Fun - while it lasted.

I doubt that Garmin will cover it. Your home owners/renters insurance should cover it (if your deductable isn't too high).

Joel

I am in NYC and we had a short but severe storm on Wed.
Lightning, thunder, and flood.....
Luckily all my electronics are ok but feel sorry for you.....
Usually, telephone is the one that gets fried easily.
Hope you have a good result with Garmin.

Dep on when you purchased your GPS, some credit card companies will replace it if it's broken/defective/etc... if you don't have Home/Renters insurance, it's another option. Just read the fine print. Citibank offers something like that.

Hi, everyone! Electrical surges are always a potential threat, especially during a storm, that's why I continuously use a good surge protector between any outlet and electronics (computers, phones, Audio/video equipment, etc.) I own. The higher the joule rating, the better. I use Tripp Lite Isotel Ultra's. Compared to other surge protectors, Isotel's aren't cheap, are difficult to find except online, have one of, if not the highest joule ratings in the industry, and in the nearly nine years I've been using Tripp Lite products, I've never disconnected any of my equipment during a storm, and never had a failure. I don't know if my experience is just dumb luck, or the product I'm using is very good.

Miki

The use of power strips that have built in surge suppression is an excellent idea, but we often forget to use one or it is inconvenient. A good solution, although a bit costly, is to have an electrician install a whole house surge protector. They work well and you never have to remember to plug your sensitive electronics into a power strip with a surge protector.

Just my $0.02 worth.

Stan

If it's still under warrenty and you call them instead of emailing them, they probably will.

I wouldn't volunteer that you think it was an electrical surge...but that's for you to decide.

Reminds of the time I dropped a new calculator in college, the HP 12-c. It still worked but in certain calculations it gave me the wrong answer, only I didn't know that at the time. As luck would have it, I had an exam the next day. When performing a complex calculation, I wrote the answer my calculator gave me. Only it was a totally wrong answer and the prof marked it wrong. A few days later I realized my calculator was messed up, went to appeal my test grade, and was able to get the same wrong answer on the calculator - and the prof gave me half credit.

Actually, surge protectors only protect half of all surge damages because they don't protect you from brown-outs. This is when the voltage level drops and comes back up to the normal level, thus not caught by surge protectors (but to electronics, it's still a surge). The only way to protect you from all types of surge is to use an UPS. I have one for each of my major electronic equipments at home (11 PCs, home theater, networking equipments, etc.).

You might think it's an overkill...until you get a brown-out and you'll be glad you had one (well, at least for me). I've tried all major brands and my recommendation is to buy from APC. They consistently give you the best performance.