The following step-by-step instructions describes how I revived an etrex which was filled to the brim with water and considered dead by drowning.

Although the etrex is speced to withstand 1m of water for 30 minutes, I highly recommend not trying this. I did, and the etrex failed miserably: having to cross a small pool on one of my hikes by swimming only, I naively thought I can get by without waterproofing my etrex.

Well, coming out the other side of the cold, refreshing pool, I took my etrex out of my wet pocket, and to my shock, horror and dismay, there was water in it - loads of water swishing under the cover all over the screen. So much for hiking by satellite. Water resistant - yeah, right.

Step 1 - Don't turn the etrex ON with water in it. Only bad, bad things will come from it. Take the batteries out as soon as possible, and shake the device to take as much water out of it. There's still going to be plenty of water in the device which won't come out.

Back home, realize you have little to loose now that things look so hopeless.

Step 2 - Don't despair. Instead, get the following:

• a hair dryer.

• some paper towel or toilet paper

• contact glue (similar to the glue used for patching bike tubes)

• white spirit or window cleaner or computer screen cleaning spray or any other glass cleaning solution

• patience. As much as you can find under these circumstances.

Step 3 - Open the batteries compartment, take them out if you haven't already. Shake the device until it stops spewing water out.

Step 4 - Aim your hairdryer full-blast at the black rubber strip running around the device. Start from the side, not the top. You don't want to melt it, just warm it up really well so it's flexible. It is glued to the device, and the heat softens the glue and your mission with this step is to carefully peel that rubber off. Once it's warm, peel the black rubber off. Gently, so it stays in one piece.

Step 5 - The etrex' shell is made of two parts, glued together. From now on, the top part is the one that has the window for the screen in it. The bottom half holds the batteries. There are no screws - the halves are held together with just four small plastic tabs and glue that tends to stick to your hands and all else. This step is messy, so be patient. Blow your dryer at the glue softening it up as much as possible. If you can, have the dryer stand so you have two free hands. After a while, the glue will soften up to a degree that'll let you carefully pry the two halves of the shell apart from the side (not the top). Try not to get the glue from your hands on the screen. With a tiny screwdriver gently push the tabs and pry the shell.

Eventually, the two halves will come apart. Do this gently and slowly so as not to break the four tabs that protrude from the bottom shell part. Once you get the two halves separated, go wash your hands. The hard part is over.

Step 6 - With the etrex apart, the board and screen are accessible to drying and the dryer can do a thorough job. Put the dryer on low or medium, and let the etrex bask in the heat for like five or 10 minutes. Make sure you're not frying it with too much heat. Just a gentle, long, desert breeze would do. Turn it around every so often so no water is trapped anywhere. Avoid touching the LCD screen.

Step 7 - While the internals are drying, thoroughly clean the top shell, the one with the window. It may have glue stains or water residue - the end result should be a very transparent, dust-free window. Any stain/dust on the inside will stay there after you put the shell back together.

Step 8 - Now inspect the dry LCD screen for water residue. If there are none, don't touch it. If there is, gently use the glass cleaning solution to clean it off. Do as little as possible to get the job done, as the bare LCD panel is a gentle, fragile, expensive part that's hard to find.

Step 9 - Leave the etrex under a warm light bulb and go do something else. Come back in a couple of hours, or when you're positively sure the etrex is as dry as the Sahara. The point here is to make sure there's no humidity trapped anywhere between components that may cause electrical shorts

The moment of truth - the etrex can now be tested, while it's still open on the operating table. Put a couple of fresh batteries in (observe polarity, careful not to damage the screen), gently press the etrex board on the bottom half, touching it only by the edges, never the LCD screen, so the board is in place aligned to the grooves on the bottom shell. With one hand holding the board down, press and hold with the other hand the exposed power button.

All you're praying for now is the boot screen. If your prayer has been answered, the boot screen comes up. Mine did, or you wouldn't be reading this. If not, you now own spare etrex parts, and the following is an academic exercise. Press the power button again to turn the etrex off. You might want to give the drying another run, but if you've been following the timeframes here, my guess is the problem is not aquatic.

Step 10 - take the shells apart again. Make sure the bottom shell four tabs are straight, and put superglue around the shell perimeter, where it'll touch the top shell. One last look at the sparkling clean top shell window and LCD panel. Carefully put the two shell halves back together, aligning the etrex board and press until the tabs click into place and the shells mesh all around.

Step 11 - put contact glue on the outside seam where the shell halves meet, but keep clear of the buttons! Put the black rubber part back in place, and retest the etrex for a boot screen. Finally, go outside and see that the etrex acquires satellites.  It may take longer to acquire so be patient. Check all functions like backlighting, loading/unloading tracks etc.

If all went well, the etrex now has a new lease on life, but be aware that it's now even less water resistant than during its previous life, not that it ever really was, in my opinion. So treat it accordingly.