Higher than expected Failure Rate

[puglet]

Just spoke with a "major" GPS retailer and was informed that they have shipped their limited stock back to Garmin because of higher than expected failure rates with this first batch of Ique 3600s. Don't feel I should identify the retailer because this information was given in confidence.

Also read on some forums where new users have been experiencing "freeze ups" -- four in 24 hours.

I have an Ique on order and like everyone else, am growing impatient. I've been told the "fixed" units will arrive in two to four weeks.

For those who may not have seen this review on the alt.satellite.gps forum:

I have owned one for about 8 hours and have been doing a bit of learning.

I have previously owned a Trimble flightmate Pro, A Garmin III pilot,
Garmin III Plus, Street Pilot III and a GPS V.

This one will take some getting used to, maybe less if you are a heavy
palm user.

After the first two or three hours, I was ready to send it back. Mainly
because it was different and I couldn't make it work the same way the
others did. Jury is still out.

Random observations/comments:

Display is outstanding... indoors or at night. In the daylight, it is
not as wasy to see as the SP-III... not as bright. Resolution is much
better so more data on a larger screen.

Surface reflections off the display more annoying than SP-III... takes
some careful placement not to be bothered.

I have a brand new SD card for it... 256 MB. Darn GPS says: "The
handheld cannot recognize the card" Does not work. I don't know if it is
the new Sandisk card or the GPS. It will surely be a hassle either way.

You need the SD card. Memory info says: "freespace 11M of 22.8M" w/ only
8455K of maps included in the 11M.

Everything works differently... no "find" button, no "menu" button, no
"page" button, no "quit" button etc. If you dig into it and make some
changes, you can find nice work arounds.. mainly by making the "Q"
button a toggle for those functions. This is going to take some getting
used to. I suppose of the IQUE is your very first GPS, none of this
would be a problem.

I tried for a long time to load detail maps from mapsource like with the
other GPS's. Didn't work. Mapsource is there, the maps show up, You
selct the maps, click on download, it goes through the stupid processes
(building index, saving maps, etc.) but DOES NOT WORK... no detailed
maps on IQUE. You must do it through palm desktop and synch. Directions
explain it.

Directions say to "lean the IQUE slightly forward when placing it in the
cradle." Lean it forward when placing it in or out of the cradle will
break the stupid cradle. Mine is broken... physically broken. A little
plastic tang that is one of two used for guiding the IQUE onto the
cradle contacts broke off.

It feels awkward and slippery to hold compared to the others... again,
will take some getting used to.

The stylus seems most unnatural. You have to use it a lot and makes it
more difficult for one handed use. The good news is that it is much
easier to enter city names, street names etc.

I have not yet found a way to download my waypoints. I have around 250
of my own waypoints from my other GPS's. So far I cannot load them.
Appears to be no way in mapsource to do it. I am hopeful that it is just
me and I have yet to find the method. It will be a MAJOR annoyance if
this cannot be done.

i have not fully charged the battery yet but battery life may be not too
long.... an hour or two?? I'll charge it overnight and see what gives
tomorrow. there is a little battery meter on the display... in 15
minutes you can see a noticeable drop.

The map functions seem VERY nice. Wtih the stylus you can sort of point
and click your way around the map Zoom in/out is easy and crisp with
side buttons or the center button. The SP-III and GPS-V and otehrs with
the rocker button made it very awkward for scrolling around the
display... simply did not work well in my opinion. This is a real
strength of the IQUE.

Voice and sound seems identical to SP-III.

I don't know what you do with the mapsource program.... must have some
uses but I haven't found them.

The little leather protective cover for the display seems OK... may take
some getting used to.

Prior to getting the detailed maps loaded, there was a basemap on the
IQUE.. for some reason it now seems to be gone and I cannot get it back.
A real irritation.

The software is not user friendly... "put in the IQUE install CD" when
the IQUE install CD IS in. Instructions have different names for things
than the computer does. e.g. "Insert the CD marked detailed maps - CD1"
There is not CD so marked. You think it is missing, it just has a
different name.

