On Dec 2, 8:52 pm, Brian Whatcott wrote:
On Tue, 2 Dec 2008 12:02:16 -0800 (PST), Frogwatch

wrote:
OK, Now I am curious. Somebody pointed out my bad luck with equipment
in another thread and I am wondering if it is due to the way I treat
my stuff. For example, my neighbor noticed that I leave my VHF and
fishfinder/depthsounder on the console of my Tolman Skiff out in the
rain all the time and said I should bring it inside. My thinking is
that I bought them because they said "Submersible" so they should take
being outside in Florida.
I carry my handheld VHF and GPS around in my sail bag with some heavy
tools and I throw it down into the cabin when I get aboard. Is this
abuse or normal use?

Neither thermal cycling, humidity cycling nor hi-G transients are
calculated to improve product life. Yet any one of these treatments
can fail an otherwise useful device.
But you knew that.
Live with the utility and sacrifice life - or live with the lifespan
you'd like, and sacrifice utility.....

Brian W

Maybe I just expected too much from my electronic stuff and its just
too fragile. My old hand compass has been thrown in cave pack and
dropped hundreds of feet, dragged thru mud and water, subjected to
bizarro conditions and still works great. Oddly, I treat my optical
gear with great respect. OK, y'all taught me something. Its gonna be
26 degrees tonight (SRSLY) so I'll go bring in the Tolman electronics.