Etrex 20 GPS frustration

[mickb]

I still use the old style handheld hiking GPS. They are weather proof and cheaper than smartphones by a long way, I hike in some crappy environments. I notice as part of our disposable society they have an engineering or design fault which fails them after a few years in the north. The rubber buttons( power, zoom in zoom out etc) become brittle and literally fall apart leaving a gaping hole to the circuits inside. Also can no longer depress the required function.

Two I have owned failed this way. I have much older generation etrexes and GPS almost 20 years old that are solid as a rock however

I seem to be digging into my older gear more and more these days... binoculars, GPS and camping gear because the 1990's and 2000's stuff seems to keep working

These days you buy something new its a relief if it actually works out of the box, and if it makes 3 years you think youve won the lottery

[Oldbloke]

Yep, it's intentional on the part of the manufacturer. Planned redundancy. It ensures you keep buying. Chinese are the worst offenders

[Larry]

When I was living in Asia certain Rubber and Plastics only just turned to mush. On a pair of steel toe chemical proof sole safety boots that had been kept inside in the dark for a year as a spare where pulled out for duty. By the time I reached the bottom of a two flight of stairs down there was no tread on the shoes it was all stuck to the stairs. Another instance was a pair of motorcycle boots when I put them on and did up the clips they all just fell off and then larger parts of the protective plastic sides just cracked apart. They were kept inside out of the sun under the stairs. All sorts of things turned to mush. They say the ozone hole over Australia has gotten smaller perhaps it just moved north.

[Jorlcrin]

When I was living in Asia certain Rubber and Plastics only just turned to mush. On a pair of steel toe chemical proof sole safety boots that had been kept inside in the dark for a year as a spare where pulled out for duty. By the time I reached the bottom of a two flight of stairs down there was no tread on the shoes it was all stuck to the stairs. Another instance was a pair of motorcycle boots when I put them on and did up the clips they all just fell off and then larger parts of the protective plastic sides just cracked apart. They were kept inside out of the sun under the stairs. All sorts of things turned to mush. They say the ozone hole over Australia has gotten smaller perhaps it just moved north.

Funny this should pop up right now!
Was talking to a group of gents yesterday(Shire Aerial PuppyDawg Appreciation Campaign), and discussion came around to the Asian-built(Mostly Chinese) heavy machinery that has flooded the market in recent years.

Comment was that the machinery itself was half decent, but the tires, seals and any other perishable components, would fall apart fairly incredibly quickly..
A few of these blokes deal with heavy machinery a fair bit, and they weren't critical of the abilities of this gear; just the fact that they aren't anywhere near as cheap when you are forced to replace all the perishables before you get a year or two in.
I know that when a niece bought a Great Wall 'Steed' ute some years back, the options to sparkle up the engine were severely limited.
A couple of the after-market chip suppliers in Australia said that the problem was the bottom ends of these engines simply weren't up to anything other than a very mild upgrade in performance.

I have had Many Garmins(9?) over the years, and still have a few of them.
I am very jaded with their 'Lifetime Map Updates' spiel on some products; it is only 'Lifetime' as far as Garmin's expectation of 'Lifetime' for that model.
So, if your GPS is projected to have a 3 year life, then the maps will lock up at that point; regardless of whether the unit is still functional.
I'm also still seriously narked with how Garmin have developed the 'Rino' line of GPS/UHF handhelds; some seriously phukked-up ideas on what could have been a game-changing piece of kit.
We have 4 of the Rino 650 units that we thought were going to be fantastic for firefighting and daily use, and we simply dont bother with them for either role..
I wouldn't be able to recommend even the later models in that line, despite their specs on paper being fantastic.

[mickb]

What burns me is all the pressure and science behind carbon footprints, carbon taxes, emmissions, going green etc and all the stuff the average bloke picks up the tab for yet industry is turning out billions more tons of cheap junk that takes resources to make and ends up at the dump ever faster than before.