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Vancouver Cachers?


Soultrance

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Hey There,

 

My name is Greg, I'm a wanna-be cacher in Vancouver, haven't got a GPS yet, still trying to find somewhere I can actually go to that will let me hold and play with the unit before I buy it online (o:

 

Anyone have any recomendations for places to to the above, or even units to get? I'm hoping to get one for less then $200 CDN, online or instore is no matter, whatever is the best deal. At the moment the 2 I have the most interest in are the Magellan SporTrek line and the Garmin GPS 60. What do you experienced Vancouver/BC Cachers recommend?

 

I'm hitting a store on Powell called Deakin tomorrow, they have a good selection, I called to ask if they have the units out to handle and they actually do, yay! Hopefully I'll find the perfect fit.

 

Also, any suggestions for BC/Vancouver caching sites, wouldn't mind making some cacher friends.

 

Well, I'll close this down for now. Thanks in advance to anyone that can help me out and I hope to be a bigger part of this community once I get a gps. (o:

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Hi Greg,

Welcome to geocaching! There's lots of great caches around the greater Vancouver area of all types -- I'm sure you'll have plenty to keep you busy.

 

As far as GPS units goes -- if you ask 10 different geocachers you'll get 10 different answers about what their favourite is. For your budget, I'd suggest you look at the new Magellan eXplorist models. Don't consider the 100 model (you can't connect that one to a computer) but any of the others in that line (200, 300, 400, 500 and 600) would be great choices. I have the eXplorist 500 model and I really like it. I've found that the Magellans hold a satellite lock better in the woods than the Garmins (I own both), and the Magellan's the one I take on the trail with me, while my Garmin stays in the car.

 

Deakin is a good place to look at GPS units. Once you've had a look at the different models and are ready to purchase, I'd suggest going online. I've ordered twice from www.gpscentral.ca twice and can't say enough good about them. They have great prices and excellent customer service, reasonable and fast shipping, and no PST.

 

And check in with www.bcgeocaching.com too. There's more local information and links there for you to browse!

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And check in with www.bcgeocaching.com too.

That organization isn't terribly useful. Web page is rarely updated, the "directors" rarely communicate with anyone but themselves, and there are no forums to foster stronger community, not to mention they charge a membership fee for god-knows-what.

 

Thought you might want a heads up on that organization, if you didn't already know 1/2 Canadian. There's not too much point continuing to link to them. ;)

 

Another local organization is the Lower Mainland Geocachers at Yahoo! Groups:

http://groups.yahoo.com/group/lower_mainland_geocachers/

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The Garmin 60CS is an excellent unit. Holds a great lock while in your pocket and in the woods. As well the 60CS has built in barometric altimeter and an electronic compass, the latter of which is indispensible to caching.

 

Magellan's suffer from something called "the boomerang effect" which makes them a bit annoying to use.

 

Anyhow, you can't go wrong with the Garmin 60CS.

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We use an older magellan 315 which has found us over 100 caches.

I haven't compared it to a Garmin though while out caching.

It doesn't have the latest WAAS, but is still a great GPS.

 

As 1/2 Canadian suggested, make sure the GPS you decide on can be connected to a PC to exchange data. I also feel that if a local store takes the time to show you GPS's and suggest a GPS, then buy from them - it's their value add.

 

Unlike DBC, I think it's worth looking at a local group like BCGA

 

Steve

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Hi Greg welcome to the great sport of Geocaching. As I am a Garmin user I am a little partial to them but what Half-Canadian says is true. I get frustrated caching with cacher that have Magellans as they do hold there lock better under the tree's. That is the only time I wish I had a Magellan also. I also agree that mail order is the way to go. I have ordered a few things from GPS Central and am very pleased.

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Anyhow, you can't go wrong with the Garmin 60CS.

If you can tell me where they are selling the 60CS for less than $200 let me know! I will buy two of them.

 

Welcome to the great obsession of geocaching! Always great to see new cachers coming to the area. Feel free to visit the British Columbia Geocaching Association. Lots of good links to useful websites on geocaching. VIGPS.com is also a good site. It is the home of the Vancouver Island cachers and they can offer lots of good advice as well. I use a Magellan Sportrack Map. It has been a good little unit. Holds the satellites well in the forest. I have never not found a cache because of the GPS. You don't have to go big to start out.

