That moment has arrived! My GW60 also got some water in. Within a week, the water seemed to be gone, but condensation appeared. Gradually, this too seemed to disappear, but the next time I got out to sea, everything went back to square one. Does anyone have a solution?
Select to expand quotew100 said..
That moment has arrived! My GW60 also got some water in. Within a week, the water seemed to be gone, but condensation appeared. Gradually, this too seemed to disappear, but the next time I got out to sea, everything went back to square one. Does anyone have a solution?
99% chance that the water is getting in through the button seals, salt corrosion will be in motion. From here the end is near.
Try to dry it out over a week period placing in a warm location.
It will work for longer if you carry it in water tight bag but then it's not a watch anymore.
You can cover the buttons in silicone blobs but then the buttons don't work very well.
There is no fix to be found in pulling the watch apart this will just lead to the expiry date being earlier.
Best of luck, I love these watches but they don't last forever.
Unfortunately the buttons vent when pressed, so if there's water on the buttons and a -ve pressure inside, the watch will suck the water in.
This water goes straight to the copper contacts of the switch witch will corrode and stop working. They can be cleaned, but as said the end is nigh.
There are a few Garmin watches approved for the GPSTC, probably more robust than the GW60, and have other fitness functions. but they are only 1hz and don't export accuracy data.
YES, the beginning of the end began a few weeks ago when, excited by some foiling runs, I used the scroll button while in the water. From that moment on, the first condensation appeared (which I tried to combat by leaving the GW60 "under rice"). Unfortunately, it was already severely compromised, and yesterday it stopped working completely (it won't even start when plugged in).
Now I want to buy a device to use exclusively when I go to sea so I can record my sessions and check my scores without any major worries while in the water. Ideally, it should be accurate and easy to connect to an Android device (via Bluetooth) so I can download tracks even without a PC.
...naturally, it should be more reliable (in terms of durability) and offer better after-market service.
I prefer the wrist option rather than the strap.
Thanks for your suggestions.
Garmin Forerunner 255 is an excellent choice. I always use the Garmin and 3 ESP loggers, the Garmin has very small differences with the ESP-loggers (0.1 knots for the average). There are other Garmins with the same gps-chipset (multi band is key!). See also this article : medium.com/@mikeg888/which-garmin-for-watersports-e1000c43a868
While waiting to decide whether the Garmin Forerunner 255 is resistant enough to eventual windfoiling crashes, I temporarily restarted my old GT31.
After rechecking the appropriate settings, I did a quick test in the car to make sure everything was OK. The device works perfectly as a speedometer, and the Speed ??Genie works.
After completing the test, I simply turned it off by pressing the OFF button, and the device said "saving successful."
I inserted the SD card into my PC (windows 10) and launched both GPS Action Replay and GPS Speed ??Reader, but I couldn't find any trace of the test session.
I imagine I'm missing some step at the end of the session, but I don't know what.
Or could it be a question of the SD card settings?
I've crashed at 30+kts with my 255, and it's fine. I'm very sure the garmin is more waterproof than the GW60.
It's ages since I've played with a GT31, but you shouldn't have to anything, if it's set up to record to card, that's what it does.
Pressing save at the end only saves the internal logger. So if that's what you've done you should have a .SBN file that's automatically saved to the card in real time, and a .SBP file that's the internal logger saved to card.
The GT31 were known to suffer dirty contacts to the card. Check the 2 screws in the card/charging area. if they are rusty, you could have contact corrosion.
What card did you use? I have a memory of the GT31 only working with a 2Gb card. They are very rare these days.
Suspecting I'd forgotten to save the first test session, I repeated the operation, finally confirming the save. The device displayed "saving in progress" on the screen, followed by "saving completed," and then "new file," and then it finally shut down. I was confident that one of the two programs mentioned above would find something this time, but I was disappointed.
The SD card is an old 1 GB Secure Digital.
P.S. Unfortunately, the door lock system no longer works. For the above procedure to occur, I had to press on the door, simulating its closure.
Have a look at the card with your file browser, that should show what's on it.
With the GT31 saying successfully saved, I'd expect there to be something on it.
And make sure the file browser shows the file extension.
Unfortunately I don't seem to have the manual, but I think there was a section in settings about the SD card.
Another thing to try, is remove the card and see how it behaves, I suspect it will tell you there's no card present, and you won't be able to save.
If that's the case, it's recognising the card when it's in. and thinks it's saved to it, maybe the file gets corrupted somehow and software doesn't find it, but filebrowser should.
New test:
"ON" -"card found" - "new file/yes" - "data logger/save/yes" - "shut down"
SD card in USB PC port - file browser check - only old files from 2024 found (last test data)
Just for further confirmation, I tried running Speedreaders and GPS Action Replay, which see the same traces as the file browser.
Totally weird, beyond me at the moment, maybe something will occur to me later, but don't hold your breath.
There isn't a delete all button somewhere that's stuck on is there?????
Hmm well here's a thought. I've just remembered a progress line moving across the bottom of the display when you hit save.
Do you see that?
There was also an app that connected to the GT31, and you could download the internal logger with that, (I think it was called Navi link, but probably wouldn't run on anything later than W7
OK wonder of wonder, I have a copy, and just started it in a virtual windows 7. It is called NAVILINK11. You may find a copy on the locosys website, if not PM me and I can email it to you.
Yesterday I also tried to figure out if and where I had made a procedural error.
Initially, after finding and recognizing the SD card, I no longer saw the save progress at the end of the session.
Subsequently, the SD card was no longer detected by the GT 31.
I checked that the SD card was unlocked and ready for writing by confirming the switch in the position closest to the contacts.
I downloaded the drivers for the GT 31, but I can no longer find Navilink.
