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Garmin panel mount repair (430W)

sj

Staff member
Northwest Arkansas
My GNS430W GPS component stopped working on a trip to the pilot medical mecca in the wilds of minnesota. Park Rapids avionics took a few minutes and with a new antenna confirmed that it was the unit and not the antenna (darn) or the coax. So now I have it sitting here on my kitchen island and when I go to the garmin site for repairs it says I need to get an RMA from a "authorized garmin repair center" before I can send it in.

Anybody have experience sending these in? Do I need to actually physically take the unit to an avionics shop? Do they need the whole plane?

Any experience appreciated!

sj
 
Garmin only deals with their 'dealers'. The only way to send it back to them is to get the unit to one of their dealers and have them send it to Garmin. Garmin will then return it to the dealer and they will turn around and send it back to you.

Condolences, in advance, for the loss of a large part of your checking account.

Web
 
What Web said with a flat rate charge no matter what is found. $1100 comes to mind. Gone are the days of the local wireweinie shops being able to fix a radio.
 
Oh yeah. That flat rate is something else. I tell people that when you send stuff to Garmin, it costs the same whether the face plate is scratched or you ran over it with your truck.

Web
 
My GNS430W GPS component stopped working on a trip to the pilot medical mecca in the wilds of minnesota. Park Rapids avionics took a few minutes and with a new antenna confirmed that it was the unit and not the antenna (darn) or the coax. So now I have it sitting here on my kitchen island and when I go to the garmin site for repairs it says I need to get an RMA from a "authorized garmin repair center" before I can send it in.

Anybody have experience sending these in? Do I need to actually physically take the unit to an avionics shop? Do they need the whole plane?

Any experience appreciated!

sj

What stopped working?
 
If Garmin decides it's beyond economic repair, they will cut the tso tag off the radio and send it back to you.
 
Thanks for the responses folks! The shop that put it in 12 years ago is sending me an RMA to return it.

sj
 
Thanks for the responses folks! The shop that put it in 12 years ago is sending me an RMA to return it.

sj

Isn't Garmins headquarters relatively close to you? It might be more satisfying to just drive over and throw it through one of their plate glass windows;-)
 
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