Might not affect many of you, but just so you know...

My Varia is mounted right underneath my seat bag. I just found out that my seat bag rubbed the covering off the button of my Varia unit. So now rain and stuff can get down in it. Garmin is going to take care of it for me since it's still in the warranty period. But if yours manage to have gone beyond warranty, then you might want to figure some way to prevent any further erosion of the rubber cover if it is getting thin.



If I'd noticed it sooner, I could have just moved it a half inch lower on the seat post.

Don't know if the other Garmin Varia models suffer the same potential issue. But I suppose they do.

Not sure Garmin should take care about this. Even if it is still under waranty,

So I should turn them down on their offer of sending me a refurbished unit?

I only called them and let them know that I had the issue. I ask them what I should do to keep moisture and grit from getting in while still being able to use the button. They offered to take care of it as a warranty issue without any prompting from me.

I can't believe this has to be explained. Garmin is allowed to choose how they respond to their customers. They chose to take care of one in the hope that he'll spend more money with them in the future. They have the right to make that choice.

Garmin's taking care of this is just good customer service and a goodwill gesture. I'd wager they make a pretty good profit on these and are aware that the user also likely has an Edge or other Garmin device paired to it and they want to keep selling those. Also since the OP wasn't a jerk when contacting customer service demanding replacement for something that was damaged due to use, even inadvertently, I'm sure it went a long way toward getting this offer.

I mount mine upside-down for this reason.

If anything, it works slightly better. However, this is the old rectangular unit, so it probably matters less.

The new RCT715 has the buttons on the side. I think they may have learned something.

I just took that formed piece out of the Garmin with tweezers and placed it equally level. This part is the extension that is under the thin rubber button and this extension depresses the switch below. Once I placed it evenly I formed a dab of liquid electrical tape over it and let it dry overnight. Liquid electrical tape (mine is marketed by "Starbrite") is very durable, highly adhesive and will stay flexible in all types of weather. Once it's dry it should last longer than the original button, by far.
Note, my unit is passed warranty.