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My new Garmin 660 and Airgizmo and my usual Poor bad luck

J

jeffsvan

Well Known Member
When I purchase merchandise in good faith, my poor luck usually kicks in...
This is one of those times.

Just got my new Garmin Aera 660 and a Airgizmo panel mount to replace my older 550 and panel mount. Bought them both from Aircraft Spruce.

Everything went well installing them and it was an almost an identical install to the 550 they were replacing.

I wanted to take the Aera 660 out of the panel mount to take it home to charge the battery. Oddly the battery had 0% charge out of the box.

I go to remove my new GPS from the Airgizmo panel mount and I cannot !
Apparently I am missing a sliding lever that releases the GPS.
This new panel mount is a slightly different design from my former unit.
They now have a sliding lever that unlocks the GPS from the Bare wire cable.

Here is the catch 20-- I cannot remove the GPS from the panel mount, AND I cannot remove the panel mount from the aircraft because the screws are located behind the GPS. Un-real! It is trapped!

I phoned Airgizmo. The man who answered the phone was not very sympathetic, nor was he nice. He said I am possibly missing the plastic sliding release lever (no kidding?) , but he finds that hard to believe. He claims that Aircraft Spruce re-sells opened and returned merchandise, and since I did not purchase the Airgizmo from him directly, he is unwilling to send me the missing part!

So I immediately phone Spruce, they put me on hold, and they are unable to make contact with Airgizmo. Odd because they just took my call 3 minutes earlier. Spruce did NOT offer to ship me out a new Airgizmo. Unwilling. They want me to ship the Airgizmo unit I have back to them first.
EXCEPT one problem... I cannot remove it from the plane because I cannot get the GPS out. The workday has now ended, and I did not get a phone call back from Spruce with a solution.

Anyone have any ideas?
I thought of bending a paperclip and going back from behind the panel to try to get the GPS to release, but I don't want to scratch the back of a brand new GPS.

Needless to say I am Pi**ed off.

Over the years, this is my third Garmin/Airgizmo combo purchase from Spruce. I bought a GPS396, an Aera 550, and now this Aera 660.

Now what do I do?
 
I sympathize and this doesn't help you but perhaps someone else. I know I installed and removed my 796 from the Airgizmo mount 6-8 times testing the power and release levers before I ever installed it in the panel.
 
From your description, it doesn't sound like you need a new Air Gizmo, just the release lever, so I understand them not immediately just sending you a new unit. Admittedly a real bummer, but suggest taking a few deep breaths and let ACS work it out with Air Gizmo. I'll bet you are made whole in the end.

erich
 
I agree. I'm positive I just need this oddly shaped plastic lever arm.
I'm sure Spruce will make it right.
Don't know what's up with Airgizmo. Why the blame-game?
The other two air gizmos I have owned did not have this type of lever.

Of all the crazy things that could go wrong....
 
After some examination, it appears I will need to have the GPS removed in order to install the missing AirGizmo lever. Now I need to figure out a way to remove it without damaging it. This lever is a new design, and was not incorporated on my older GPS396 and AERA550 mounts. They just had a bendable Tab you pushed to remove the GPS.

I hope to hear back from either Spruce or Airgizmo today with some assistance.

What a bummer...

Photos below so no one makes the same mistake I did.
PLEASE check to make sure your Airgizmo arrives with this part.
I'm not buying the answer that Spruce lost it, or sold me re-boxed merchandise. This 660 just was released.

I will add some photos shortly:
I circled the missing plastic lever, and I circled the tab on the bare wire cable it pushes to release the GPS.
 
giz660.JPG

giz660a.JPG

giz660b.JPG
 
I don't have an Aera 660 Airgizmo mount to look at, but based on that photo, if that sliding piece (which looks like it extends around the back of the GPS?) is not there, isn't there a large gap across the top of the mount? Surely you could bend up a flat piece of aluminium to make something to slip in behind there and push the release button? If you're worried about scratching things, wrap it in masking tape and go slowly, I bet you could get it out.
 
Angle drill

It looks like your only possible solution would be to drill a hole right where the button on the bare wire connector is though the airgizmo, in the back, from the side, with an angle drill and long bit. You should be able to push the button with a paper clip on .042 safety wire. Good luck!
 
It's a long shot but maybe a plastic Q-Tip or a coffee straw? I would think either should be flexible enough to feed into the slot yet rigid enough to push the lever. Just a suggestion from looking at the photos.
 
Yes,
I got a few nice long coffee stir straws.
I will feed one in from the back.
I bet I can push the button.

Got a call back from Spruce this morning.
They have a call in to AirGizmo for them to send me a new lever-arm.
They have not gotten a reply back.
Will phone me as soon as they hear word.

Hope this works out for me.

thanks Forum members for your help.
 
Sorry to hear about your luck.

It'll take something stiff to press the release button on the Aera mount. I have the same unit and airgizmo and know from experience. The release lever is pretty stiff and requires some force to press. A straw will not work. Coathanger?

It'll help if you lightly press on the face of the 660 with your free hand to take some of the pressure off the release itself.

Is there something else in your panel you could drop to reach in behind the 660 to release it? Instrument, radio?

Shawn
 
Another suggestion before you drill holes:

If you look at your photo of the mount, at the opening where the "Power" button lever is, you can see daylight through the back (right at the right-hand side of the red ellipse you drew). There will be a matching opening through to the back on the left side of that slot. It's directly above the release button on the latch.

If you took something like a 3/32" hex key, and put the short end in that hole, you might be able to get it over top of the 660, and then rotate the long end to point the short end down to the button on the latch. Rotating the long end then would make the short end push on the button.
 
UPDATE.

On Tuesday I left a phone message with AirGizmo asking for some help with both removing the GPS and getting a replacement lever. Never heard back. Looking at their BIO one of the owners is a fellow Van's guy.

On Wednesday Kimberly from Airspruce phoned me to say they shipped me another complete AirGizmo unit. On Wednesday night another rep for Airspruce phoned me to make sure I was taken care of. GOOD customer service. GOOD follow up. I will return the complete unit I have with an RMA number.


I was able to free the 660 from the panel dock with two long coffee stir straws, a very thin long allen wrench, a flashlight and a inspection mirror. Took me about an hour of experimentation. No damage to the GPS. doesn't look like a scratched the back of it.
 
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