20 Most Recent Garmin Quest GPS Receiver Questions & Answers

You can send it back to Garmin for repair. Be sure to have your serial number handy. Register it online https://my.garmin.com/mygarmin/marketing/register.htm
if you haven't already done so.
Hours:
Monday - Friday
8 a.m. - 7 p.m.
Central time (closed holidays)
1-800-800-1020 (U.S.)
1-866-429-9296 (Canada) or (913) 397-8200

Good Luck,
- Jim

your computer must have Garmin USB drivers installed. Go to Support at Garmin.com. Download and install, then connect your Quest.

Most likely a defective antenna connection. Two ways to fix this. (1) obtain an external "puck" type antenna with an SMA connector and plug it into the back of the Quest. (2) If you feel comfortable soldering small circuit pieces, remove the flip up antenna by placing the quest face down on a table. Remove the right two screws from the back and carefully remove the end cap holding the flip up antenna in place. Be careful removing the antenna endcap because there is a small plastic piece and a spring that can easily fly out and get lost. Gently pull the antenna to the right, away from the GPS, removing it completely.Take a small flat blade jewelers screwdriver, pry the pieces of the antenna shell apart exposing the antenna circuit board. There is a small gold colored antenna connector on the left side of the circuit board. Very lightly apply a very small amount of heat to the solder connections. Just barely enough to melt the solder. Reassemble the antenna and then the antenna to the Quest, making certain to include the small plastic piece and spring and then tighten the endcap and screws in place. I have repaired quite a few Quest units with this procedure and have had only 1 that did not work afterwards and that was because the antenna itself was bad.

this is most likely a bad battery. Replacement batteries are available on Ebay and also Batteryship.com. You will need a small screwdriver (Batteryship sends one with the battery). Place the unit face down on a table. Remove the 6 screws from the back. Be careful when removing the two screws on the right that hold the flip up antenna. There is a small spring and plastic piece that can fly out unexpectedly and I will guarantee they will disappear forever. Remove the back cover and you will see the battery. It will probably be held in place with some adhesive. Gently pry it from the unit. The battery connects to the circuit board with a small white plastic plug. Gently remove the battery from the plug and set it aside. Plug in the new battery and reverse the process of putting the back cover on. Don't forget to put the small spring and plastic piece in properly on the right side of the antenna. Put the unit in a charging cradle and let it charge overnight and you should be set.

Only way to have the unit unlocked is to enter the correct PIN # or take the unit to the area where the PIN was set and it will auto-unlock. Last option is to send the unit to Garmin. More info can be found here:http://www.sharc.net/gps_lost_pin.htm

A stand alone base.

The best thing I can recommend is shop around on Ebay and hopefully find a basketcase Quest or Quest 2 with the antenna intact. Swapping the antennas is fairly easy. Lay the GPS display side down and remove the two endcap screws on the right side. Pull the old antenna out and to the right and replace it with the replacement antenna. Another option you may try is purchasing an external patch type antenna that can mount remotely and plugs into the back of your Quest GPS. Garmin WILL NOT sell you a replacement antenna. They want you to send it to them for repair and will charge you $100+.

I have seen this on the Quest units also. The problem is most likely in the flip up antenna connection. If you or know someone who is fairly comfortable in soldering small electronic connections it is a fairly easy fix. First, you can verify the problem is in fact the built in flip up antenna but connecting an external patch type antenna to the antenna port on the back. If the problem goes away, then the problem is definitely in the built in antenna.If you lay the GPS display side down with the flip up antenna to your right, take a small phillips screwdriver and removed the two screws holding the endcap in place. Gently remove the endcap and CAREFULLY pull the antenna horizontally away from the GPS unit. Once you have done this, you can see the antenna is actually two pieces. With a small jewelers flat blade screwdriver, GENTLY pry in between where the two portions of the antenna shell meet and separate the two pieces of the antenna shell. Once this is done, it will expose the antenna circuit board and the small brass looking antenna connector. If the problem is in fact with the antenna connector, it may be loose or come loose in the process of prying the antenna shell apart. Use a low wattage soldering iron and solder the connector back in place being careful not to bridge the solder points. Reassemble the antenna and reinstall it on your GPS. Again, if you are not comfortable working with small electronic solder connections or don't have the proper equipment, get someone who is.

