Is there a way to fix my Garmin GPS that c340 I accidentally put into my washing machine?

Question

Yes you read correctly (insert everyone laughing at me here).

I accidentally washed my Garmin c340 GPS in my washing machine (water, spin cycle and all). I tossed the GPS into my laundry basket to put it back into my car (my garage is right next to my laundry room so i thought I would save a trip up and down the stairs). But on the way down to my laundy room, I put my laundry basket down for a few minutes, grabbed the basket 10 min later and forgot about the GPS nestled in the basket corner and dumped everything into my washing machine to be washed.

Do note that I caught this little accident BEFORE I put anything into the dryer.

But needless to say my GPS will not turn on at all.

I tried opening up the unit and drying it in the sun for 2-3 hours. But I didn't have any luck getting the unit to turn back on.

I also simply plugged it into its cradle and tried charging it back up. No luck here either.

I called Garmin today and they told me that it would cost $150 to repair it. Heck, I could just purchase a brand new Nuvi 200 for $150 currently at Walmart.com.

So I thought I'd post here to see if anyone had any other ideas that I could pursue that I hadn't thought of.

Thanks for any help or ideas.

Answer 1

Your c340 is pretty much ruined.  Try putting it up on eBay to see if anyone wants to take a chance at buying it for parts.  If you do put it up for sale, be sure to state what happened to the unit so you don't get an upset buyer.  But you are right about being able to buy a nuvi 200 for only $150.  Best to just bite the bullet and get a newer unit.

Answer 2

I would search eBay or Craigslist to see if you can buy a used replacement for $100 or less. The damaged is done and no use crying over spill milk, just take the lost and move on.

I would recommend you to consider buying the Nuvi 260 or Nuvi 260W if you are used to the C340 since the Nuvi 200 does not have Text to Speech feature like you had on your Garmin Nuvi C340.

Sorry for your lost, but it could have been worst.