 

Hope you are able to get into the game soon and discover how much FUN it can be!

Edited by Chillibusher
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Thanks very much for all the info guys, keep it coming.

 

I'm going to be hitting Deakin, 3 Vets and Mountain Equipment Co-Op tomorrow to take a look and see whats out there. Canada Tire on Cambie has a nice selection of units, but they're all behind glass and in the packages, what good is that? I want to be able to hold the unit, see how it feels in my hand, see if I'll like handling it and if I'll be able to handle and do everything I need to do comfortably and easily.

 

I never actually considered the Explorist line, though reading about them they don't sound bad at all, hopefully I'll find one to get my hands on.

 

Also, to the person that said I should buy it from the store. I totally agree that I should buy it from the store, especially if they're going to help me, talk to me about them and give me some good info, I would love to buy from the store, but not having a great deal of money sets me out to find the best quality for my needs with the least price. And that means researching, going out and checking out units in person to get a feel for them and then buying one online for $50 or more cheaper, usually. Thought I completely agree with you about buying it from a store because they're there to help you and I would if I could afford to do so, but I can't.

 

Thanks again for all the info guys, keep it comin', I'll keep reading this as long as it's got something new ;)

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And check in with www.bcgeocaching.com too.

That organization isn't terribly useful. Web page is rarely updated, the "directors" rarely communicate with anyone but themselves, and there are no forums to foster stronger community, not to mention they charge a membership fee for god-knows-what.

While I won't disagree with you that the current incarnation of the BCGA "isn't terribly useful", I have to disagree with your comment about the directors. Most of the directors are happy to communicate with you if you contact them directly and some of them post information or replies to BCGA queries here and on two other BC caching websites. Most of the remaining current directors have the best of intentions for both the association and the current issues however it appears that their hands are tied. It seems that the current dearth of current information coming out of the official BCGA website stems from the president/webmaster's (same person) unwillingness to post information on the website or, for that matter, to even keep the other 3 remaining directors informed as to what he is up to, preferring to operate unilateraly and dole out "tasks" to the other directors. In fact, he has recently actually removed current news items off the BCGA website for some unknown reason. It's no surprise that there has been (and probably still is) dissention among the BCGA directors which has resulted in one director's resignation. IMHO, things at the BCGA will likely get a lot worse before it gets any better.

 

As it stands, the BCGA is not doing a very good job of supporting BC cachers as it is too focused on pursuing the private agenda of the association president with little regard for the wishes of the other directors or the membership. The upcoming "extraordinary" AGM in the new year should be interesting to watch as the president attempts to install a familiar and all too controversial person as a replacement director.

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Out of curiosity, what exactly is the point of paying for a membership to that site anyways?  If theres nothing of apparent use there, or if it's not being updated or anything, then why charge a mambership.  Also, what does a membership get you anyways?

It gets you nothing. Honestly. Well, if you find 100 caches, they'll put your name on the front news page. I guess it will get you that. Maybe that's worth $15 a year to you. Maybe it isn't.

 

Maybe a director will pop in and tell us what the BCGA offers, what value-added goodness you get for your $15 (or is it $12) per year.

Edited by dogbreathcanada
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Most of the directors are happy to communicate with you if you contact them directly and some of them post information or replies to BCGA queries here and on two other BC caching websites.

Chillibusher and Doc Magoo are pretty good. You're right on that, I shouldn't have painted them all with the same brush. The remaining directors are pretty lousy on the communications front, though.

 

The upcoming "extraordinary" AGM in the new year should be interesting to watch as the president attempts to install a familiar and all too controversial person as a replacement director.

WCE wants to re-install the Guru? So intriguing. So mysterious. It's like a little mini coup d'etat. Can you say "junta"? :rolleyes:

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It gets you nothing. Honestly. Well, if you find 100 caches, they'll put your name on the front news page. I guess it will get you that. Maybe that's worth $15 a year to you. Maybe it isn't.

