Yep, that is how it goes with consumer electronics. Garmin offers what is supposed to be an exchange program, they take yours in (in any condition apparently) and claim to give back a rebuilt or refurbished unit in exchange. I have used this service several time with a few different models and all have been brand new, in the box. But they only offer this service for a period of time once a model is no longer made and once they are gone, they no longer offer the exchange. And as they do not and never had offered any parts or pay service on road vehicle models, that is about the end of the life for that model. You are in the situation a lot of us have ended up in.
My own favorite is a Zumo 550, and that too is no longer supported by Garmin so when (really not 'if') it fails, I am SOL. I also own a 665 but overall prefer the 550; it has the far better screen to see / read in daylight or direct sunlight, and has enough buttons to do what I need to do without having to use any on- screen buttons when riding. The 665 is the faster device but has a display that is far from as good as the 550, and requires the use of screen buttons to operate it. And as I am using a communications jack on both units, there is nothing available new that can replace either one, at least the way I am using it now (hard- wired to the comm. system on the bike, Bluetooth connection to my cell phone).
There does not seem to be much or any development going on for outside vehicle GPSs either so it is not looking good for the future. It appears that smart phones have taken over that market and while I am sure that works for most people, smart phones no longer have comm. jacks on them either so again, they will not work for me.
There are a few outfits that repair these older GPS's and it might be worth looking into that. The 4XX and 550 Zumo series have PCB contacts on the bottom that contact conical, spring- loaded brass buttons and after a while, the buttons actually wear holes in the pads (had that happen to two different units) and it is unlikely that any repair facility will have new PC boards available so these units are going to have an absolute lifespan limit without support from the factory.
The only other way to go might be a tablet, sealed against weather and mounted on the fuel tank instead of vertically, behind the windshield. With software and a GPS antennae, or just using a tablet that has a GPS system built in, it should serve as a route planner / display / directions as well as a sound system.
For whatever it is worth, I am really impressed you had one go 9 years. I have gone through them like candy, always having them replaced under warranty (either factory warranty or the original Best Buy warranty I got along with a Magellan Roadmate 700 many years ago). In my own experience, they are just not very reliable.
Brian
My Zumo 450 from 2008 finally died in a way I can't fix. I have replaced the touchscreen three times and re-sealed the physical buttons with silicone sealant twice. But it started acting strangely last week with weird error messages, then wouldn't charge from the mount. Checked the fuses and powerlet and they are good.
I called Garmin and they were no help at all. All I wanted was a pinout of the mount or the Zumo connector. They claim that is not available anywhere. Yeah, right. So I can't even check power from the mount because I don't know which of the zillion pins it is, and it seems to be un-openable. I tried the other direction from inside the Zumo and that isn't much help either. So I have a $550 brick.
I would have hoped such an expensive device would have lasted longer, although 9 years isn't bad. So I looked at their current Zumo offerings, the 395 and 595 and was just shocked by the reviews on Amazon. The prices are just as outrageous but the conclusion is that the software is now horrible (bugs, crashing, poor design, tiny fonts, lack of labels, etc), the bluetooth unreliable, the music on the 395 is very poor quality and the screen on the 595 is unreadable in daylight. Tom-Tom makes a bike device and it is rated just as poorly.
Now I don't know what I am going to do. I can't find any info to fix mine (and it had its own issues- takes forever to boot, even longer before it will play music, can't hold but 4GB SD card, won't play music on self-battery, and the touch-screen failures are annoying). It looks like the newer ones are garbage. And there are no alternatives worth looking at. I bought a RAM X Grip mount for my phone (which is excellent) but using a phone is horrible... no physical buttons, capacitive touchscreen is almost unusable no matter how I apply conductive thread to the glove fingers, has no autonomous mapping, has no SD card so I can't carry any more music than the old Zumo, there is no way to keep it "on", is not at all weather resistant, the volume controls are not accessible while in the mount, and the screen is nowhere near as bright.