bulach

I broke the screen on my 650 and need a new or used replacement part.

HumVee

bluach, these sites sell replacement LCD touchscreens that will fit your Garmin nüvi 650:

• PDASmart.com - $110 or $130 mail-in repair. All kinds of other model LCD touch screens available.
• Alibaba.com - says "Call" for price.

I've never used either vendor. I found them by Googling replacement nuvi 650 LCD. Keep in mind that you can buy a new Garmin GPS unit for not much more than that:

• Garmin nuvi 1300 - $140 on Amazon.
• Garmin nüvi 205W - $100 on Amazon.
• Garmin nüvi 255W - $133 on Amazon.
• Garmin nüvi 265WT - $172 on Amazon (but with Lifetime Traffic subscription.
• Garmin nüvi 285WT - $120 on Amazon (but with Lifetime Traffic subscription. This is a recently discontinued model from Garmin, but still available.

So unless you have purchased a Garmin nüMaps Lifetime subscription or invested in a bunch of accessories for your n650, it might be wiser to invest in an upgrade instead of a repair....

bulach

Thank you HumVee for the information. Reading your suggestion I now plan to ugrade.

Bulach

HumVee

You're welcome, bulach. Post back with what you end up with!

bulach

HumVee..

I went to Walmart to pickup a prescription and decided to venture to the electronics department and look at their selection of GPS units. To my astonishment they were featuring a Garmin 750, open box, for $109.00. I grabbed it as any good american boy would do when he sees a bargin. Yes, it works beautifully.
The last time I checked, the 750 going for around $200. Just good luck!

By the way, I contacted Garmin about the broken LED lense on my 650. They said they would repair my unit for $100. That price also included uploading current 2010 maps and a current software update. They also said that they do repair Gamin units. This may be useful informatioin to others who have non-working Garmins.

After checking prices on different new models, I came to the conclusion that Garmin
offered a fair price for the repair and was leaning toward sending it in. But since I was able to purchase a new Garmin 750 model for $109 I lost interest.

Thanks again for your advice.

bulach

HumVee

bulach, what an excellent deal! The Garmin nüvi 750 is a nice GPS unit. Routing is one of the most important features, as far as I'm concerned. It makes planning trips so much easier. Since the unit is "open box" it may already be registered to someone else and/or have the 1 year warranty count down already started. You can check by going to myGarmin (once you're satisfied that you're going to keep the unit), and try to register it. If you have any problems, Garmin Support can reset the registration and warranty period count down for you.

Thanks for the info on Garmin repairs - a flat $100 to fix a broken LCD and get map updates sounds like a very reasonable deal!

bulach

HumVee,

Yes, I did register the 750 Garmin. No, it was not previously registered. Lady Luck was with me again!
I was able to get the 2009 map on the unit updated to 2010 and all software updated without any additional cost. In addition, I received an MSN free trial for three months. It will come in handy for my trip to Myrtle Beach in May.

Thanks,

bulach

HumVee

That sounds great, bulach. Be aware that MSN Direct Traffic is getting out of the business, as of 01/01/2012. It's my understanding that they will prorate refunds for people who still have valid subscription time remaining as of that date. It also means that people who like having traffic service on their Garmin GPS units but who currently use MSN Direct will have to purchase a new traffic receiver and get a different traffic subscription service. For the n750, you can get the GTM 20 traffic reciever with Lifetime Traffic subscription (free subscription, ad based). It's $88 with free shipping on Amazon - but I would actually recommend the GTM 25 for the same price. That updated model has the receiver unit high up on the cable, nearer the GPS unit (instead of built into the power plug like the GTM 20), and so may have better reception. It isn't specifically listed on the n750 site, but I can't see why it wouldn't work just as well or better. The FM-band traffic service is provided by NAVTEQ (which coincidentally also provide the road map data to Garmin) - so I don't expect them to get out of the business any time soon!