Ultra 12 - bent pin back of unit

[fishin couillon]

Just notice the other day that my Ultra 126 has a bent pin on the back, and with that, the female part on the cradle is "pushed" in.....it still works as i used it this weekend.....anyone come across this before??? I dont want to touch it and make it worst........probably call Garmin this week and see what they say......

Red arrow pointing to the bent pin.....might be hard to tell from pic but if you look at the 3 pins that are next to it you can tell that its not straight....





Cradle connection....you can clearly see it's been pushed in from the pin being crooked.....

[SamMule]

On wow! Do you remove your unit often? I installed mine once and haven't taken it off. Had some weird display issues at one point. Makes me wanna take it off and have a look.

[BassTracker175]

Finally I see this has happened, as expected by the design.

I haven’t see any broken pins here yet, but I know it will happen.

Probably We should all avoid snapping the units in and out too often! The convenience merchansm is going to mess up sooner or later!

Sorry Jeremy! Hope Garmin can swallow the loss.

[fishin couillon]

On wow! Do you remove your unit often?

I remove it after every use and store units inside the house.....i had the 93 Plus units and still have one left with no problems and take that one on/off all the time........

These units are made to be taken off......i believe that this came from the factory like this and i'm just noticed it within the last week.....will it keep my from buying another, nope......

I haven’t see any broken pins here yet, but I know it will happen.

I think the only way they would break is if someone tries to bend them or come from factory messed up.......

[LWINCHESTER2]

You are smart to call Garmin first before messing with it. I thought about suggesting straightening it but these pins are not designed to be bent once, much less twice. On other electronics I have straightened bent pins. I have also broken them while trying to straighten them.

[fishin couillon]

In the pin pic you can see they have a flared base to them.....that wouldn't bend to good and more than likely break if i would try to fix it.....I wont be touching it......

[Sleepy111]

That is one if not the biggest reason I went with the 1242 unit instead of the ultra 12. I wondered how soon this would happen somewhere. Hopefully they will replace it for you, their cs seems pretty good from all that I have read when looking into a new unit.

[ddement]

I can tell you if you break it, they will not warranty it. I broke one trying to straighten it and it cost me 300.

[fishin couillon]

That is one if not the biggest reason I went with the 1242 unit instead of the ultra 12. I wondered how soon this would happen somewhere. Hopefully they will replace it for you, their cs seems pretty good from all that I have read when looking into a new unit.

Again, this happened during assembly and i assume when i used it for the first time, the pin pushed the other part in.......you may not have as many pins but the transducer/power/NMEA, etc. all have pins that can be bent from factory and do the same thing......dont know what the big deal is......

Ive saw guys on the Lowrance board talk about bending their pins on accident when plugging the cables in....

[DR. DROP]

I take my 2 Ultras off and on every trip. When I first got them I was nervous about getting them lined up.
I read the instructions very carefully. I now make sure that the first thing I do when putting them on or taking them off is press in the two little tabs on the right and left side of the bracket.
And then raise or lower the bracket to lock or unlock unit in place. Then release the tabs.
I was not doing that at first and did not understand the way it was designed.
I love being able to easily take my expensive units off the boat while pulling boat down rough roads, rain, bugs and road grime.

[Sleepy111]

Again, this happened during assembly and i assume when i used it for the first time, the pin pushed the other part in.......you may not have as many pins but the transducer/power/NMEA, etc. all have pins that can be bent from factory and do the same thing......dont know what the big deal is......

Ive saw guys on the Lowrance board talk about bending their pins on accident when plugging the cables in....

Oh I know the pins for transducer connections and such can be bent as well, I have that other brand too. With the ultra having a cradle that stays on the boat so it is an easy removable unit is why I was skeptical of it. Especially since it’s a new cradle style and after reading some other post of guys talking about theirs coming loose while running. I haven’t looked at one up close but I only assume that pin out block with the bent pin is the connection that gets connected/disconnected each time it is removed. Is that right?
I have 3 Lowrance lives and 1 garmin now, on my old boat I use to remove my HDS units every time I used the boat because it stayed outside under a carport. Now on my new boat I do not remove anything since it stays in the garage. I have been either very careful or super lucky for years not causing a problem of my own when I was removing all (3) units every trip. I hope they get you taken care of without a hassle.

[fishin couillon]

I haven’t looked at one up close but I only assume that pin out block with the bent pin is the connection that gets connected/disconnected each time it is removed. Is that right?

Yes the pins are on the head unit.

Like you, i had Lowrance for about 12 yrs....they were removed from boat when not fishing, didnt mess up any pins....

[fishin couillon]

UPDATE: Talked to Garmin Friday evening about this....told me to send pics via email and they will take a look. Well today i get a call from Garmin (they called me) and told me that they will be replacing the unit.....i was hoping that partiular pin was not being used but he told me it was the ground (i believe) and so i wouldnt have any issues, they would replace it......

I cant say enough about their CUSTOMER SERVICE!!!!!

[ring fry]

SE Kansas grass grower