freeday
apersson850 [Blockierte Grafik: http://forums.groundspeak.com/GC/style_images/1/to_post_off.gif] Feb 7 2008, 04:10 AM
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From: Traryd, Sweden
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QUOTE(Didjerrydo @ Feb 7 2008, 02:35 AM) [Blockierte Grafik: http://forums.groundspeak.com/GC/style_images/1/post_snapback.gif]
...but look at the strange configuration of the area on the back of the body just below the battery compartment. Looks to me like water can get directly into the innards through the cover's latch and these holes!
As far as I can see, these holes don't penetrate all the way into the compartment where the electronics are housed. To me, they seem to be one of these kind of designs that are typically done in molds, to allow a good fill factor and quality of the plastic part made in the machine.
I just tried mine in a pool. Not any very deep one, but still. Water did enter under the rubber cover, but not inside the battery or card compartments. No difference to the functionality of the unit either.
But it's obvious that it's important that the cover is completely seated on the unit, not left a bit down. On my Colorado, I can close the latch when the cover still has about a millimeter of possible movement left. That may cause problems with the sealing, as it's the cover against the rubber/plastic seals that makes up the water resistance. Dirt sitting on the seals, or inside the cover, are other potential risks here.
Unless it's the gold fish?
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Gute Zusammenfassung der Problematik:
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LifeOnEdge! [Blockierte Grafik: http://forums.groundspeak.com/GC/style_images/1/to_post_off.gif] Feb 8 2008, 09:09 AM
The Enigma
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From: Waco, Texas
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I have read all the comments and replies to comments about this issue and have several comments:
If you'll carefully read the OP's initial post, there is something missing: Didjerrydo does not demonstrate that they are aware of 1) how this unit was designed to remain watertight or 2) what areas of the unit are to remain void of water. There is no mention of the O-rings, their placement, or their condition upon immediate examination. It remains unclear exactly where the OP saw water and conjecture on where the failure occurred.
This sentiment is almost immediately repeated by Geocaching-Geckos who states "My Colorado unit doesn't form a watertight seal either, there is a noticeable gap between the battery cover and unit itself." This shows that the public is not understanding what needs and what does not need to be watertight AND how this particular unit is designed to meet those needs.
It has been demonstrated through various posts (first mentioned by victorymike) that there are two main areas that are to remain watertight. There is an O-ring around the battery compartment. There is an O-ring around the card slot. To keep these two areas completely dry the back needs to be properly aligned to the unit, the back needs to slide completely along both rails. The latch most close completely and without hesitation.
The area around the latch is clearly open and has no O-ring to prevent water from entering beyond this latch. If the unit has been completely submerged, you will see water around both seals. When the back is removed, care needs to be taken to insure that water that may have entered through the latch does not fall into either the battery compartment of the card slot.
Unfortunately, being designed to keep water out, the reverse is also true. Any water that immediately surrounds the card slot will be able to flow over and past the O-ring the moment the back is removed. Since the back in on tight and is slow to detach from the unit, water has ample time to flow into the card slot. Also, since the internal area of the card slot has no O-ring, water can easily be wicked past an inserted card or flow freely to the contact area. As mentioned in more than one post, since the back appears to have play and (no one has yet mentioned this) since the latch itself does not provide positive pressure to seat the back firmly on the unit, any failure of this O-ring to form a complete seal will result in water entering the card slot and potentially damaging the unit.
Clearly, this appears to be a weakness of the design and engineering of this unit and needs to be re-evaluated by Garmin. I feel that they also need to supplement the owner's information supplied with each unit and educate the owners what the potential risks are and why they occur.
Some patience and sense needs to be used while evaluating this unit. Flying off with emotion caused by initial misunderstanding isn't going to helps it's or our cause, IMHO.