 

Maybe a director will pop in and tell us what the BCGA offers, what value-added goodness you get for your $15 (or is it $12) per year.

Hey it pretty much suprised me too...

 

FWIW - I didn't join BCGA just because I thought I'd get something out of it, I also joined because I thought I might be able to give something to the BCGA.

 

Steve

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There have been questions as to why people should join the BCGA. I can tell you why I decided to pay for a membership with the BCGA.

 

An association (or anything) can’t run without money. The BCGA puts on four geocaching events per year and these are attended by a large number of people. The last two events were attended by approximately 70 people each. These events require venues, prizes and materials and costs add up. Paying $1.00/month to something I believe in and enjoy so much is something I want to do.

 

I also believe in giving back to something that gives so much to me. Geocaching has given me great experiences and I want to support an activity that does this for me. I took on the role of a director in the BCGA because I believe there is a need for this association. As this activity spreads into the view of society, there will be a need for an association to support cachers of BC.

 

The website is maintained and updated with information. Although we don’t post information every day or every week, the current information on the site is very useful for people starting out. I would still like to see a section on the do’s and don’ts of caching and cache placement written and placed on the site. That is one area of caching education (which people have previously pointed out) that we are missing and it will be worked on shortly.

 

There is a section where people can leave news items or submit articles if they like on the BCGA website. They do have to be approved before posting, like any other site. We would love to have people write in about caching news or activities.

 

I don’t want to try to sell memberships here because that isn’t what this thread is about. It is up to each individual to make up their mind if they want to support an association or not. You can still go caching and access information from the website if you aren’t a member.

 

I hope this answered some of your questions. :)

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There is a section where people can leave news items or submit articles if they like on the BCGA website.  They do have to be approved before posting, like any other site.  We would love to have people write in about caching news or activities.

I'm interested in understanding why two news items that were posted on the BCGA website last week, because they were presumably approved by someone, were removed after less than 48 hours. Perhaps, Chilibusher, as a BCGA director, you can explain it.

 

One news item was congratulating dogbreath on his 500th find. Now I'm quite aware that DBC is not the most popular cacher in some local caching circles but why was it removed almost as soon as it was posted. In contrast, the news item congratulating Wet Coast Explorers (BCGA president) for his 1000th find, origninally posted September 7th and is still available for viewing. Likewise, a news item posted on July 28 congratulating Mr. Gigabyte, a good friend of Wet Coast Explorers, is still viewable. Even a similar news item posted July 11 congratulating Pharmadude on his 500th find is still viewable. So why was the news item about DBC suddenly removed?

 

The other news item was an announcement of the formation of a Lower Mainland Caching Association. It was posted the same day as the DBC news item and removed at the same time. Why was that news item removed? Was it not considered to be relevant to Lower Mainland Cachers that the BCGA claims to represent? Was it removed by the same director that approved it? I suspect not.

 

I eagerly await your explanation as to why these news articles were suddenly removed after presumable being approved. I'd also like an explanation as to what the News Item posting guidelines and criteria are in order for approval by the BCGA and why those two articles were not considered appropriate.

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I believe the issue was not who the post was for (liked or not liked) but who posted it. 'Anonymous'. Personally, I see no reason to hide behind a guest account if you want something posted on the BCGA news, and believe if the same congrats was posted non-anonymously, it would be put up.

 

My suggestion to the BCGA that only valid site members (BCGA members or not, however they validate them) be able to post.

 

If a news post is rejected, I would expect the writer would be informed via email why, I know I'd like that response if for some reason something I wrote was not acceptable.

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I believe the issue was not who the post was for (liked or not liked) but who posted it. 'Anonymous'. Personally, I see no reason to hide behind a guest account if you want something posted on the BCGA news, and believe if the same congrats was posted non-anonymously, it would be put up.

 

My suggestion to the BCGA that only valid site members (BCGA members or not, however they validate them) be able to post.

 

If a news post is rejected, I would expect the writer would be informed via email why, I know I'd like that response if for some reason something I wrote was not acceptable.

