Cheap NiMH and Garmin Geko GPS in Maplins spring sale

[+paul.blitz]

Just got an email from Maplins, with their latest Spring offers. There are a couple that might interest us Cachers:

 

NiMH batteries: buy 2 packs, get cheaper pack free. So, the AA size 1800mAh batteries are part # WN28F, and cost £9.99 per pack (of 4)... or £9.99 for TWO packs! (by comparison, Dixons own brand, 1500mAh, are £12.99 for pack of 8)

 

Garmin Geko 101 GPSr only £129

Garmin Geko 201 GPSr only £159

 

Paul Blitz

[+Team Paradise]

Maplin's Garmin Geko prices are extortionate!... how they can claim that's a special offer is beyond me, when GPS Warehouse are the best part of £40 cheaper for both of these models!

 

Heck, even Staples sell the yellow eTrex for the same price as Maplins are doing the Geko 101 (and I don't believe the Geko 101 has any external interface whereas the eTrex does).

 

Also, 7dayshop are doing 2000 mAh Ni-Mh (4 x AA) for £5.75.

 

Don't get me wrong Paul, I'm certainly not having a dig at you... I just don't want folks to be ripped off by Maplin's so called special prices.

 

Steve

 

If you can see the 'light at the end of the tunnel', it's usually a train coming !

 

[This message was edited by Team Paradise on April 19, 2003 at 06:38 AM.]

[+paul.blitz]

quote:

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Originally posted by Team Paradise:

Maplin's Garmin Geko prices are extortionate!... how they can claim that's a special offer is beyond me, when http://www.gpsw.co.uk/acatalog/GPS_Categories___Garmin___77.html are the best part of £40 cheaper for both of these models!

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I agree that by shopping around you can save money. Even with P&P then the GPSW price is only 100 quid....

 

quote:

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Also, http://www.7dayshop.com/catalog/product_info.php?cPath=777_5_503&products_id=5934 are doing 2000 mAh Ni-Mh (4 x AA) for £5.75.

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On a per battery price, Maplins wins there (2 packs of 4 for 10 quid)... and even on price per mAh Maplins gets it!!!! And as I was going there, I didn't have any added p&p costs.

quote:

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Don't get me wrong Paul, I'm certainly not having a dig at you... I just don't want folks to be ripped off by Maplin's so called special prices.

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Very fair comment... but as it happens, the batteries ARE a good deal!

 

paul

 

PS: they had a model of the Geko in their display case: wow, it's so tiny!!!

 

Noone in their right mind would place a cache THERE....

[Wotsits]

We have just bought the Geko 201. A friend of ours brought it back from the US where it cost $153 (inc. sales tax) - a shade under £100 !

 

Its our first exposure to GPS technology, so we can't compare it to other units. All we can say is that from knowing nothing about navigation we managed to work out the basics, and find our first cache within a couple of hours.

 

Very impressed!

[macpilot]

just bought a GEKO 101 on ebay for a very good price

it certainly is a very tiny bit of kit and its so easy to use ( easier than the etrex i think , mainly due to button position )

as a first gps i dont think you can beat it ,ok so you cant link it to a computer but hey how long does it take to tap in coord's ??

[+paul.blitz]

quote:

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Originally posted by macpilot:

......ok so you cant link it to a computer but hey how long does it take to tap in coord's ??

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Actually, too dadgum long!

 

You are looking to go out to find maybe 8 caches. so that's 8 coords. half of them have parking locations, and another couple have extra positions coz they are multicaches.

 

On a PC, that would take maybe 10 mins, including the download time.

 

By hand, it will be double that.... AND you then have GMDETS (geocachers manual data entry thumb syndrome)

 

Besides, if you have downloaded all 1500 cache coords, then extracted those that are relevant (are they on the ozi explorer map I'm looking at) you have all the caches for the area, and you can download the whole lot!

 

Paul

 

Noone in their right mind would place a cache THERE....