GMX-200 repaired by Garmin (NOT)

azure

azure

Final Approach
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azure
So I finally got my GMX-200 back today after being sent out to Garmin in late August. The issue was intermittent spontaneous rebooting, nearly always preceded by the ownship "jumping" around on the map, sometimes by hundreds of miles. It happened much more frequently in warm weather than in cold, and that pattern was consistent enough that I suspected a failed internal cooling fan.

The avionics shop talked to Garmin today and learned that they had been unable to reproduce the problem, but sent the unit back and charged me their $930 flat rate fee anyway for completely overhauling and recalibrating the unit.

On the 30 minute return flight home, the display was rock solid: no jumping at all, not even a hint. I thought the problem was somehow cured by whatever they did. But after landing at home base, the display suddenly went black without warning. After coming back up, the error code displayed was 0x20, the same as every time before.

Garmin does NOT warranty their service work, even when it is their recommendation to send a unit in. To have them look at it again would cost me another AMU.

Let this be a warning to anyone thinking of sending a Garmin product back to the company for service. Their work is limited in scope, they WILL charge you a pretty penny for it, and you have NO recourse if their service fails to fix the problem.

As far as I'm concerned, Garmin can burn in Hell. :mad2:
 
They did the same thing to me on a 650. When the shop found out it was their software that was causing the issue, they refunded the charge. Play hard ball with them and see where it gets you. File a claim in small claims for fraud. Maybe that will get their attention. They said send it in, then said nothing is wrong, charged you a grand for doing nothing to fix the issue. Sounds like a good case to me.
 
If only we had an MC member here who worked for them and could beat some customer service sense into their collective heads!

F Garmin. I've had similar experiences in the past.
 
timwinters said:
If only we had an MC member here who worked for them and could beat some customer service sense into their collective heads!

F Garmin. I've had similar experiences in the past.
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Two Garmin guys, Trek and Steve are very active on Beechtalk. Trek is a supervisor. Might be worth hitting them up over there.
 
That's right... Trek Lawler IIRC. Fantastic idea! I will do that... I get the weekly digest and participate there occasionally.
 
sorry to hear about your experience @azure . this sounds like a warning light for me.... once the GMX 200 and the 480 is dead... may be i should jump ship to Avidyne
 
FWIW, no fault found happens all the time, that troubleshooting is rarely free.

Can you borrow one for troubleshooting from someone?

It sure seems like these were never a very solid product to me, lotta whiz and little bang.
 
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I got an email from the owner of my avionics shop. He thinks the correct conclusion from this is that the fault is likely not internal to the GMX-200, but is being caused by something in the interface with either the GDL-90 or the GDL-69. Possibly even location data being fed from the GDL-90 with a timing delay relative to the direct feed from the GNS-480. I'm skeptical about that because of the temperature dependence, but I suppose there could be something failing in a temperature dependent way in one of those two remote units. So we'll see. Despite my misgivings about Garmin, it seems the only ADS-B solutions that will work for me without replacing virtually my entire avionics suite are from Garmin, so I've decided to go with the GTX-345R, and to pull (or at least disconnect) the GDL-69 as well as the GDL-90, and go with ADS-B for both traffic and weather. If the problem continues after that, the shop will continue to try to troubleshoot with help from Garmin's tech support.

Unfortunately no, the shop doesn't have a spare GMX-200 and I don't know anyone else out here that has one. :(
 
I didn't pay Garmin directly, but my avionics shop. Don't exactly want to get on their bad side, and anyway, not their fault.
 
azure said:
Garmin does NOT warranty their service work, even when it is their recommendation to send a unit in. To have them look at it again would cost me another AMU.
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That is 100% not true. The service work comes with a 6m warranty. This sounds like an interface issue between you and the Garmin dealer you are working with.
I send in dozens of boxes to Garmin a month for repair, it does not happen often, but I do sometimes have to send a unit back for warranty. The common reason (again though, not common), is the keypad (snap domes) failing on a unit after having it repaired/upgraded.
There have been a couple SW issues over the past years. It is certainly worth making sure your SW is current. Your shop should also be doing this as a standard of practice.
Also, the OS for the GMX200 resides on the SD card. I have seen them fail. I have not heard of this fault, but something worth looking into.
 
