Garmin Rechargeable NiMH Battery for GPSMAP 64s/Oregon 600 Series GPS
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I have a Garmin Oregon 650t and a Garmin Montana, both of which are powered by Garmin Nimh batteries. I live in Alaska, and the only thing that works when it comes to dealing with the cold is ENERGIZER ULTIMATE BATTERIES.
Connect your GPS device to a USB port on your computer or a car charger outlet to charge the batteries. The connectors must be purchased separately.
Yes, you can charge the batteries by leaving the battery pack in the device and plugging it into a 5v USB outlet. The internal charger, on the other hand, is a joke, and I strongly advise using an external charger to charge the batteries. I would not recommend purchasing these Garmin batteries because they are of poor quality.
That is exactly how I use it. However, the battery life appears to be limited. Always have extras on hand.
Selected User Reviews For Garmin Rechargeable NiMH Battery for GPSMAP 64s/Oregon 600 Series GPS
Garmin makes some decent GPS devices, but they have one major flaw: br>br>If you want to use non-rechargeable batteries or power in general, This may not bother you too much if you use rechargeables, don't mind always carrying a spare set, and aren't trying to keep a track log. The battery life is adequate, but if you use the GPS as much as I do, you will run out of them quickly. br>br>However, if you want to use rechargeable batteries and/or record a complete track log (with no gaps where the GPS ran out of power and you didn't realize for an hour), Garmin will disappoint you. And then there's this battery pack, which adds insult to injury. First and foremost, when you unplug the power source, most (if not all) current Garmin GPS units turn off automatically. That means that if you want to be certain that you have a complete log of your hike/bike ride/etc. , you should do so. , the batteries must be charged sufficiently to last the duration of the journey. If you attempt to connect the GPS to a power source and the plug is accidentally disconnected, your recording will be lost. The same thing would happen if the batteries were not fully charged to begin with and then died halfway through. br>br>Having the ability to use rechargeable batteries, plugging in the unit to charge before a trip, and knowing it will last the entire trip would be a good option. However: br> a) This official Garmin "battery pack" can only be charged from the inside; All other rechargeables must be taken out and charged separately. andbr> b) these are some of the worst batteries I've ever seen; They don't have a lot of capacity to begin with, and they don't last very long before losing a lot of their charge. br>br>To add insult to injury, Gamin completely overcharges you for these poor-quality batteries. high-quality rechargeable batteries They are significantly more expensive than standard AA rechargeable batteries, and their performance is significantly less. At the very least, I'd be grateful if I could make good use of my time. I'd be much happier if I could find high-quality rechargeables and charge them internally. br>br>This appears to be a transparent ploy by Garmin to extract more money from their customers, essentially charging extra for the privilege of dealing with Garmin's poor design choices in their GPS units. br>br>And to make matters worse, it's a bad battery. If it was a high-end product, I could justify it as an "Apple premium" if it were shelf rechargeable - Official accessories are more expensive, but you get more bang for your buck. br>br>It's a shame to squander so much good engineering in a product because of a single blunder.
If the device were, say, a small flashlight, this wouldn't be a big deal, but it isn't; it's a GPS, and your life could depend on it. My advice is to use the batteries when they're new, then discard them when they show signs of failure. br>br>BTW, the battery pack can be disassembled and the plastic holder reused with ease. Remove the exterior tape, then snap the two halves of the plastic holder apart with a little force. Remove the depleted batteries, snap the two halves together, install new (good) batteries, and reassemble the rig in the GPSr (while keeping polarity in mind, of course). If you're really concerned, you can use plastic cement to join the two halves. Because I'm not an electrician, everything I say after that is purely conjecture. br>br>At 5V DC, all USB devices, including Garmin GPSrs, charge. I doubt that a Garmin GPSr has any special circuitry that alters this, so you should be able to recharge ANY rechargeable AA battery in a Garmin GPSr using the method described above. That's exactly what I'm doing, and I've had no issues so far.
For my Garmin 64, I purchased this in April. For a specialized rechargeable, I thought it was a fair price. This summer, I used it on the boat for speed and water depth a couple of times. I noticed that the display was dim at times while I was using it. I'd charge (even if it meant staying up all night!). When we got back home, we were in a good mood. The display would fade from bright to dim after 10 minutes of use. I'm not a fan. I should've just gone with alkaline.
Agree with the majority of the people - Garmin is overpriced and fails to deliver. It worked for a short time (I don't use the GPS very often), but now it refuses to charge; only demonstrates the "plugged-in" condition Never use the "charging" symbol instead of the "in" symbol. The battery is never fully charged. It would have been much better if I had a couple of Amazon Basics rechargeable AA batteries and a charger. Agree with the majority of the people - Garmin is overpriced and fails to deliver. They have no right to be called the GPS industry's leader.
I could be completely wrong, but I'm not sure how these work with the GPSMap 62s. These were purchased, but the GPSMap has a ridge running between the batteries that prevents this pack from fitting into the battery compartment. I can't close the back cover because the batteries are making contact. I'll return these, but I'm curious as to how someone could say they worked great in a 62s when I can't even get them in. Maybe they snipped the plastic?.
After about 4 hours, the unit showed 1 of 4 bars remaining; I recharged them overnight, and the unit showed 2 of 4 bars the next morning. I posted on Garmin's forum, assuming it was just an incorrect setting. I received a response within a few hours, chastising me for posting in the incorrect forum and recommending that I file a support ticket or try the German forum (which I couldn't do because I don't speak German - Why doesn't the English forum have a section dedicated to all of the devices available in the country? ), which resulted in the thread being locked, preventing me from following up. br>br>Support sent me a new battery, which I tested today and found to have the same problem. So far, I'm not sure if I received two defective battery packs or if the unit is reading the state of charge incorrectly. In any case, they're useless - I'd like to know how much longer my batteries will last with a reasonable amount of certainty.
I connected the USB cable to the 64 and it turned on. The charging screen did not appear when the power was turned off. I continued to charge it throughout the day, and when I disconnected the charging cable, the unit would not turn on. After reading other reviews, I decided to order four packs of Amazon Basics AA rechargable batteries, which were less than half the price of this battery pack.
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