Garmin 590LM Will Not Power Up

[Fontanaman]

I bought a 590LM on the road during the Red Lodge event and with the help of friends installed it in Red Lodge.

Yesterday after a voice and map update, I checked some settings then charged the battery and it failed to boot. The Garmin logo appeared then the unit would shut down. It did this while on battery, in the powered cradle and plugged into the PC. Reset did not work, unplugging the battery did not work not did system reset. The GPS is so dead the PC will not recognize it. When connect to the PC the GPS quickly displays the Garmin logo, the goes dark and repeats, over and over and over. I can't get into the file system, nuts.

The is annoying and casts a bit of a shadow on Garmin product reliability.

On Zumoforums I found I am not the only one.

To their credit Garmin will exchange the unit. That is GREAT, yet product reliability is important. I don't need a GPS dying in the middle of a trip.

I just replaced the Cradle and cabling on warranty so I will have a new/refurbished GPS and a record with Garmin about these issues. As for the Cradle this time I installed it on key switched power and not on a always hot connection. Perhaps there is some issue electrical issue if one removes the GPS from a power always on cradle.

I am posting this hear no so much for advice as the GPS is on the way to Garmin but to share my experience in case somebody else has a issue with a 590.

 

[its just rain]

I had the same thing happen to me with my 660 about a year and a 1/2 ago. I called Garmin tech support and got a hold of a very knowledgeable person who patiently when through all the diagnostics. When we were all through and it still didn't work he said that he gave up and he would send me a new one. I'm really glad I did it that way. The old one would at times lock up or fail to connect to my Cardo Scala and was really annoying. This new one hasn't so much as burped. What a great gps. I think that there was something wrong right out of the factory and it just took some time to manifest itself. Think you will be fine with the new one!

 

[HotRodZilla]

Throw it against a wall. If that fixes it, cool. If not, just wait for the new one to show up. Garmin has yet to Un-fu** their updates. The first update on my 660 rendered it useless. I was able to reset it and go back to the previous version. A new unit and a corrected update fixed it. It's been pretty good sonce then, with only small Garmin glitches.

 

[escapefjrtist]

Not very good news for a virtually new GPS Fontanaman. Hope Garmin makes it right and the new one is a better unit!

--G

 

[101stpathfinder]

IMO - The 590 can not match the dependability of the 550

I have had issues with mine since I got it.

 

[Lou D]

I have one for my car, not sure which model. While using it the other day, plugged in, I got a low battery warning, shut off, restarted once, then died completely. I tried plugging in to my computers USB and nothing. Still dead. I`v had it about 5 years. Suggestions?

 

[Fontanaman]

IMO - The 590 can not match the dependability of the 550I have had issues with mine since I got it.

Well I still have my 550. I think the screen digitizer died for the second time. Also the buttons are falling off. These are fixable problems so I will just keep it a while longer just in case this 590 thing does not work out.

 

[Fontanaman]

I have one for my car, not sure which model. While using it the other day, plugged in, I got a low battery warning, shut off, restarted once, then died completely. I tried plugging in to my computers USB and nothing. Still dead. I`v had it about 5 years. Suggestions?

Contact Garmin. They offered me 20% off on a 595 or replace my 590 for free. You may get the 20% offer. GPS City has some good deals on GPS no longer sold by Garmin.

 

[blassoff]

I have one for my car, not sure which model. While using it the other day, plugged in, I got a low battery warning, shut off, restarted once, then died completely. I tried plugging in to my computers USB and nothing. Still dead. I`v had it about 5 years. Suggestions?

Contact Garmin. They offered me 20% off on a 595 or replace my 590 for free. You may get the 20% offer. GPS City has some good deals on GPS no longer sold by Garmin.

Actually, If you get the right person at Garmin, they might just upgrade you for cheap.

About three years ago I called Garmin after my StreetPilot 2820 died. Yea, I know, and oldie but a goodie. So there I am bemoaning the loss of my $1000 gps and they offer to replace it with a nuvi for free.

I asked about the functions of a nuvi and after hearing about what the thing it would and wouldn't do I asked if they had something that had the same or similar functionality to the 2820. They offered to upgrade me a 665 for $188. I said hell yes. They sent me the 665, but no accessories, not even a motorcycle mount. I called and raised holy heck and they wound up agreeing to send me both the car and motorcycle mounts, the rain cover for the motorcycle mount, the mounts for the Satellite radio puck and the radio puck, all for free. That's like $500 worth of accessories for nothing.

Bottom line: I got a refurbished 665 with all of the accessories for $188.00

I think Garmin does customer service really well. Sure they have their problems, but they stand behind what they sell and their tech support is excellent. If they can't fix it, they'll swap out the old one for something better/newer.

Can't beat that with a stick.