No disagreement here regarding anonymous submisions, CB. My question was why the news bulletins were approved and posted and then subsequently taken down. Since all submitted news items already have to be vetted and approved by, presumably, one of the directors, the question begs to be asked, why were those particular news items removed after being approved and posted? I have a hard time believing it was because they were submitted by an anonymous guest otherwise they would never have been approved and posted in the first place. Perhaps their reasoning was sound but it sure doesn't look that way.

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Perhaps they realized having anonymous postings was not good, and retracted it. But had no way to contact the mystery poster?

 

If the person who posted that news now realizes they were not logged on when they posted DBC's 500th cache notice, they can do it again, logged on this time.

 

I don't know what the 2nd post was, I never saw it.

 

This thread needs to be split, its WAY off topic. :)

 

As per the original Thread...

 

Welcome to Geocaching in Vancouver!

Both major brands of GPS have pros & cons. Magellan tends to hold a lock better in the trees, but its averaging algorithm will almost always have you walk 20m past the cache when moving fast (have to slow down when near cache, and let it settle down).

 

Make sure you have a unit you can connect to PC, that uses standard batteries (you can't recharge lithium’s on the trail!) and for me a memory card enabled unit was great. Very easy to load card with different sets of waypoints and maps.

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Perhaps they realized having anonymous postings was not good, and retracted it. But had no way to contact the mystery poster?

Sounds to me it's more a case of someone not liking the information that was approved by another director. The messages that were posted were relevant to the community and regardless of whether or not they were posted anonymously, they could easily be confirmed by any director as newsworthy items. The anonymous posting excuse is rather lame.

 

From everything that I've read so far, it would seem that the negative comments posted in this thread about the BCGA are well founded. The BCGA does indeed give the impression that it's a closed group. That's the reason that I won't join or support it.

Edited by 42N8 1
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I've been doing some research and got my hands on a few units at Mountain Equipment Co-Op and I think I have made my decision.

 

I was originally going for one of the SportTrak models, but it just didn't feel that comfy in the hand, nor did the eTrex series, the buttons on the side I'm not a fan of. So, after playing with an Explorist 300 for a bit, I really liked how it felt in my hand, how it fit and how the navigation and such worked (menu wise). So, I am pretty sure i am going to try and pick up a 210, as I obviously need to PC connectivity, but don't want to pay the price jump from 300 to 400, so I'll look into the 210, since the price is more reasonable.

 

Does anyone have and use an Explorist 400, 210 or 300? If so, what do you think of it? Pros, Cons? Any distinctive and very important reason to NOT invest in a 210 or 400?

 

Thanks again for all the info guys, and I know the whole BC Geocaching thing threw everything off to a tangent, but it was rather interesting to read through, gives me a bit of a sense of how things are working in the BC caching crew (o:

 

Thanks folks.

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Does anyone have and use an Explorist 400, 210 or 300?  If so, what do you think of it?  Pros, Cons?  Any distinctive and very important reason to NOT invest in a 210 or 400?

 

You've made a good choice in GPS units. This unit will serve you well and will allow for expandability with more detailed mapping, topo, etc. when you are ready to add those features.

 

I don't own that model -- I own an Explorist 500 -- but I'm also familiar with the 100 series, and they are all built on the same platform.

 

I purchased 6 of the Explorist 100's for a youth camp GPS program that I set up at the beginning of the summer after doing side-by-side tests in the field with that model and the Etrex. The Explorist did not lose satellite lock, even in the dense woods, while the Etrex was without coverage for extensive periods of time (10-15 minutes several times) during a two-hour hike as I held one unit in each hand.

 

The Explorists got a full summer's worth of rugged use from the kids, ages 8-18, often in rainy weather and I'm sure they were all dropped more than once. With less than 5 minutes instruction at the beginning of the course, all the kids immediately picked up on entering a waypoint, following a course, etc. The menus are easy to understand and the joystick makes one-handed operation easy.

 

The one thing I don't like about my 500 is that it has a fixed internal battery that you have to recharge, rather than replaceable AA cells. I see that the 210 uses two AA batteries, so that's good.

 

Magellans do have the dreaded "boomerang" effect -- if you walk very briskly it will overshoot your final destination if you don't allow it a little time to catch up to your true (unaveraged) position as you approach your destination. You can either slow down a bit at the end to allow it to get a true fix on your position, or you can shut it off and turn it back on right away -- this will re-initialize your position and give you an immediate, accurate location.

