+Team TeeKay Posted April 15, 2008 Share Posted April 15, 2008 Quick question, do people think that problems related to such products as the Garmin Colorado's and Magellan Tritons would be less if the manufactures included full length instructions and manuals with their products. I'll be the first to admit that when I buy something new, I rip it out of the box, fire it up and start playing ("learning"). I try to figure things out as I go. I can't fathom the thought of sitting at my computer reading an online/CD/DVD manual. I would even be okay to have the price increased by a dollar or two to offset the extra cost!! Agree or disagree? Would problems with units decrease in any way from less user errors happening? TeeKay Quote Link to comment
+geobernd Posted April 15, 2008 Share Posted April 15, 2008 Quick question, do people think that problems related to such products as the Garmin Colorado's and Magellan Tritons would be less if the manufactures included full length instructions and manuals with their products. I'll be the first to admit that when I buy something new, I rip it out of the box, fire it up and start playing ("learning"). I try to figure things out as I go. I can't fathom the thought of sitting at my computer reading an online/CD/DVD manual. I would even be okay to have the price increased by a dollar or two to offset the extra cost!! Agree or disagree? Would problems with units decrease in any way from less user errors happening? TeeKay I personally think printed manuals are a waste of paper. Electronic versions allow full text search without relying on an index - section that I want to carry along can be printed... I do 100% of manual/instructions/faqs reading on a screen and could not imagine going back to paper... Quote Link to comment
eaparks Posted April 15, 2008 Share Posted April 15, 2008 I agree with the OP, the manuals lack a lot, but strictly speaking from a manufacturing stand point to produce the manuals in paper covering all the details is probably cost prohibitive these days. Years ago when the Garmin 12XL was new it's manual was not really a manaul but a spiral bound book consisting of 65 pages. Can you imagine the size of the book in paper that would be required to make a detailed manual for say the 60CSx or Colorado. It most most likely would have to be a few hundred pages in length. To say a few extra dollars would cover the labor and materials to produce this type of book would not come close to covering it's cost and if they charged, say, $20 for it I can hear the complaints from buyers of how I paid $500 for this GPSr and you'd think they could give us the manual, so Garmin would be in a no win situation with large detailed paper manuals, if they want to stay competitive in the market place. Doesn't matter how great a product you have, you still have to keep the price in line with the market you are targeting inorder to attract enough buyers to survive. Quote Link to comment
+IVxIV Posted April 15, 2008 Share Posted April 15, 2008 (edited) I'm pretty much used to the fact that most things I buy now, expecially electronics, will have it's owners manual on CD, or in some cases downloadable from the manufacturers website. On the random occasion I feel the need for paper under my fingers, I will print the manual myself. And just the section I'm concentrating on. Oh and, here in Canada they would have to include English AND French manuals in the box, and THAT is a HUGE waste of paper because any one user is only going to care about one of those languages. Edited April 15, 2008 by IVxIV Quote Link to comment
+Prime Suspect Posted April 15, 2008 Share Posted April 15, 2008 Quick question, do people think that problems related to such products as the Garmin Colorado's and Magellan Tritons would be less if the manufactures included full length instructions and manuals with their products. I'll be the first to admit that when I buy something new, I rip it out of the box, fire it up and start playing ("learning"). I try to figure things out as I go. I can't fathom the thought of sitting at my computer reading an online/CD/DVD manual. I would even be okay to have the price increased by a dollar or two to offset the extra cost!! Agree or disagree? Would problems with units decrease in any way from less user errors happening? TeeKay Every day I see people posting questions that are answered in the printed manuals. Quote Link to comment
+Team TeeKay Posted April 15, 2008 Author Share Posted April 15, 2008 Quick question, do people think that problems related to such products as the Garmin Colorado's and Magellan Tritons would be less if the manufactures included full length instructions and manuals with their products. I'll be the first to admit that when I buy something new, I rip it out of the box, fire it up and start playing ("learning"). I try to figure things out as I go. I can't fathom the thought of sitting at my computer reading an online/CD/DVD manual. I would even be okay to have the price increased by a dollar or two to offset the extra cost!! Agree or disagree? Would problems with units decrease in any way from less user errors happening? TeeKay Every day I see people posting questions that are answered in the printed manuals. Exactly my point! I realize there is a cost involved with a users manual, and have printed the one off for the Colorado. I don't enjoy reading off of my computer. I would rather be able to sit in the yard or on my couch and read a manual the "old fashion" way! But, just my opinion. I think fewer problems would occur, that's all! Quote Link to comment
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