I have seen replacement batteries for the Quest GPS units on Ebay. Search for "Quest Battery" or "Quest GPS Battery". You may need to narrow your search but that will point you in the right direction. Another source is Batteryship.com. I have bought several batteries from them and have found their service outstanding.

The problem is most likely a defective antenna. If you are comfortable with soldering on a circuit board you can try what I am going to suggest. If not, you will have to send it off.
I have repaired several Garmin Quest units that exhibited the same problem as you describe.
You will need a light duty soldering iron, solder, a small phillips head screwdriver, and a small flatblade screwdriver. With the GPS sitting on front of you, face down and the antenna pivot hinge away from you, CAREFULLY remove the two right phillips head screws from the RIGHT side back. This is the antenna retaining piece. BE CAREFUL as you do this, as there is a small plastic pin with a spring behind it that can pop out and easily become lost. Once the antenna retainer has been removed, gently pull the antenna to the right AWAY from the GPS unit. It should pop off easily. Take the small flatblade screwdriver and gently insert it between the bottom portion of the antenna case and the top portion. There is a small seam on the bottom of the antenna where you can get the screwdriver blade inserted. GENTLY pry the top portion of the antenna case off. This will reveal the point where the antenna connector attaches to the circuit board by solder. If the antenna connector is loose, CAREFULLY solder it back in place, reverse the process in assembling the antenna, and the antenna to the GPS and finally the antenna retaining piece. Don't forget the small plastic piece and the spring. Again, if you are not comfortable with detailed disassembly or detailed soldering, have someone do it that has the necessary tools and skill.

If the screen is otherwise "normal" and it is just not able to acquire satellites, I am guessing you have a problem with the antenna. One way to determine that is if you got an external "patch" antenna, plugged it in and it started working as it should, that is definitely an antenna issue. I have run into several of the "flip up" antennas recently that have exhibited this problem. What happens is, the connector from the antenna breaks loose from the solder joint inside the antenna. If you have a small soldering iron, you can CAREFULLY pry the antenna case apart to access the connector and it is a simple matter to solder it back in place. You will need a very small screwdriver to pry the two outer sections of the antenna case apart. Wedge the screwdriver blade in between the two sections of the antenna covering. Pry the larger part (the part that would face the sky with the antenna at 90 degrees), and with CARE you can get it apart. The small gold connector solders to some circuit traces on the antenna board. To get the antenna off the GPS, place the GPS face down with the hinge part of the antenna away from you. With a small jewelers screwdriver, remove the right two screws on the back of the GPS on the right end. There is a small plastic retaining piece that holds the antenna in place. CAREFULLY lift it up and off the GPS. Be VERY CAREFUL at this point because there is a small spring loaded plastic piece that fits against the retainer piece you just removed. It is very easy to lose the spring and plastic piece if you are not careful. Gently pull the antenna to your right, away from the GPS. The antenna should pop out. If the connector has completely disconnected from the antenna circuit board, you may need some small pliers to get it off the GPS side of the antenna connection. Once you have the antenna removed, separate the antenna case as I described and resolder the connector back on the board.

With the unit turned OFF, press "OK", "PAGE" and "ON" simultaneously. This will do a hard reset on the unit.

A battery for a Sony Clie N610C works perfectly, everything fits and its easy work to do. Just cut the leads off of your old battery and then solder them to the Clie battery (its on a little circuit board) and then install, my Quest II now has a functioning battery 15 minutes later.

In mapsource, rename the track to "ACTIVE LOG", use capitals, then load to unit. It will show.

Have you updated your Garmin GPS unit with the latest updates? These units tend to get "disoriented" sometimes and need to be reset.
WebUpdater is a free application that lets you update your unit software from home. Download it once at the link below, and you can check for and install software updates without using your Internet web browser. Simply run WebUpdater from your computer, and it will do all of the work for you. WebUpdater's simple interface makes it easy to upgrade your operating software. Just connect your Garmin GPS to your computer, run WebUpdater, and follow the screen prompts. After confirming that you want to perform an update, WebUpdater will download that update for you and install it on your GPS. WebUpdater always checks for its own update first before performing a unit update. After doing the update, your unit should be accurate once again.
Webupdater Software

Go to the SETTINGS menu and select the MAP INFO menu. Make sure that the check box by the uploaded map that you want to use is checked. If the map is not checked, then only the base map will appear. This allows different maps to be installed simultaneously.