For the full basemap to be installed it says an SD card is required.

The jury is still out but I am optimistic. I think it will be a good
machine... now if I could just get my base map restored....

al Jennings

[coop]

This is the first I've heard of high failure rates. I wonder if the problems are real out of box failures, or if they are casued by people who are so accustomed to GPS operation that a Palm doesn't feel "right".

The reviewer quoted sounds like someone who is very familiar with existing GPS's and not with Palm OS products.

And it sounds like they are not happy that they will have to learn to use it.

"After the first two or three hours, I was ready to send it back. Mainly
because it was different and I couldn't make it work the same way the
others did. Jury is still out."

"Everything works differently... no "find" button..."

"The stylus seems most unnatural."

It really sounds like someone who isn't comfortable with the Palm aspect of the unit yet.


The reviewer mentions problems with the SanDisk card. Don't these cards seem to have a bad reputation re speed and general quality?


Garmin has been under a lot of pressure to ship these. I hope that the pressure didn't force them to release too soon.

coop

[sigpro]

"Just spoke with a "major" GPS retailer and was informed that they have shipped their limited stock back to Garmin because of higher than expected failure rates with this first batch of Ique 3600s. Don't feel I should identify the retailer because this information was given in confidence"

This sounds odd to me, mainly because no retailer will open up box products to test them and I really doubt "the whole batch" was failing....

What this sounds to me is an excuse to tell customers "we don't have the product yet"

I'm new to this board (1st post I know), but I work for a reseller and we have the Ique on back order since January...I'm actually waiting on one myself, so I'm as inpatient as the rest of you. We have a close relationship with garmin and trust me all the delays have been because they wanted to make sure the product worked well. So the wait has been worth it, just to clarify; I do understand that some units can be DOA, but not a whole batch of them. It just doesn't make sense.

I want to thank the users who have gotten their units and have posted all the great info! Can't wait to get mine!!

Fernando

[drw]

> In the daylight, it is not as wasy to see as the SP-III...
> not as bright. Resolution is much

How does it look in direct sunlight with the backlight off? While not as colorful, hopefully it would be readable in direct sunlight that way.

> handheld cannot recognize the card

I have yet to own a palmOS product with SD slot, but I do gather that the card needs to be formatted, and stuff like programs, pictures, mp3 files, etc needs to be in specific directories for the palmOS to see it. One would think the maps shot over by the garmin palm desktop should put them in the right directory automatically.

> Lean it forward when placing it in or out of the cradle
> will break the stupid cradle. Mine is broken...

Thanks for this tip. Since it uses a palm universal connector I wonder if this person can pickup a palm cradle locally to replace his broken garmin cradle.

> was a basemap on the IQUE.. for some reason it now
> seems to be gone and I cannot get it back.

How about a hard reset? That should return it to factory specs.

[CougerofEQ]

someone on another thread said the base map was NOT installed when they got the 3600 - and the quick guide told how to install it --- they also said you had all the base maps included and lite/regular versions of each base map.

ex us lite, us reg, uro lite, uro regular .....

[nagyg]

My cradle seems to be broken as well... however, infrared hotsync is working. In Datebook - when I go to "week view", everything is shifted by one day (e.g. Tuesday appointments show up on Wednesday). I use "week starts with Monday" Does anyone else have this problem?

Graffiti 2 takes time to get used to. It also seems to be very slow...

Puma Intellisync sucks and I quickly switched to Desktop To Go ...

Too early to comment on the navigation features, except that the battery gets drained very fast ...

Gerhard

[PalmOsguy]

Originally posted by coop
or if they are casued by people who are so accustomed to GPS operation that a Palm doesn't feel "right".


reading the above review.. seems.. like some people are expecting same software for a GPS and for the iQue... is just about learning curve for them.. i wouldn't be too concern about that one..

About recalls/failures... i will need to read from somebody that actually owns one.... if not.. who knows.. some business practices are just not very honest.. :rolleyes: