Battery

By time the battery will not charge any more you will want to buy a new unit anyway. I have found that with phones and a few other technologies by the time the battery is dead the tech has changed so much that the new machines warrant me buying a new one. Updated chips. Many more features. Soon our Phones, Cameras and GPS will be in one unit.

They already are...just need to improve

Are we even allowed to change the batteries?

Yeah, I agree that by the time the battery goes bad, it will be time to upgrade to a new unit anyway.

I assume by that you mean due to warranty issues? If so, then no, you shouldn't crack open the GPS to change the battery if the unit is under warranty. If the unit IS under warranty and you have a battery issue, then contact the manufacturer to take care of it under Warranty.

But more likely is that the battery will fail AFTER the warranty has run out, so in that case, crack that baby open and replace the battery if you need to.

Which brings up a question. How many of you actually use your GPS units heavily on battery power? Actually I do because I haven't taken any long trips yet that reuire the power cord so I always run off battery in the car. But I suspect a lot of people here almost never run off the battery.

PT

I have never yet used it on the battery aside from starting it up ahead of time before I leave the house just to let it get a good fix.

I use mine on battery quite frequently as I prefer not to deal with the charging cord.

Like the other readers, my unit runs on battery mostly as I use it in the city for short durations and I prefer less clutter on the dash without the charger cord.

My nüvi has only been used on the battery a very few times when I decided to look for a geocache and didn't have my 76CSx with me. The 76CSx has been used on the batteries quite a bit but it uses AA batteries so it's no big deal.

The nüvi is on the mount when in the car so it's running off of that rather than the battery.

Actually, I’m one of those old timers that will use the unit until it rusts out. It currently meets my need, just as the old Magellan meridian still works fine for my topograph and forest use (back packing).

I use the battery often, and as in any rechargeable battery, it has only a limited number of recharges. So, since the battery will fail after warranty, and before I’m ready to upgrade, I was asking how to open the case without damaging it.

Thanks