GPSr Made in America

[+sojourners7]

Are DeLorme GPSrs made in America? What about Lowrance?

[+coggins]

REI lists both brands as being imported.

Edited May 28, 2010 by coggins

[sviking]

Consumer GPSrs made in America? Seriously???

Edited May 28, 2010 by sviking

[+Pax42]

Handheld electronic devices like GPSrs and cell phones would not be affordable for the typical consumer if they were made in the USA.

[+kentwoodkrew]

Handheld electronic devices like GPSrs and cell phones would not be affordable for the typical consumer if they were made in the USA.

Can anyone back this up? Might we not get a better quality product if it was made in the USA.

[+Tahoe Skier5000]

Handheld electronic devices like GPSrs and cell phones would not be affordable for the typical consumer if they were made in the USA.

Can anyone back this up? Might we not get a better quality product if it was made in the USA.

 

The quality is already pretty darn good wherever these things are assembled. I'm not sure what it is you're disappointed about.

 

I believe all of the engineering teams and corporate offices for the major brands are located here in the states (except Thales/Magellan which is in France).

Edited May 28, 2010 by Tahoe Skier5000

[+Pax42]

Handheld electronic devices like GPSrs and cell phones would not be affordable for the typical consumer if they were made in the USA.

Can anyone back this up? Might we not get a better quality product if it was made in the USA.

Honestly? It's not about quality. It's about cost. Labor cost in China is miniscule compared to the U.S. and there are millions lined up for those manufacturing tech jobs. U.S. companies tell their Chinese manufacturing partner what they want and they can have it on the shelves in no time. No matter where the product is made, it's up to the U.S. company to insure the product meets the quality standard it dictates. The profit margin on these low cost consumer devices isn't that great. If you more than triple the labor cost, who do you think that cost is going to be shifted to?

[sviking]

Handheld electronic devices like GPSrs and cell phones would not be affordable for the typical consumer if they were made in the USA.

 

This...right here...

 

Funny how Garmin is an "American" company, yet they're "based" in the Caymans and now looking to move to Switzerland for tax purposes and all their stuff is made in Taiwan. Even though my Nuvi says "Designed in the USA"

 

From their own web page:

 

http://www8.garmin.com/aboutGarmin/invRela...s/8K_031710.pdf

 

"On March 17, 2010, the Company issued a press release announcing a proposal to change the

Company's place of incorporation from the Cayman Islands to Switzerland pursuant to a scheme of

arrangement ("Scheme of Arrangement") under Cayman Islands law, which, upon effectiveness, would

result in a newly formed Swiss company, also called Garmin Ltd., that would replace the existing

Cayman Islands company as the ultimate public holding company of the Garmin group. The Scheme of

Arrangement requires the approval of the shareholders of the Company and the Grand Court of the

Cayman Islands."

[+The Kamikaze Clan]

I have a Nautiz X7/Getac PS236. MIL-STD 810 certified. IP67. Among the best there is. Made in Taiwan

[+Chrysalides]

Might we not get a better quality product if it was made in the USA.

Why do you think that might be? I'm not trolling, so please don't give a knee-jerk response.

[+splashy]

The worker in the Ipod/pad factory works 12 hours a day 6 days a week, for $ 300.-a MONTH

[seldom_sn]

Can anyone back this up? Might we not get a better quality product if it was made in the USA.

What made in the USA? The chips? The Case? The Antenna? The Boards? The Solder? IIRC the SirfStarIII chip was designed and manufactured in Taiwan? Certainly nobody's complaining about that.

[+dakboy]

Handheld electronic devices like GPSrs and cell phones would not be affordable for the typical consumer if they were made in the USA.

Can anyone back this up? Might we not get a better quality product if it was made in the USA.

Based upon what?

 

The majority of the assembly, the parts that really count, are assembled robotically. Robots don't know whether they're American, Taiwanese, Mexican or Chinese.

 

On a car forum I go to, someone posted that they would only ever buy a Subaru Impreza or Forester, never an Outback or Legacy. His reasoning? The former 2 are built in Japan, the latter in Indiana, and his feeling was that "Japanese people have smaller hands, so they can get into everywhere & assemble things better." I'm not kidding.

 

This whole "where it was assembled has a significant bearing on the quality" idea is outdated. Every company knows that if they don't put out quality, they will lose money and customers. The competition is too harsh.

