4kilo

4kilo

Well Known Member
I have a GMA 340 installed in my RV-8, and it is a great audio panel except for the music channels. The music is distorted and one channel has almost no volume. I tried a lot of troubleshooting, but what fixed it was swapping a friend's identical GMA 340. This tells me the problem is in the GMA 340 box itself.

Now the real problem. I bought the instrument 14 months ago, so it is no longer covered by the warranty. Garmin wants $600 (plus shipping) to fix it - it cost me $1300 new!!!

Any suggestions?

Pat
 
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GMA 340

Arghhh! That's terrible. Price seems unrealistic. Hope you can find a cheaper way to fix it, and hope mine, bought years ago, doesn't do the same. Bill
 
340 warranty

Pat, you need to check the date you purchased the audio panel. Garmin has a one year warranty for all non-aviation related products, however you have a two year warranty on all aviation related products. I am a garmin dealer and would have no problem getting your audio panel covered under warranty. All you should have to pay is freight to get it to them. If you are unsure call 800-800-1020 (garmin support) give them your serial number and they should be able to verify its still under warranty.

Jason Smith
Aerotronics Inc.
 
Hi Pat,

Did you buy it new (not refurb or overhauled)? If so, #1 you got a killer price, and #2 it should still be under warranty as Jason said. If you didn't buy it new and it came from someone other than a reputable avionics shop then all bets are off. If you did buy it from a good shop, they should take care of you. Again I'll make a plug for value verses cost. At even 2 months out of warranty I can just about guarantee you the higher end (and higher cost shops) would get you taken care of. Garmin usually works pretty hard to keep customers happy, but having a good shop (Jason is at one such shop) on your side in situations like this usually makes things much easier.

Lastly, another plug for PS Engineering. Love Garmin stuff as a whole, but I like the PSE audio products a bit more........you can bet that if this were a PSE Product, the head of PSE would read this thread and probably contact you directly to get it taken care of. Those guys are 2nd to few when it comes to support of their products.

My 2 cents as usual.

Cheers,
Stein

PS, If you didn't buy it from me, Aerotronics is one of the few shops I don't get too upset losing business to. Good guys they are.
 
Thanks

Jason and Stein,

Thanks for pointing out some things that I should have noticed. I just rechecked the warrenty certificate, and you are correct, this unit does carry a two year warrenty. I was in a hurry, and when I called Garmin direct and they said it wasn't covered, I didn't check more closely before typing in frustration.

I did get a pretty good price back when I was scrounging at one of the big discount houses (not quite as good as the original post - misstyped that). If I had it to do over again, I might have done a few things differently.

Thanks again for the info,

Pat
 
Garmin is unrealistic

Jason said:
Pat, you need to check the date you purchased the audio panel. Garmin has a one year warranty for all non-aviation related products, however you have a two year warranty on all aviation related products. I am a garmin dealer and would have no problem getting your audio panel covered under warranty. All you should have to pay is freight to get it to them. If you are unsure call 800-800-1020 (garmin support) give them your serial number and they should be able to verify its still under warranty.

Jason Smith
Aerotronics Inc.
Click to expand...


My 430 comm section quit working one month out of warranty but 18 months after it was in for warranty related issue. I was really bummed when I learned it was a minimum $700 charge.

For Jason and Stein, why do they have such high service costs. I'm confident the boards are probably plug and play with short work bench time.

The $700 is more than 10% of what I bought it for new from Stark. $5800 something if I remember correctly.
 
Flat rate fee

Darwin,

First I want to say I can't speak for the decisions Garmin has made regarding their flat rate fee program. I'm sure there are many reason for their pricing.

I visited Garmin about a year and a half ago while going through G-900X training and was given a company wide tour. We visited the facility where all returns are sent for repair. I was surprized to see how many people (perhaps six or seven) full time repair technitions were busy diagnosing, fixing, and recertifying radios, not to mention the eight to ten guys dedicated to answering phones and providing technical support all day. They explained to us that around 70% of the equipment sent in for warranty repair ends up having no problems at all. I admit I have sent radios back for repair before exhausing all possible troubleshooting options. It happens! Everytime a radio comes into their shop they are required to put the unit through all the tests required by the FAA to "return to service". This is a timely and costly process for them. Before the flat rate fee began and even today if no problems are found with a radio they do not charge for the testing and "Yellow tagging" of the unit.

When they get a radio in for a specific problem say a comm failure, they go through the entire radio and fix all problems, not just electonic but some cosmetic as well. If a display is scratched or a knob bent I have seen them replace the entire face place and display of a GNS430 for example.

Like I said before I'm sure there are more reasons for their flat rate structure. I know is hard to stomach a $700.00 bill for something that "should work longer than that!"

Jason
 
Blatant Thread Drift...................


Would either of you Garmin gents care to comment on my request on another thread for wiring in an iPod into my Garmin 340 please - lots of views and no replies yet.

It's about the last wiring thing to do before we move out to the habgar.

Thanks :D
 
Hi Mike,

Normally wiring an IPOD into an audio panel is pretty straight forward...run it into the "entertainment or music" input. Going through the Hub I have no idea...without knowing exactly how/what those guys gave you for wiring into and out of the hub, I think both Jason and I would be taking a shot in the dark. Best place to call is the people who made the hub. They should be able to help you out (the wired it after all).

Cheers,
Stein
 
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