 

By the way, I also own a top of the line Garmin GPSMap60CS. If I had to choose one, I would pick the Magellan any day. All the bells and whistles that the Garmin offers are worthless when it loses satellite lock whenever a flock of birds fly overhead :blink:

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By the way, I also own a top of the line Garmin GPSMap60CS.  If I had to choose one, I would pick the Magellan any day.  All the bells and whistles that the Garmin offers are worthless when it loses satellite lock whenever a flock of birds fly overhead  :)

That's quite a bit of hyperbole. A flock of birds? Secondly, the Garmin GPSMap60CS has a far superior antenna to the eTrex models (spherical helix versus patch antenna). An eTrex held out in the open will lose satellites occasionally (and especially in the canyon at the end of the trip) on the 7.5KM hike to Norvan Falls. A 60CS in a pocket didn't lose signal once the entire trip.

 

You prefer the Magellan. That's cool. But the negative hyperbole on the Garmins is lame, especially since your last paragraph suggests some sort of technological equivalence between the eTrex line and GPSMap60/76 line.

Edited by dogbreathcanada
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By the way, I also own a top of the line Garmin GPSMap60CS.  If I had to choose one, I would pick the Magellan any day.  All the bells and whistles that the Garmin offers are worthless when it loses satellite lock whenever a flock of birds fly overhead  :)

That's quite a bit of hyperbole. A flock of birds?

I guess you missed the winking smiley? ----> :lol: <----

 

It wasn't a hyperbole, it was a joke.

I guess everyone else understood it. :lol:

 

Soultrance, it is a bit like Fords and Cheverolets. Both Magellan and Garmin make excellent GPS devices. They each have their little quirks. I personally like the small size of the eTrex Vista unit. I can attach it to my daypack/backpack strap right on top of my shoulder so it has a good view of the sky. It does not get in my way that way either. You can see it in my profile picture.

 

3512_900.jpg

 

Good luck and have fun once you get going.

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I think the Magellan Explorist line is actually smaller then the eTrex line, I know for sure they are in length from holding both, they're about the same in width, with the magellan maybe a bit wider, and the same in thickness too.

 

THat's what I intend to do with mine once I get it, strap it to the shoulder strap on my pack :)

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By the way, I also own a top of the line Garmin GPSMap60CS.  If I had to choose one, I would pick the Magellan any day.  All the bells and whistles that the Garmin offers are worthless when it loses satellite lock whenever a flock of birds fly overhead  :)

That's quite a bit of hyperbole. A flock of birds?

I guess you missed the winking smiley? ----> :lol: <----

 

It wasn't a hyperbole, it was a joke.

I guess everyone else understood it. :lol:

I saw the smiley. The problem is a person who doesn't know squat about the various units isn't going to know how much of a joke that is (or isn't). Not too mention she was referring not to the eTrex line, but to the 60CS. Whereas the antennas on most of the Magellen line may be superior to the eTrex line, the 60CS has the same antenna as the Magellans, and due to the rest of the bells and whistles on this top-of-the-line Garmin, makes it a superior unit to the Magellans (imnsho, of course).

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By the way, I also own a top of the line Garmin GPSMap60CS.  If I had to choose one, I would pick the Magellan any day.  All the bells and whistles that the Garmin offers are worthless when it loses satellite lock whenever a flock of birds fly overhead  :)

That's quite a bit of hyperbole. A flock of birds?

I guess you missed the winking smiley? ----> B) <----

 

It wasn't a hyperbole, it was a joke.

I guess everyone else understood it. :)

I saw the smiley. The problem is a person who doesn't know squat about the various units isn't going to know how much of a joke that is (or isn't). Not too mention she was referring not to the eTrex line, but to the 60CS. Whereas the antennas on most of the Magellen line may be superior to the eTrex line, the 60CS has the same antenna as the Magellans, and due to the rest of the bells and whistles on this top-of-the-line Garmin, makes it a superior unit to the Magellans (imnsho, of course).

Got a burr under your blanket, DBC?? :lol: Jeez, lighten up....

