What's wrong with my Garmin GPS?

There are too many possibilities. Have you changed the “start-up” location? For instance if it has switched to another continent or hemisphere it can take a really long time to locate itself. When things are new people tend to play with menus.

Satellite signals these days aren’t too finicky.. unless you’re underneath something formidable.. like a mountain. Doesn’t the thing come with tech support?

@NaturalMineralWater Yes, and that’ll be my next step. Just wondered if anyone has experienced this as a temporary occurrance. It’s actually a refurbished unit, which worries me, but luckily it came with a legit manufacturer’s warranty. BTW, I live in the Denver area but I’m still a good 20 miles from the foothills—so I doubt the mountains are an issue.

You usually have to wait like 3 minutes for it to get a signal if you had your gps unit shut off for a day or more, I know it from my TomTom , it’s not a biggie although it can be annoying sometimes.

The antenna on your unit has a lot to do with your reception, if it is a basic handheld Garmin, the reception isn’t great to begin with. The frequency that GPS satellites use is also seriously affected by any physical barrier, even tree cover. DarkScribe is also right about “start-up” location. If your unit has a map and allows you to, you may be able to edit the “start-up” location to get it close, and it should find the satellites fairly quickly. So before you assume something is wrong, check the “start-up” location, and go outside with no trees around. If it works then, there is probably nothing wrong with your unit, it just needs good conditions to function. My Garmin Etrex Legend was practically useless on my last hike in the Green Mountains simply due to tree cover.