Warning: Etrex 20 rubber deteriation, again...
Original post
So Garman do not seem to have rubber technology sussed.
Judging by my orange Etrex 20, but this applies to the etrex 10/20/30s, the rubber disintegrates on the buttons after just a few years of use. This is disappointing to lose water proofing, thus the unit is essentially end of life.
I strongly urge all etrex users to add some sort of reinforcement before this happens, something like these ought to help.
https://www.ebay.com/itm/Hiking-Handheld-GPS-Rubber-Light-Blue-Case-for-Garmin-eTrex-10-20-30-10x-20x-30x/112315121716
The old yellow etrexs also failed after a few years. The rubber rand came unstuck.
Ill upload of photo of mine in a bit.
My Etrex 30x is just over 4 years old, frequent use, careful inspection, no deterioration discernable.
Maybe yours was made on a monday.
My Etrex Summit is nearly 20rs old and there's no unusual wear on it.
My more recent Etrex 10 is perfect after a few years now.
The rubber on the on/off button of my Garmin Oregon disintergrated after about 5 years of use. I believe this is a common if they get a fair bit of use. (mine was used daily for work back in 2011) The unit now over a decade old still works but isn't waterproof any more.
Its not sat in the box thats for sure, perhaps 200 days of use, just a wild guess, but its had no exposure to either sun block or insect repellent.
Heres a picture of an extreme case:
https://almost-a-technocrat.blogspot.com/2018/07/how-to-fix-broken-disintegrated-garmin.html
Mine is just one button so far, and its the one i'm most apt to use my thumbnail with, the lower zoom button.
Ok, heres mine:
https://zoneblue.nz/files/P1089216.JPG
Rummaging for teh invoice its actually older than i thought: 1/12/2014
There are replacement cases for 60 bucks on ebay, but I guess ill try some 3m adhesive sealent on it. It stuck to the La Sportivas.
My Etrex 20 would be a similar age if not slightly older and has no signs of deterioration. Unfortunately would not have had that much use though.
If you are jabbing it with a finger nail as opposed to the ball of a finger/thumb then I would imagine that would speed up wear considerably.
One thing I have found with the Garmin watches is I burn through the rubber straps like crazy. Lucky to get a year out of them and that has been the case on both Forerunners and Fenix so I can understand the concerns with rubber durability.
I have reverted to using a strap made of nylon webbing and velcro I picked up from work.
Well, it just a heads up, now we know that this is the failure mode of this model gps. Id be adding extra protection of some kind now, before it happens.
Search the forums
| Forum | Gear talk |
|---|---|
| Started by | zoneblue |
| On | 29 December 2019 |
| Replies | 7 |
| Permanent link | |
Participation in the forums signifies acceptance of forum rules.
In order to manage spam, new members are limited to 1 post every 10 minutes.
Formatting your posts
The forums support MarkDown syntax. Following is a quick reference.
| Type this... | To get this... | |
|---|---|---|
| Italic | *Italic text* | *Italic text* |
| Bold | **Bold text** | **Bold text** |
| Quoted text | > Quoted text | > Quoted text |
| Emojis | :smile: :+1: :astonished: :heart: | :smile: :+1: :astonished: :heart: |
| Lists |
- item 1 - item 2 - item 3 |
- item 1 - item 2 - item 3 |
| Links | https://tramper.nz | https://tramper.nz |
| Images |  URL/of/image |
 |
| Mentions | @username | @username |