 

If you want to put your money where your mouth is, here's your chance:

 

Are You On The Winning Team?

 

:lol:B)

 

H-C

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Please don't drag this out to a mine is better then yours argument, each GPS has its good points and bad points. I am quite happy with mine, I swear by it and have sworn at it. This like a few other hobbies I participate in, the equipment does not make it easier in the long run, experience and practise does. No matter what GPS you get, just get out there and enjoy yourself :)

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This may be far too late, but what the heck.

 

My suggestion is that if you are planning on only using the GPS for Geocaching, then all you need is the most basic model.

 

All it needs is

 

- Arrow to show which way to walk

- Distance to location

- Method to manually enter coordinates

 

The rest is novelty that we get addicted to but don't really need.

 

Garmin and Magellan, among others, all make good product that have various minor nuances and nuisances.

 

Based upon conversations and what I've seen....

 

Garmin = Good at accuracy of location, Bad at maintaining satellite lock.

Magellan = Good at maintaining satellite lock, Bad at accuracy of location.

 

Both have made significant improvements in the newer models. Neither provides everything that a Geocacher would wish for.

 

The only thing that I would recommend is that if you hope to use the first GPS for a few years, be sure to get one that has some form or method of computer connectivity. Whether it be serial or USB cable, or by SD card. Entering 500 waypoints manually is annoying (actually never have, but I find even more than 5 gets annoying).

 

I did just fine for 2 years with the base model from Garmin, and I've used a base model Magellan from a friend a few times. Both allowed me to find the cache. That's all you need.

 

As for local groups... it is probably easiest to attended EVENT Caches and meet people. Once you are comfortable with Geocaching and you get to see how people conduct themselves, you'll gravitate to a group that is right for you.

 

:) The Blue Quasar

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Also, to the person that said I should buy it from the store.  I totally agree that I should buy it from the store, especially if they're going to help me, talk to me about them and give me some good info, I would love to buy from the store, but not having a great deal of money sets me out to find the best quality for my needs with the least price.  And that means researching, going out and checking out units in person to get a feel for them and then buying one online for $50 or more cheaper, usually.  Thought I completely agree with you about buying it from a store because they're there to help you and I would if I could afford to do so, but I can't.

You should, at the very least, give the store an opportunity to attempt a price match! Print out the web page from gpscentral.ca showing their price for that model, and ask the local store that was good enough to help you make your decision if they can match the price. If it's under $20, I will always pay the diff. to buy locally. I know for a fact that Canadian Tire has price matched Canadian web stores on GPS pricing. I'm sure Deakin would, too.

 

BTW, there's a place on Granville Island that price matched gpscentral.ca. They're a marine electronics shop. Good service, decent selection of gear, too.

 

GeoBC

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Oddly, I haven't actually been to Deakin yet, lol. Went out with the intention of hitting the store one day, but ended up going to the other side of town and hitting Canadian Tire on Cambie, Moutain Equipment Co-Op and 3 Vets (who does carry GPS, for some reason). MECO is where I handled the wonder Explorist line and found what I wanted. I'm pretty sure I am aiming for the Explorist 210 or 400 now and pending on christmas money, or what money I get from selling christmas gifts (the ones I won't use, of course) <_<, I may be able to pick one up from GPSCentral, or better yet, find a store to price match them. However, I've also been looking at and considering eBay as well, seem to be around $40 - $50 less sometimes, but then you have to factor in shipping, shipping time, it's used and not new, no warranty and not from a local retailer. Hopefully I'll roll up enough cash and find a local store that carries the Explorist 210 and if they'll price match for me, awesome!

 

Thanks everyone for all the comments and info, it's been very helpful, nice to know people out there are willing to lend a hand to a n00b and not be all elitist and s*** :)

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I know for a fact that Canadian Tire has price matched Canadian web stores on GPS pricing.

I tried going to Canadian Tire a few weeks back,

with a GPScentral.ca printout, and they would NOT match the price.

 

At the store, they told me it was because GPS Central is outside of Quebec,

and when I phoned the Head Office in Ontario the next day,

they told me it's because they don't match prices from the web.

