d&tm wrote:
Just bought a used Garmin Pilot III off ebay and found it has a problem with
the screen. About 12 vertical lines down the screen more or less randomly
spaced which really stuffs up the view. Seller had said " a couple of lines
on the screen" which I interpreted to be scratches on outside which I was
prepared to accept for the price I was willing to pay. At any rate 2 lines
is not 12 and I am really ****ed off. I have written back to him, to see
how he will put this right ... but anyways just in case, is there any way to
repair this?

Hadn't heard of this problem on the III series, but it's fairly common
on the
eTrex models. The problem with those is with the ribbon cable
connector
that joins the main circuit board to the LCD screen. Sometimes a few
of the
contacts get corroded or dirty and the corresponding lines on the
screen
stop functioning. The solution is to disassemble the unit, take the
ribbon
cable out of the connector and clean the contacts before reinserting.

The alternative is to use Garmin's flat-rate repair service. For $150
they'll
either repair it or replace it with a factory remanufactured unit
(generally
indistinguishable from new). Doesn't matter if it has a little
scratch or if it
was run over by a steamroller - the repair price is the same (but
sometimes
they fix things for free even when out of warranty).