death of a Garmin 305

Picture is a little out of focus, but the far right contact is gone. (8 gold colored/brass contacts are smooth on the side with the battery, and almost spring like on the other half of the watch)


First couple of hints earlier in the week. On three separate runs, it would just turn off. It would turn back on, but shut off a couple more times before the end of the run. Thought it wasn't getting a good enough charge, because it wouldn't connect to the cradle for recharging. Cleaned the contact points on the bottom and that seemed to get it to charge.

Today, it shut off again, three different times during the run. Googled and found this thread on the Garmin website. Tried the soft/hard resets. That didn't work. Downloaded and reinstalled the firmware. That didn't work. It would charge completely, but shut off completely after removing from the cradle. Decided to crack open the case and see if the contacts for the battery were corroded. The case separated and opened rather easily. Sure, enough one end of the watch has several connectors, one was completely corroded and the other was gone. Corrosion must have eaten the metal completely. I was able to get the unit to turn back on by prying the remaining good contact up to make contact where the other contact had been. Don't know if I'll attempt to solder a connection or not. (edit to add) Tried to solder but what was left of the contact broke off after soldering.

Time to buy a new Garmin. Can't complain to much. I've had this watch for 3 years, and 5 months. I've run right around 9,000 miles with it. Pretty cheap, if you look at it that way.