Garmin 600 freezing up

[+GerIRL]

I'm using an Oregon 600 with software/firmware v4.60 and it constantly freezes up, requiring a battery pull. We did a 150 cache powertail yesterday, and it froze up on me AT LEAST 15 times. Extremely frustrating, to put it mildly. Every time I pulled the batteries, they were quite hot, and they only lasted about 5 hours before running out of juice. I use MAHA POWEREX 2700 mAh AA NIMH Rechargeable Batteries.

 

I know this is an issue with the Oregon 6** series, just wondering what my options are and if anyone has had success resolving this issue. I bought the unit from REI 8 months ago. Thanks!

[+Nocturnx]

2 Things... I've read that it is not recommended for some rechargeable batteries to be placed in air/water-tight devices. Whether that is due to heat or something else I'm not sure. Maybe try using standard alkalines for awhile and see if the issue persists.

 

Second, it could be a bad map or gpx file causing the issue. Try removing all the files you have on it and see if it still freezes. If it doesn't, add back only what you need one at a time to troubleshoot, there could be a corrupt file triggering the freezing.

[+on4bam]

I'm still using FW 4.40 but I had freezes too when I first had the 600 (FW 2.80 if I remember correctly). Worst moment was when it froze and after removing/replacing the batteries it wouldn't boot anymore. I must have tried 10 times to restart and replace batteries. What got it going again was hooking the unit up to my tablet. It went into mass storage mode and afterwards it booted as normal. Next firmwares also had occasional freezes but FW 4.40 seems rather stable. I don't think maps have anything to do with it as I use OSM maps and don't change them often or switch them on/off often.

If it were any of the caches loaded I guess you would be able to crash the unit following the same steps and it seems random. It's a bit like windows BSOD, it just happens