 

Do you have any way of getting a hold of their legal text concerning this?

How were you able to have them match the price?

 

Thank you,

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Do you have any way of getting a hold of their legal text concerning this?

How were you able to have them match the price?

I guess it is up to the individual store...or else my friend just got lucky with the person he was dealing with? On a similar note, another friend just bought a Nikon D70s digital SLR from London Drugs (they sell Magellan units). He got them to price match a Canadian online store by bringing in the print-out.

 

GeoBC

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Why should a local store have to match an on-line price? They are totally different ways of shopping. A local store has "value add" in that you can touch and get the feel of the product, an on-line store doesn't.

I don't think anyone in this thread has said that stores MUST match online prices. simply stated that some, in fact, do.

 

But if you're going to use up a local store's time browsing and asking questions, and then buying online, then you should at least given the local store a chance to beat the online's price. And as I've mentioned, if the price difference isn't too large, I'll happily pay extra to buy local.

 

GeoBC

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Hey geobc,

the question wasn't directed at you... rather just a general question for people to mull over.

I just remember when I went to buy my first GPS and went to an outdoors store in Langley to look for a GPS. The owner told me he didn't sell them anymore - "sick and tired of showing people everything they wanted to know about a GPS, allowing them to try them out, and then they go buy it from LD or w@lmart because it's $10.00 cheaper"

 

When I went to CDN tire to look for them it was quite funny - I asked the (young) sales guy who looked after that department about a Magellan GPS. He started reading the specs off the box! I told him I knew how to read, and had been able too long before he was even born.... Basically he knew nothing about them. As consumers we don't really benefit greatly from price wars - something has to give and it's that value add that disapears.

 

I also happily support local stores.

 

My 2c anyways

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The owner told me he didn't sell them anymore - "sick and tired of showing people everything they wanted to know about a GPS, allowing them to try them out, and then they go buy it from LD or w@lmart because it's $10.00 cheaper"

 

Well, if that were the case, you think the guy would have lowered his price $10, or offered to match other store prices, or offered some kind of insentive to buy it there. If he got sick of spending all the time trying to sell the units to people, only for them to go buy them elsewhere because they're $10 cheaper, you think he'd be smart enough to drop his prices $10 and keep the people buying from him, instead of other stores.

 

Can't expect people to buy from you if you are charging more then other retailers. Online vs Store is different, because online might be cheaper, but store has a lot more advantages. However, if you run a store and are charing more then other stores for the same thing, people will obviously drive a few more blocks and go to the cheaper store.

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Well, if that were the case, you think the guy would have lowered his price $10, or offered to match other store prices, or offered some kind of insentive to buy it there.  If he got sick of spending all the time trying to sell the units to people, only for them to go buy them elsewhere because they're $10 cheaper, you think he'd be smart enough to drop his prices $10 and keep the people buying from him, instead of other stores.

Stores like CDN Tire can buy in bulk, so they probably buy at a wholesale price better than the small business retailer. Is $10.00 worth sound advice from an expert vs buying from a retailer that knows less about the product than you do?

 

You'd be suprised at how little retail markup is - especially in the electronics/computer business. When I sell a computer system I collect more in taxes for the government than I do in profit for me. Pretty sad eh! I recently bought a digital camera, Best Buy had it for $5.00 more than my wholesale cost. That's less than a 2 percent markup.

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The order has been placed. I ordered the Magellan eXplorist 210 from GPSCity.ca for $222, GST and $8 shipping included. If all goes well, I should have my very first gps by the end of this week, beginning of next.

 

I ordered from GPSCity.ca instead of GPSCentral.ca because the 210 is $199 CDN there, instead of $229. Even after paying $8 for shipping from gpscity (when gpscentral had free shipping) I saved around $20. So, as long as it gets here, all will be well and I'll be geocaching soon, yay!

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However, if you run a store and are charing more then other stores for the same thing, people will obviously drive a few more blocks and go to the cheaper store.

I won't. I will never set foot in a Wal*Mart, for instance. When it comes to my hobbies (and I have several), I prefer to support the small brick and mortar retailers (who have the experitise and the friendly experience) rather than the faceless mouth-breathing corporate behemoths.

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