[+user13371]

...I believe all of the engineering teams and corporate offices for the major brands are located here in the states (except Thales/Magellan which is in France).

Thales sold off their GPS division in 2006, and Magellan's consumer products division was later aquired by Mitac (2008). Magellan Navigation is presently headquartered in Santa Clara California, and Mitac is in Taiwan.

[vagabond]

...I believe all of the engineering teams and corporate offices for the major brands are located here in the states (except Thales/Magellan which is in France).

Thales sold off their GPS division in 2006, and Magellan's consumer products division was later aquired by Mitac (2008). Magellan Navigation is presently headquartered in Santa Clara California, and Mitac is in Taiwan.

 

Lee beat me to it

Edited May 28, 2010 by vagabond

[+Team CowboyPapa]

If it's sold by WalMart, it's been made in China.

If it's not sold by WalMart, there is no such thing.

[+Entropy512]

Handheld electronic devices like GPSrs and cell phones would not be affordable for the typical consumer if they were made in the USA.

Can anyone back this up? Might we not get a better quality product if it was made in the USA.

Based upon what?

 

The majority of the assembly, the parts that really count, are assembled robotically. Robots don't know whether they're American, Taiwanese, Mexican or Chinese.

 

On a car forum I go to, someone posted that they would only ever buy a Subaru Impreza or Forester, never an Outback or Legacy. His reasoning? The former 2 are built in Japan, the latter in Indiana, and his feeling was that "Japanese people have smaller hands, so they can get into everywhere & assemble things better." I'm not kidding.

 

This whole "where it was assembled has a significant bearing on the quality" idea is outdated. Every company knows that if they don't put out quality, they will lose money and customers. The competition is too harsh.

The funny thing about this one - A lot of people feel that the US-built Outbacks/Legacies are more "solid" than the Japan-built Forester/Impreza. This is more of a function of their design than where they were built - the Impreza/Forester are fundamentally lower-end/cheaper vehicles than the more expensive Outback/Legacy.

 

It's possible to get good quality from a Chinese contract manufacturer, if the contract specifies a certain level of quality control. Even Apple's products which typically have a high quality reputation are made by Chinese contract manufacturers.

[+geojibby]

In 1930, the Republican-controlled House of Representatives, in an effort to alleviate the effects of the... Anyone? Anyone? ...the Great Depression, passed the... Anyone? Anyone? The tariff bill? The Hawley-Smoot Tariff Act? Which, anyone? Raised or lowered? ...raised tariffs, in an effort to collect more revenue for the federal government. Did it work? Anyone? Anyone know the effects? It did not work, and the United States sank deeper into the Great Depression. Today we have a similar debate over this. Anyone know what this is? Class? Anyone? Anyone? Anyone seen this before? The Laffer Curve. Anyone know what this says? It says that at this point on the revenue curve, you will get exactly the same amount of revenue as at this point. This is very controversial. Does anyone know what Vice President Bush called this in 1980? Anyone? Something-d-o-o economics. 'Voodoo' economics.

[+deercreekth]

This whole "where it was assembled has a significant bearing on the quality" idea is outdated. Every company knows that if they don't put out quality, they will lose money and customers. The competition is too harsh.

 

Unfortunately, it is becoming that way. People who are treated well by their employer seem to care more about what they're doing and take pride in their work. People who care tend to notice things and be willing to say something if something doesn't look right. Once you lose that, it gets to the point where as long as it comes out the other end, stick it in a box and ship it. I've seen some of that pride slip away with all the cuts that have been made.

 

In automotive, the foreign car makers are forcing a certain percentage of parts put in cars made in Asia to come from Asia. As long as you meet their price requirement and have a decent level of quality, everyone's happy. You can get the exact same part built on the exact same equipment here or in China, but the amount of care that has been taken with that part may not be the same.

[+Red90]

You can get the exact same part built on the exact same equipment here or in China, but the amount of care that has been taken with that part may not be the same.

 

Oh yes, I'm sure that the average American low paid factory worker takes great pride in their work.....

[+dakboy]

American components, Russian components, all made in Taiwan!

