Is There A Problem With Garmin Sat Nav Or Am I Just Unluckly

Sounds like there was an issue with a batch of batteries, have you contacted Garmin about the problem ?
Did you turn the sat nav off ? my Tom tom has a sleep mode and an off mode so maybe the battery got drained dead flat, you could possibly get a new battery fitted ( cheaper than a new satnav )

 

Garmin are very good with their after sales, they replaced mine because it wouldn't Bluetooth to my phone, the next one didn't either, it was then that o discovered they didn't have that facility.!
The 340 is quite an old model now, if it's been on the shelf for 8 years that could be the problem! Did you get it off a dodgy website, could be reconditioned. Contact garmin they might send you another one.

 

i've got the same model and not had any problems,one thing though when you turn it off you have to hold the button in for about 5 seconds.. until it says on the screen do you want to turn off, if you just just press the button quickly the screen goes black and you might think it is off when it isn't therefore the battery would get drained until you cliped it back on to the bike to get it charged up..it does seem very strange that all 3 have gone at the same time

 

I'm guessing that they were just put into sleep mode ( short press of the button ) and this has drained the battery to a point where it wont recover ! Which would explain all 3 dying at the same time as if not used regularly long term storage in this mode would kill the batteries.

 

Haven't had the 340LM, but I have had the 550, 660 and now the 390LM.
A mates got the 550 and my wife has the 660, they all work fine still.
Could be something specific to the 340 ?

 

I've had my Garmin for about 7 years and have never had a problem with it. When I'm using it, it's always connected to the 12v on my bike / scooter.

 

This is about the 350's but could be the same?
http://www.gpscity.com/questions?qid=43001

 

My Garmin has an issue with the connection to the power supply. There are two small brass connection points on the back of the unit. When you put it in the cradle these connect to two small, sprung prongs. The springs in these keep the connection working and in one prong the spring failed. This meant that the satnav then ran on battery power only. Replacing the power lead is a major pain so I bodged a fix with a bit of wire so that now it works fine but the original design seems to me to be rather inadequate. This might have something to do with batteries failing?

 

My Garmin has an issue with the connection to the power supply. There are two small brass connection points on the back of the unit. When you put it in the cradle these connect to two small, sprung prongs. The springs in these keep the connection working and in one prong the spring failed. This meant that the satnav then ran on battery power only. Replacing the power lead is a major pain so I bodged a fix with a bit of wire so that now it works fine but the original design seems to me to be rather inadequate. This might have something to do with batteries failing?

 

FWIW I've been using GPS sports trackers for many years now. Garmin are very big into this running/cycling/swimming tech and are by far the biggest name in the market. I've had two Garmin multi-sport trackers, one cheap Chinese cycle tracker, one Suunto and one Wahoo and my partner used a Tomtom when she used to run. I can honestly say I wouldn't touch another Garmin with a fully extended, Looney-Tunes ACME, extendable, Olympic sized barge pole (held at arm's length). The prices are high, the reliability is poor and the user-interface is comical. The cheap Chinese one I bought when my first Garmin died (two months old!) out-performed it comprehensively and cost a quarter of the price. My £150 Android phone has better GPS tracking than my last Garmin 910XT which cost well over twice that new (and it the Garmin doesn't do phone calls, texts, internet, photography, music, ...) Most of my cycling and running friends have or have had Garmin and the failure rate and lost data is quite astonishing.

I bought a Tomtom Rider for my Sprint ST having had a Tomtom car sat nav for several years. Not done a great many miles with it so far but it just works.

Just sayin'