+EScout Posted March 6, 2003 Share Posted March 6, 2003 Just went to the HUGE fishing/boating show in Long Beach. Garmin and Lowrance had nice displays and you could hands-on all of their units. No other companies had displays. Had a long talk with the Garmin guy who was very informative and answered all my questions. He indicated: Rino: They are working on a high-end Rino with more memory, features, possibly compass, barometer. Not enough demand to make Rinos in amateur radio frequencies. Geko: A high-end unit in the works. (First time seeing these--extremely light, small GPSrs--OK only if size is your major concern.) eTrex: Plan to continue these as they are. Rebates: $50 continuing this year. A large percentage of people retrun the rebates. They have one person whose job is rebates. (They are quick based on my recently receiving one) Software: Big part of Garmin's revenues and plan more software products. Lowrance booth: Their products look pretty good and seem to have all the features that others brands have. They have 4 models in the iFinder series. Not sure about their prices, but any of these would be very usable. You can also buy their proprietary map CDs. Quote Link to comment
+Renegade Knight Posted March 6, 2003 Share Posted March 6, 2003 They better double check their upgrade policy on software. Next GPS I get will factor in software upgrade prices. Wherever you go there you are. Quote Link to comment
+CCrew Posted March 6, 2003 Share Posted March 6, 2003 Renegade Knight, Don't blame Garmin for the cost of their upgrades. You have to realize that the Maptech data is licensed, and Garmin pays a per-copy charge. Unless you want to show documentation that they get it next to free, I'll personally lay $ on the fact that the largest portion of the upgrade costs go for the licensing fees. It's not all their fault, it's just everyone trying to get a piece of the pie. Sometimes a majority only means that all the fools are on the same side Quote Link to comment
+fizzymagic Posted March 6, 2003 Share Posted March 6, 2003 quote:Originally posted by CCrew:Don't blame Garmin for the cost of their upgrades. You have to realize that the Maptech data is licensed, and Garmin pays a per-copy charge. Unless you want to show documentation that they get it next to free, I'll personally lay $ on the fact that the largest portion of the upgrade costs go for the licensing fees. Absolutely false. I have worked for a software company that licensed map data. The map data Garmin uses probably costs them about $2-5 a copy. Garmin (and Magellan, who gets its mapping data for free, BTW) overcharge for their software products because they have a monopoly on software for their devices. Period. You'll note that Street Atlas USA costs about $40 for the whole country, and Streets and Trips is even less. Quote Link to comment
+apersson850 Posted March 6, 2003 Share Posted March 6, 2003 Besides, firmware upgrades are for free, from Garmin. I don't know about Lowrance? Anders Quote Link to comment
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