Garmin Service Bulletin for the SL30, SL40, and GNS 480(CNX80)

[rv8ch]

I did send in my registration card, and I buy databases from Garmin from time to time so they do have my contact details. I didn't get notified. Did anyone get notified of this SB?

[sandpiper]

I have not heard of any individual being notified. I found out about this on another forum and posted it here. The person who posted on the other forum found out by word of mouth. In fact, Garmin seems to have copyrighted the SB to limit dissemination.

I will say that Garmin readilly gave me a RMA and allowed me to hand deliver and pick up direct from their Salem plant with a 24 hour turn around.

Apparently not only didn't individuals not get notified, but neither did the manufacturer of my aircraft, Flight Design, who has ordered hundreds of these radios. It also doesn't seem to be on the Garmin web site?

Hopefully they will do the right thing by extending the deadline and making a better attempt at notification.

[PJSeipel]

I finally received a reply to an email I sent to Garmin a few days ago. It appears all of the activity has caused them to extend the deadline to 29 Oct. They still will not accept an SL30 without going via a dealer, although it sounds like they will accept the SL40 with no problems.

PJ Seipel
RV-10 #40032

Hi Patrick,

If you have properly identified the mod levels of your SL30 the unit does need to have SB0921 performed and I would encourage you to have the work done. We are requesting that all SL30 units be returned through an authorized Garmin dealer and I apologize if this causes you any inconvenience. Please note that warranty coverage for the factory work that is part of the bulletin has been extended another month until October 29, 2010, so as to allow us to accommodate additional customers.

Best Regards,

Bill Parsons

Customer Support Manager
Garmin AT Aviation Product Support
503-581-8101 voice
503-364-2138 fax

[Flybuddy2]

FYI--shipped 2 SL40s to them on Monday (via fedex), put a rtn airbill (back to local dealer). They got them on Tuesday and shipped them back on Wednesday.

[g3xpert]

We apologize for any inconvenience and we are looking for ways to make things more convenient for experimental customers. Making sure our customers are aware of product notifications is important to us and is one of the reasons we have decided to participate in this forum. We will be checking in here periodically and will try to answer questions as they come up. Please feel free to bring discussions on this forum to our attention by emailing g3xpert@garmin.com.

Currently the SL30, SL40, and GNS480 have a mandatory service bulletin issued for them. The bulletin addresses an issue with the COM section of these units that may have spurious emissions. Affected units are required to come back to Garmin AT in Salem Oregon for recalibration to correct this issue.

Please use these links to determine if your unit is affected by this service bulletin.

http://www.flickr.com/photos/garmin/...7624983407147/
http://www.flickr.com/photos/garmin/...7624983407147/
http://www.flickr.com/photos/garmin/5057616402/

Units that have had RMAs issued by Garmin AT from October 1, 2010 through October 29, 2010 will be processed under warranty for the service bulletin but the dealer's labor claim will not be reimbursed. Our policies do require that SL30s and GNS480s be returned to the factory via an authorized dealer. Here is a link to find the closest Garmin dealer to you http://www8.garmin.com/dealers/. Please fliter for your state and for aviation this will give you a list of aviation dealers in the selected state.

[Mike S]

Took about a week for the turn around, got mine back yesterday.

Good service, far as I can see.

Thanks Garmin.

[PJSeipel]

Originally Posted by g3xpert

Our policies do require that SL30s and GNS480s be returned to the factory via an authorized dealer. Here is a link to find the closest Garmin dealer to you http://www8.garmin.com/dealers/. Please fliter for your state and for aviation this will give you a list of aviation dealers in the selected state.

Garmin,

My frustration with this whole process is that the nearest Garmin aviation dealer to me is, per your website, over 100 miles away. Fortunately SteinAir provides such great support to the experimental community that they are helping me out, but I fail to see what advantage forcing us to use a dealer provides.

To remove an SL30 from the aircraft requires an allen wrench and about 5 minutes. Re-installation, the same. I already did that about 15 times as I built my panel so I have plenty of practice.

The argument that you get a lot of tech support calls on fixing settings in the radio might be valid, but I'll be frank, I'd be more likely to read the manual again or ask a question on this website or call Stein or another experimental friendly dealer than to call Garmin directly.

Putting a dealer in the middle of this SB just increases the shipping cost, increases the warranty cost to Garmin (assuming we got an RMA before 1 Oct; would have been nice if the email I got said that) and benefits you none whatsoever, because I can still call Garmin for tech support if I feel like it.

PJ Seipel
RV-10 #40032

[fl-mike]

Originally Posted by N15JB

1. The affected units can bleed over to adjoining frequencies while transmitting. The SB fixes that.

2. They do not plan to extend the deadline beyond 30 Sep.

3. If you miss the deadline Garmin will charge $800 to comply with the SB. I am not sure if that is for 1 or 2 radios, but a lot of money either way.

Charging you to fix a latent defect is just asking for a lawsuit. Not only that, the defect affects the validity of the qualification data that the design was TSO'd with. Not smart Garmin.

[a8301]

I talked to a Garmin tech and was told only a handfull of units were effected and if I had the prolbem I would know it but I carried the sl30 into one of the dealers on the list and was quoted 85.00$ plus shipping. The unit has worked very well for over a year. My understanding is its a TV transmission thing but when I go flying I aint watching TV of which 90% is garbage anyways.






Bruce 9A

[Capflyer]

It's hard to get away from Garmin when it comes to gps/nav/coms.

We build our own planes....I think we are capable of a two second removal from the tray of our units.