Jancouver

This morning I did my regular club ride with SDBC. Left Left UC Cyclery with the A group. After about a mile I heard "Somebody lost a cell phone". Cell Phone? No that is not mine as the iTunes music on my iPhone was still playing. I look down on my stem to check my Garmin and bingo, my Garmin 705 was gone. The plastic holder was broken and Garmin gone.

I stopped, went back looking for my Garmin. Couldnt find it and the B group was coming towards me. Oh well, I thought, Its gone and I will never find it. So I joined the B group and talked about it with few of my friends. Few miles later, I hear "Are you the one who lost the Garmin?". Yes, its me I said. He reached to his jersey pocked and handed me my Garmin.

"Wow, You just made my day, thank you!"

OK, two questions.

1. How common it is to pop the plastic holder and lose the Garmin?
2. I would like to get something for the person who picked it up. Is $50 LBS gift card OK?

Thanks

J.

cjump

1. haven't heard about broken clips from any of our garmin owners (myself included).
2. yes!

Tulex

Broken clips are a major problem, though I have not had an issue in my first year.

Jynx

1. Common
2. Yes

Terex

Both mine and my buddy's broke. I've got them on two bikes. On the one that is broken, my Garmin (305) seems to stay on OK. The clips should be made from a tougher nylon or something. When my buddy's broke, the Garmin hit the ground and broke. Garmin replaced.

Jancouver

No kidding, $700 for a bike computer and the clip is made out of a cheap plastic. Hope the next version will be smaller, lighter, and made out of a better materials.

Thanks got my Garmin survived without any major damage.

wanders

this one.

jl0703

The holder for my 705 didn't break, but the retaining clip on one of the 2 holders which came with the garmin did. Contacted Garmin and they sent me 2 additional mounts for free.

bumperm

I think the problem may be that there's bending stress on the bike mount when it's installed on somewhat smaller diameter bars. The weak spot, where mine broke, starts at the cut-out for the release lever. The plastic splits here first, then the other side, allowing the mount grooves or rails to spread apart.

I fixed mine by gluing the snap in insert (the part that allows you to orient the base 90 degrees) to the base proper w/ super glue. Thus the two parts add structural strength to each other. Also don't crank down the tie wraps too tightly.

dendawg

I've had an edge 305 for 3 years now and I'm on my 4th mount. They are pretty flimsy and that plastic tab is easily broken. I always check to make sure it is secure when I place it on my bike. FWIW the mounts they sell for their GPSMap60 also sucks.

rodrigaj

Very timely thread. My mount for my 305 broke today. Fortunately, I happened to look down just before the last bit of plastic was ready to break. Looks like a tie wrap around the whole unit / stem is a necessity from now on. I refuse to pay $13 for another one of these POS.

dark13star

I lost a 305 when the clip broke. Hit the guard rail and bounced into oblivion. I was on a climb with a 1K' drop. I started using my Forerunner 305 instead and was not thrilled, so I just bought a 705. I sure hope it doesn't happen again.

umd

Did the tab break or did the inside part break? They have a new redesigned mount where the two halves do not separate, the whole block can be used in either orientation without taking it apart. Ice had many mounts break either way, hopefully the new one is better... The tab part feels stronger too.

dark13star

That seems to describe the one I just got (fingers crossed).

awiner

Garmin has a new mount that is made in a slightly different material and one piece as the poster above explained. They say it is more durable.

Call them up and I am sure they will send a new mount out to you.

I had mine fly off last year and luckily found it.

merlin55

I found a iPhone on the bike path, figured out his landline number from his contacts list and called him....and made his day. The guy brought me a nice bottle of wine....I didn't expect a reward....I sure your finder doesn't expect anything so whatever you choose to do is cool

Pugsly

+1, this happened to me- Garmin sent a free replacement when I contacted them

kensuf

1. I've broken two of the mounts. They broke at the bottom of the cheap plastic inserts where the zip tie snakes through. Another friend has had the same experience (he broke 4). Garmin has come out with a new mount which fixes the problem, but my workaround was to glue the two pieces (the cheap plastic "insert" into the rubber mount) with gorilla glue.

2. Yes, definitely. A new 705 would have cost you ~$400.

azdroptop

Same happened to me with my PowerTap computer in a race a couple of weeks ago. It wasn't until the next day a team mate let me know someone gave her the computer after the race. Very cool!

umd

Actually when I lost mine they would have sold me a warranty replacement for $250 but I couldn't find the receipt...

Jancouver

Good to know, thanks!

FIVE ONE SIX

my 305 actually fell off the mount during my ride last Saturday, but the mount wasn't broken. it must have been my fault, because i charged the battery the night before, and i'm guessing i just didn't slide it all the way to the left when i put it back on the mount...

i will say i was like WTF when i went to use my left hand to wipe some sweat from my forehead and it knocked my 305 into the air, but luckily there was grass on the right side of the road, so it only got a few scuffs on the back from when it hit the road once and then rolled onto the grass. and it still works fine...

and i would definitely hook the guy that retrieved your 705 up with something. i would say to just get him a $50 AMEX gift card that he can use anywhere, because he may do his own mechanical work and not need an LBS gift card. either that, or see if he's doing any known rides during the year, and pay his way in one of them...

BengeBoy 

I lost a 305 when it fell off during a ride last summer. I thought I had it securely fastened, so either (a) it's a bad design and it fell off or (b) it's a bad design and does not allow the user to 100% know when it's properly hooked on.

I contacted Garmin, they at first refused to do anything for me. After several discussions they agreed to sell me a refurbished unit at the low, low price of $100.

After riding around with it a bit more, I decided I didn't need the aggravation of losing a pricey piece of gear off my bike. So I sold it and bought a cheapo Cateye.

RacerJRP

I had a tab break on my 305 mount last week.. I could feel it getting loose a few days before it snapped off.