I haven't spoken with them but heard from several people who did - Garmin didn't seem that interested in addressing the issue (though I heard that 2nd hand).
The pins are weak - but the problem is also that the unit is long and the wrist band is in the center. Everytime I've lost one, it's because it slides down my wrist (so the wrist band is where it should be) but the unit extends over the back of my hand. When I flex my hand backwards (like when I brace myself on the hull coming in from the wire) it puts a lot of stess on the pins. My thought was to build a thin composite enclosure with a stronger band attachment and offset the band to the right of the unit so I can wear it on my left hand and not have it extend over my hand. Someone else made a good suggestion to me to make a band that is as wide as the unit itself so it won't slide down over your hand.
I nearly lost mine the same way Jake did. The Foretrex is a potentially excellent product for beach cat distance racing, but is seriously let down by the wrist band. Putting on the boom is a waste of time. I now tuck mine into a life jacket pocket and use it as a backup for a small handeld GPS in a baggie - which is harder and slower to read than a wrist mounted unit.
The full unit width wrist band sounds like a good idea - together with sturdier pins. I'm going to send an email to Garmin with these suggestions.
Chris.