derekbox said:
That is 100% not true. The service work comes with a 6m warranty. This sounds like an interface issue between you and the Garmin dealer you are working with.
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Not sure what you mean by "interface issue"...
I send in dozens of boxes to Garmin a month for repair, it does not happen often, but I do sometimes have to send a unit back for warranty. The common reason (again though, not common), is the keypad (snap domes) failing on a unit after having it repaired/upgraded.
There have been a couple SW issues over the past years. It is certainly worth making sure your SW is current. Your shop should also be doing this as a standard of practice.
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Software version is 2.14. Not sure whether it was updated by my avionics guy (would have been 2 years ago) or Garmin. But that's where it is, and as far as I know, that's the most recent version.
Also, the OS for the GMX200 resides on the SD card. I have seen them fail. I have not heard of this fault, but something worth looking into.
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I have two SD cards, and the fault is the same regardless of which card is being used at the time.
 
By interface issue I mean communication between you and your dealer, and your dealer and Garmin.
Do you have a GDL69/69A, GTX345, GDL88 hooked up? Are they current SW?
2.14 is the current software.
This is the kind of issue Trek should probably be brought in on.
 
derekbox said:
By interface issue I mean communication between you and your dealer, and your dealer and Garmin.
Do you have a GDL69/69A, GTX345, GDL88 hooked up? Are they current SW?
2.14 is the current software.
This is the kind of issue Trek should probably be brought in on.
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Well I have no way to judge how well my dealer communicates with Garmin, since I'm not privy to those calls. I have a GDL 69, yes, as well as a GDL 90 and am getting a GTX 345R. As I wrote above, my dealer/shop owner believes the problem is probably actually due to some miscommunication between the GMX 200 and either the GDL 69 or the GDL 90. The test will be whether the problem disappears when the old units are removed.
 
Let's talk about the problem of the unit going blank, etc. I recently had a 375 installed on my 172. Shop had immediate issues with the 375 malfunctioning while transmitting on the Com [Narco MK 120] . He re-positioned the gps antenna but had to put filters on the Nav/Com to keep from conflicting with the 375. The screen on the 375 would go blank and do a reboot. After moving the GPS antenna and filters no problems. Hope this helps. Avionics shop said this is very rare. If you have a conflict with another device on your panel you could do a check to see if the problem replicates itself while transmitting or you could shut off different devices on the panel to perhaps identify a source of conflict. Hope this helps.
 
Possum said:
Let's talk about the problem of the unit going blank, etc. I recently had a 375 installed on my 172. Shop had immediate issues with the 375 malfunctioning while transmitting on the Com [Narco MK 120] . He re-positioned the gps antenna but had to put filters on the Nav/Com to keep from conflicting with the 375. The screen on the 375 would go blank and do a reboot. After moving the GPS antenna and filters no problems. Hope this helps. Avionics shop said this is very rare. If you have a conflict with another device on your panel you could do a check to see if the problem replicates itself while transmitting or you could shut off different devices on the panel to perhaps identify a source of conflict. Hope this helps.
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Thanks, but I seriously doubt it's a conflict per se. The avionics suite functioned fine for the first 4-5 years that I owned the plane. Then the GMX-200 crashes started happening, at first rarely, then gradually more and more frequently. It doesn't seem to be related to anything that is transmitting (and certainly not the NAV/COMs), though there is some correlation with the amount of data being displayed from the GDL 69. Not a strong correlation though, the crashes have happened with no wx of note within 200 miles. The only devices in my panel the GMX 200 communicates with directly are the GNS 480, the GDL 69, and the GDL 90. Because of the gradual onset I suspect an actual fault, if not in the GMX-200 itself, then in one of those devices. I only hope it's not the 480. :/
 
WannFly said:
sorry to hear about your experience @azure . this sounds like a warning light for me.... once the GMX 200 and the 480 is dead... may be i should jump ship to Avidyne
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Good luck getting a better customer service experience from Avidyne.
 
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