crash_n_burn Posted November 3, 2005 Share Posted November 3, 2005 Hey again cachers,i got one a quick question for you guys.In respect of buy GPS units online is there a difference between the units i can buy at C.U.M to the ones that are sold offshore in america??? Do these devices work exactly the same or are they manufactured to suite the respective regions(these questions might seem trivial but hey in new to this! )I would really appreciate all the adwice i can get. Quote Link to comment
+bear&fox Posted November 4, 2005 Share Posted November 4, 2005 The South African-sourced GPSrs that feature mapping will be sold with South African basemaps. Likewise, if you buy an American unit it will have US basemaps etc. You can circumvent this by either buying the local (say Garmin) basemaps locally, or by simply installing the Tracks4Africa maps. Be very aware that any Garmin unit that you bring into SA yourself will not be covered by Gamin SA (Avnic Trading). Not sure about how the local Magellan agents will treat you. Quote Link to comment
+GlobalRat Posted November 4, 2005 Share Posted November 4, 2005 Just to add to B&F's comment. You will get America's basemap. If you buy a GPSr in Europe or here you will get Europe & Africa Basemap. The basemap can not be changed. Depending on the unit you buy however you can load local maps. These do not replace the basemap. A basemap contains basic information such as major cities and major roads. More importantly, unless you are going to get a REAL bargain, it's not worth buying offshore as your warranty will not be valid here. So unless you can buy the unit at half the price...mmmmm. Don't forget you'll also be liable for import duties... Quote Link to comment
+GS&Dogs Posted November 4, 2005 Share Posted November 4, 2005 Globalrat is the warranty really worth anything in South Africa. We don't have experience with the service of GPS'rs but I can tell you that we had a tough time with our Pentax camera. Also when you get the Garmap software with the actual GPSr here, that software does not allow you to autoroute on your pc can you still autoroute on your GPSr with those maps installed? Quote Link to comment
+bear&fox Posted November 4, 2005 Share Posted November 4, 2005 (edited) I was keen to import as well, but once you add up the duties and the astronomical shipping rates, and you subtract the warranty (some units have arrived here broken.. ), then it's worth swallowing deeply and handing over the cash at a local store. GPSrs are often bundled with nice goodies in SA. But now if you happen to be going on a trip to the US, then it's a different story altogether (Have seen the GPSMAP 60CS advertised somewhere in the States for around R2600!). Makes your wallet tingle, doesn't it. Edited November 4, 2005 by bear&fox Quote Link to comment
+GS&Dogs Posted November 4, 2005 Share Posted November 4, 2005 Here is another option - buying online from a South African site. There prices are a little better than CUM, DS, OW and SW. They also specialise in GPSrs so there aftersales service might be better. http://www.techshop.co.za/ Quote Link to comment
+batsgonemad and his squirrel Posted November 4, 2005 Share Posted November 4, 2005 I got my etrex legend from the states as a friend of mine went over, paid R1600 as apposed to about R3000 and some change, have not had one prob with it. I do believe there is a difference with the amount of memory one gets with the units overseas as they differ from SA. Got city select and t4a loaded. It will give you a straight line direction to your address which does help. For those wanting to buy wait till next year as all units will be coming out with expandable SD cards for memory Quote Link to comment
tttedzeins Posted November 6, 2005 Share Posted November 6, 2005 The basemap can not be changed. Magellan US will replace the base map for around $50. Wether it is worth it or not is another question. I wish we couls do away with those pesky base map things anyway. Your warranty is only valid in the country you purchase the unit in. IKf something goes wrong yopu could ship it back to the country of purchase. I have had my GPSR 2 yrs and nothing has gone wrong. Quote Link to comment
+GlobalRat Posted November 6, 2005 Share Posted November 6, 2005 tttedzeins is quite correct, but last I heard, you won't find anyone locally that will do it for you. As for the warranty, I can relate Brick's story. He had an old eTrex which had a small niggle and had been repaired once or twice. Recently a certain caching expedition left him with a cracked screen and the niggle had resurfaced in a bad way. He took it in for repairs, fully expecting to have to pay for the screen. In the end he was offered the latest and greatest eTrex, and was credited with the value of his old eTrex if he had to buy it new. Pretty schweet. Flash memory in GPSr's !!!!!! YEEEAAAHHHHH they've eventually woken up. I was most disappointed to see that the 60CS didn't have flash memory. Pity it is SD though. Quote Link to comment
+Africard Posted November 23, 2005 Share Posted November 23, 2005 I got mine from the US, no problems with shipping, customs, working etc. I had to buy the software - still cheaper by around R1500! Then I left it on the car roof, it fell off, cracked the screen. Bumped heads with the local importers that do want to fix it, sent it back to the US... Now I'm waiting for it to return - take a look at my stats - no caching for more than six months now... Quote Link to comment
+Goofster Posted November 23, 2005 Share Posted November 23, 2005 I was planning to upgrade by the end of the year but the comments about pluggable flash memory have changed my mind. It's about time the feature came out. Quote Link to comment
+vespax Posted November 23, 2005 Share Posted November 23, 2005 For those wanting an excuse to wait on buying a new GPS..... They have tested and have begun using new chips in the high end models that are low frequency signal chips. This means that you can walk into your local shopping mall, department store, office building and still have a fix on your position the whole way through. Obvious use for this, under a bunch of trees where someone placed a cache. I refer you to this company's website for more info Supersense chips Plugable flash.... I thought they had that Goofster. It's called your PocketPC with GPS antenna!!! There was another point here to make, but have forgotten. rats..... Oh, Garmin geocaching mode, although nice, is sortof weak. Only lets you search for one icon as a cache, so if you have custom icons (like all the different cache boxes in your unit) you can still only see them as a traditional, not as virtual, traditional, multi, etc. I went to a cache event in August and a guy was a beta tester for Garmin. He told me that by the new year Garmin will have that fixed and have a more robust geocaching mode in their units. Apparently it is a major request on their feedback section. Quote Link to comment
+bear&fox Posted November 25, 2005 Share Posted November 25, 2005 (edited) Good news boys and girls... Garmin GPS60CX - with expandable memory. =http://www.basspro.com/servlet/catalog.TextId?hvarTextId=73615&hvarT arget=search&cmCat=SearchResults Edited November 25, 2005 by bear&fox Quote Link to comment
+vespax Posted November 25, 2005 Share Posted November 25, 2005 Good news boys and girls... Garmin GPS60CX - with expandable memory. Is somebody making their christmas list already? Quote Link to comment
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