[sviking]

In 1930, the Republican-controlled House of Representatives, in an effort to alleviate the effects of the... Anyone? Anyone? ...the Great Depression, passed the... Anyone? Anyone? The tariff bill? The Hawley-Smoot Tariff Act? Which, anyone? Raised or lowered? ...raised tariffs, in an effort to collect more revenue for the federal government. Did it work? Anyone? Anyone know the effects? It did not work, and the United States sank deeper into the Great Depression. Today we have a similar debate over this. Anyone know what this is? Class? Anyone? Anyone? Anyone seen this before? The Laffer Curve. Anyone know what this says? It says that at this point on the revenue curve, you will get exactly the same amount of revenue as at this point. This is very controversial. Does anyone know what Vice President Bush called this in 1980? Anyone? Something-d-o-o economics. 'Voodoo' economics.

 

Bueller? Bueller?

[sviking]

American components, Russian components, all made in Taiwan!

 

Says the Cosmonaut in "Armageddon".

[robertlipe]

Moderator note The original question was answered in the second post. If you want to debate manufacturing economics, please do so in 'off topic' and not this group.

[+Chrysalides]

OK, in an effort to stay on topic, anyone knows if the professional surveyor GPS units (such as Trimble) is made in the U.S.? I assume the military ones likely are for security reasons (unless the decryption logic is a plug-in).

[+ecanderson]

OK, in an effort to stay on topic, anyone knows if the professional surveyor GPS units (such as Trimble) is made in the U.S.? I assume the military ones likely are for security reasons (unless the decryption logic is a plug-in).

Not for a while...

 

All of their GPS manufacturing that isn't specific to Asia to begin with was done by Solectron which was subsequently bought by Flextronics, the mega-electronics-contract-manufacturing outfit of the galaxy -- HQ in Singapore. I don't know where all they have manufacturing facilities these days, but their board fab is only in S.A., Europe and Asia.

[+The Kamikaze Clan]

Last summer I talked to a very nice swedish guy here in Lysekil, Sweden. He drove a Porsche Carrera GT (the one in this picture: http://www.panoramio.com/photo/31046061 ) and had the look of someone really rich. He told me that he lived i Zurich and Singapore, and then I asked him that he worked with he told me that he was manufacturing communication equipment for "a certain swedish fighter jet" (ohhh, which one could it be... ) and other military avionics. R&D and head office in Switzerland and production in Singapore. If Singapore is good enough for the military it´s good enough for me.

 

But having those jobs in Sweden would be way better

[+sojourners7]

I went ahead and did some research on my own. I received this response to an email I sent to Lowrance Costumer Support.

 

"Thank you for contacting us.

 

A large portion of our manufacturing is done in our facility in Ensenada Mexico.

 

Please feel free to contact us if we may be of further assistance."

 

Lowrance Customer Service

Division of Navico Inc.

 

So, I guess not everything is made in China!

[+sojourners7]

A visit to Wikipedia for Garmin provides this information in the fist paragraph.

 

"Garmin Ltd. (NASDAQ: GRMN), incorporated in George Town, Cayman Islands, is the parent company of a group of companies founded in 1989 by Gary Burrell and Min Kao (hence the name GarMin), that develops consumer, aviation, and marine technologies for the Global Positioning System. Its subsidiary Garmin International, Inc. serves as headquarters for the Garmin Limited companies and is located in Olathe, Kansas, which is located in the Kansas City Metropolitan Area in the United States. The largest operating subsidiary and primary production facility of Garmin Limited is Garmin (Asia) Corporation (Chinese: 台灣國際航電股份有限公司), located in Sijhih City, Taiwan, a suburb of Taipei."

 

for more follow the link http://en.wikipedia.org/wiki/Garmin

 

And for DeLorme Wikipedia renders this introduction.

 

"DeLorme is a major vendor of business-to-business and consumer mapping and GPS products and technologies. It is based in Yarmouth, Maine, United States. DeLorme's products include Street Atlas USA, XMap, Topo USA and Earthmate GPS receivers (PN-20 and PN-40, BT-20, and LT-20). The company is also a data solutions provider to several major businesses and industries.Its headquarters features Eartha, the world's largest rotating globe."

 

For some very interesting history follow the link: http://en.wikipedia.org/wiki/DeLorme

[+Knight2000]

Handheld electronic devices like GPSrs and cell phones would not be affordable for the typical consumer if they were made in the USA.

Can anyone back this up? Might we not get a better quality product if it was made in the USA.

Quite the opposite. It would cost twice as much and be half as good.

[+Genoist]

I guess that means the op should go with Lowrance since they are assembled in Mexico which is part of the Americas, therefore American.

[sviking]

I guess that means the op should go with Lowrance since they are assembled in Mexico which is part of the Americas, therefore American.