Great post, why would replacing the battery void the warranty? how much would Garmin charge to do the job?

I have a Nuvi 760 with a dead/dying battery and have called Garmin. This is what I was told:

---I would need to pay $100 to get it replaced with a refurbished. They will not replace the battery.

---I cannot replace the battery on my own. There is a built in switch that disables the gps if opened.

Does anyone know if this is true?

If the GPS is still under warranty then I would let Garmin do it. A battery shouldn't die that soon. I have a 3 year old nuvi. This hint is a great way to keep it going as the battery does have a limited life. I recently took it on cruise and found it didn't hold a charge for more than an hour. In my car it doesn't much matter as it is plugged in when running. In fact, I bet most people have no idea if their battery is holding a charge or not.

Sylvester: A quick Google search did not turn up any signs of a disable switch upon opening a GPS. I would seriously doubt anyone would go to the trouble and cost to put one in for a consumer product with a thin margin.

Another way to help lengthen the life of the internal battery is to use it. If you try not to leave the GPS plugged into the vehicle power all the time, and occasionally use the internal battery, the battery will last longer. Just like a laptop battery.

Thanks for the response and a great article, Fletch.

Has any one done a quick test after you replaced the battery, did you check to see how long the new battery holds the charge after its been used a week or two and fully charged,

Great article! Just great!
I would always venture and open unit to replace or do minor adjustments/improvements/mods than send back to manufacturer assuming your unit is in working condition. Getting Refurbished unit is a slap in the consumer’s face. I do NOT want somebody else’s (abused) unit; I want MINE back. But most likely it is a cheaper to send you refurbished and your unit with replaced battery etc. will be send to the next in line…

Few comments:
- I assume that back of the unit has ‘male’ plastic connectors holding to the unit’s body. Puling UP puller tool will actually move forward unit’s body side and thus disconnect it from the back? I would add few more pictures clarifying that since ones broken those plastic hooks are VERY difficult to improvise. You will have to glue back to the body…
- I would not reuse double sticky tape from the old battery. You can get regular or heavy duty carpet double sticky tape. It works wonders and holds like crazy. That was my fix for feeble ASUS eeE PC keyboard.
- The very last sentence says: ‘You've not got a band new battery that will hold a charge.’ Most likely after delicate operation Fletch was so happy and lost concentration. It should be something like: ‘You've noW got a bRand new battery that will hold a charge.’ right?

Could similar ‘operation’ be possible to replace weak 7xx speaker? Or LEDs lighting display? That will be aproject!

so, it is safe to assume that the "after market battery" does not hold the charge as well as the original battery, my guess is that the after market battery will hold charge about an hour or so (based on the after market battery I have used in the past for my cell as well as chord less phone)

Garmin does Not make batteries. Batteries he put into Nuvis are the same or worst (read: cheaper) than OEM/aftermarket. They are most likely made in the same factory somewhere in China but have different stickers.
Somewhere is China: OK now this batch is for Garman – put sticker G; now this batch is for Soni – put sticker S…

It is a shame that Garmin and many others are charging arm and leg for simple maintenance or do not make units which will be easily maintained by the user. Nuvi can easily work on 3 or 6 (2x3 in parallel) user replaceable rechargeable 1000mA AAA. Or with little bit more clever design they could squeeze 3 x AA 2700mA.

This was an excellent article. I just examined my nuvi 265WT and there is a tape material on the back that has the serial number and FCC data.Does anyone know if there are screws under that tape? Are the batteries the same?
This battery situation is typical of the way Garmin has always done business. I have a very old GPS 38 that had the capability of using an external power source. The power cable cost about $40 I think. Another version came out with an almost identical connector that cost about $10 or $15. The difference was a hole drilled in the old connector that accepted a fifth pin (plastic) in the body of the unit. I checked out all the pins functions, found they were the same and bought the cheap cable and drilled the hole myself. The newer version allowed you to connect it to a laptop altho I don't remember if the old one did or not.

From the pictures the "hex" screws are possibly Torx (star) heads?

I just replaced my nuvi-710 battery with one I bought on ebay. It took me 10 minutes to do and my gps is now good to go again. Total cost $10.45 Including shipping! Just use a soft plastic swizzel stick to separate the back starting at bottom (where 2 screws were removed) and it pops open. The hardest part is getting the old battery loose from the case. Stuck on with double sided tape. Go on, change it yourself - you can do it! Just take care. Good luck, Fred.

I am one of those people who use the power adapter charging my NUVI 350 since they came out. It is charged 100% of the time all the time never once have I had a problem it works perfectly and I don't have ro replace anything nor call Garmin for anything.

So do I "Live with it" you are damn straight I do and if I carry it around with me it lasts several hours on it's own. Do I have to worry about warranties or anything, absolutely not it works perfectly. I will do this until it dies, then I'll get a new one.

what does the battery replacement kit cost

I would like to know if you could wire 2 of these batteries in parallel to extend the capacity? The battery packs seem to have some sort of intelligence which leans toward this not being possible. Anyone have any experience with LiPo batteries?

There are 'battery pack' units that have a mini-USB connector
available. I have not tried one, yet, but you plug it in
and it powers (by charging while using) the Garmin unit
until it dies. Then the Garmin battery takes over!

It seemed too pricey for me. I'd rather by a hiking unit
that has a ""12"" hour battery.

Joe F

Is there any data or setting loss when you remove your old battery. Do you need to backup your POI addresses first etc...

excellent article....just bought new battery and kit for about $20 from smavtronics.com...took about 10 minutes to change....no loss of data when changed.

Great info, thank you. I am going to try a battery change in my Garmin 265wt. And yes, the screws are under the label, as shown on a utube video I saw.
Question: can anyone recommend a CANADIAN supplier for the battery; don't want crossborder shipping hassels.
Thanks

I replaced my battery only to find that the unit does not charge or start up again. When I put the new battery in there was a charge indicator and the Garmin logo appeared but no life at all. I followed the instructions in this guide but no result.
Can someone advise please.
Thanks