a throw it away mindset.

Personally I would try to fix it myself, likely only a broken wire to the charging jack. Could be easy to fix. What do you have to lose?
 
Llew, Thanks for that link, although they list everything BUT the 660. Strange, because on eBay there are several choices............that also fix everything but.

I'll give them a jingle.

And, MooneyDriver, (I owned a 201) I bet you are right a simple repair. But I also bet there aren't ANY wires in a 660.

Happy New Year.
 
Llew381.......Great news! Short Tronix in Minnesota is going to look at it.

Even though they have never worked on one we both agreed that the "form factor" is similar to other consumer Garmin products.

And also, Thank you POA!
 
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kgruber said:
Llew381.......Great news! Short Tronix in Minnesota is going to look at it.

Even though they have never worked on one we both agreed that the "form factor" is similar to other consumer Garmin products.

And also, Thank you POA!
Click to expand...
Hope they can help! A PIREP later - good or bad - would be nice. Good luck!
 
If you are between 1 and 2 years from the date of purchase in this case, your credit card may have a benefit to extend the warranty. Worth a look. I haven't needed it for Garmin products, but have made use with other manufacturers. Good luck either way.
 
WDD said:
Great news - what was broken?
Click to expand...

The charging circuit board............or some such thing. He said he "thought" it would be one he was familiar with, but it turned out to be two generations newer. I've been playing with it at home bluetoothed to the GDL50. It truly is amazing. Turn around was sudden.
 
Does anyone know if the RS232 data wires are inside the cable shipped with the AERA660? If they are and can be exposed, that could save the time and extra money required to buy the optional bare wire cable just to gain access to one data wire.
 
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