Shockproof your Garmin

There is an instructable called Shock-Proof your Garmin GPS where the author details how he solved a common problem with older Garmin handheld GPS devices when used on bicycles or motorcycles. The have a tendency to vibrate and momentarily lose power switching themselves off. My Vista C is no exception and seems to be getting worse. Various 'fixes' are talked about, more padding under the bracket seems to be the most popular. Didn't work for me though. Thus, inspired by the link above I took mine apart to see what was what. This is what I saw. You are looking at two halfs of the shell of the GPS. The right hand part is the top and it's face down. The left is the botton and it's face up showing the underside of the mouldings that hold the batteries. Note the two metal tabs at the top of each battery slot, these make contact with corresponding squares on the PCB in the other half. The disconnect problem is caused, I believe, by this contact being broken, the surfaces getting oxidised (or something) and becoming insulated by the oxidation. A good clean may well fix it but it would continue to degrade still.

Now an senor in Spain showed how he soldered wires to make these connections permanent, this is exactly what I was thinking so I gave it a try myself. I cleaned the four contact points the carefully tinned them with solder. I tinned the ends of my wires and quickly joined them up taking care to match the battery polarity and not apply too much heat. I planned the route of the wires so they'd tuck up nicely ahead of the batteries in the large void in the casing.. Maybe my wires are a little too long ! The picture shows where I can tuck them up.

Does it work ? yes it does.



Since the wires are soldered onto the contact points reassembling is a little more tricky but it all snaps together properly, I took great care in making sure the wires were not intefering with the touch connectors for the USB connection too.

I just need to try it out on my bike now. If it doesn't work well, I have wasted any money, just half an hour of my time.

A word about dissassembly and reassembly of the Vista C
This page shows how to dissassemble a Vista HCx which has the same shell as the Vista C.

The rubber bumper strip round the outside is held on by a permanently sticky double sided tape that is beneath it. Carefully peel the rubber away starting with the cover of the USB connector.

Then, even more carefully remove the double sided tape. Start at the seam and pull it away from the GPS device keeping is taught so it doesn't stick to itself. Stick it onto a shiney surface such as a plastic box so we can refit it. Similarly with the next layer which less sticky.

The two parts of the shell are held together by five moulded tabs, two on each side and one on the end of the device. There are small rectangular holes that the tab engages in which can be used to loosen the halfs by pushing through a small screwdriver. The two parts will separate easily once two or three tabs are released. No cables or anything connect these parts.

Assembly is the reverse procedure. Take care with the tapes, they should have indents and holes for the control buttons so use these as reference points to refit the tapes in their original positions. Finally the rubber bumper.

I have no idea at this stage if my mod. has fixed the disconnect problem, I'll report back. I can't guarantee that you won't damage your device if you try this. Do it at your own risk.