Battery Issues?

[Sightseer99]

Greetings All.

Seeking experiences on battery charge longevity.

I bought a new Zumo XT last April. I used it without issue maybe 6 times, sometimes on battery for an hour, sometimes powered via a car accessory socket, connected via USB charger accessory to the USB charging port. For the first three months no observed issue.

Six weeks ago, I took the unit out of the box and the battery was completely discharged. This was unexpected; when the unit was stowed in the box, the battery was fully charged and the unit was turned off.

Then the unit was charged on the (Garmin) charger and the battery seemed OK. Stowed it again for two weeks, but when I powered it up again, the battery was fully discharged. Charged it again, stowed it again.

The third time, again after two weeks, the battery is dead and will no longer accept a charge. I tried different adapters and cables. When connected to the cable for power, the Zumo functions OK, although turn on is delayed by several seconds while the unit waits for the battery to charge (which it doesn't). Probably the battery is damaged now that it has been fully discharged multiple times.

Am I doing something wrong? What do others experience when they store a fully charged unit; how many days/weeks does the battery charge last?

Thanks for any advice.

[Rofor]

Did you really(!) turn off the Zumo XT?

It has two states, 'Standby' and 'Off' - Only if you long press the Power button (and 'long' means until a message appears!) you're able to really turn the Zumo XT off. A message box then appears and you could choose to shut down or cancel.

When you 'shortly' press the Power button, the Zumo XT only enters a 'Standby' - this state will last for about one to two weeks, then the battery is dead.

Another proof, if the Zumo XT is really powered down - when you switch it on, there is the 'Garmin' signation on the screen, then came a bar filling up in the lower half of the screen, then some copyright messages and after this the 'Welcome' screen - very similar to a booting PC! When the unit is only in standby and you press the Power button, the first thing you'll see is the 'Welcome' screen....

[Sightseer99]

Thanks for your post.

Yes, I am turning the unit off with a long press of the physical power button at the rear of the unit. Eventually I see the "turn off the device" prompt/message and touch the off button on the display. I do see the progress bar when the unit powers up.

[jfheath]

Contact Garmin Support. Phone them.

The units have a 2 year warranty.

[Sightseer99]

I had hoped to get an idea of how long the unit can be stowed unused before the battery discharges, but I guess my experience is unusual.

In case others are interested, after contacting Garmin support, they offered two solutions:

1) Send my defective unit to Garmin with a Garmin supplied shipping label. After receipt, they will send out a replacement, or

2) Put down a deposit and get the replacement unit sent right away. Then send in my defective unit; the deposit is refunded when they receive it.

I chose the second option since I did not have the original packing materials. The representative who took my call was helpful and didn't make me jump through hoops to obtain a replacement. If I understand correctly, the replacement will be a new unit. I did have to wait on hold for over 35 minutes before I was connected with support. Including providing shipping and payment info and printing shipping labels (via emails with web links), the process took about 80 minutes of my time (so far). I received an email with shipping/tracking info for the replacement a few hours after providing the shipping/payment info. I will receive the replacement in 5 business days. Except for being on hold for so long, that seems like good warranty support.

[Stu]

I had hoped to get an idea of how long the unit can be stowed unused before the battery discharges, but I guess my experience is unusual.

I have left mine longer than two months with no issues and it still had plenty of life in it

[Sightseer99]

I have left mine longer than two months with no issues and it still had plenty of life in it

Thanks. That's exactly the info I was seeking.