MotherNature Posted January 3, 2004 Share Posted January 3, 2004 I am in the market for my first GPSr. For Christmas I received several gift cards to REI to use towards a GPS purchase. (I know there are less expensive places to get a unit but have to go to REI now 'cause I don't have much cash.) I have read several posts here suggesting there will be plenty of units available on eBay or the garage sale forum when the new Garmin 60c comes out and people decide to upgrade. But I was wondering if you experienced buyers think regular stores will put the 'older' units on sale, too? I've already waited a long time but if I can get more for my buck I'll wait a little longer. Thanks for your advice! Quote Link to comment
Alphawolf Posted January 3, 2004 Share Posted January 3, 2004 Well...Where I work (selling GPSR's) we about have to lower the prices when a newer, better model comes into the line. Heck, who would pay nearly the same price for an older 24 mb unit, when there is a unit with better than twice the memory and autorouting to boot? Within the past couple of days, I have sold my Garmin V in anticipation of the 60's coming out. I knew that once the new ones hit the shelves, the value of a used V would be cut in nearly half. Quote Link to comment
+gpsblake Posted January 3, 2004 Share Posted January 3, 2004 The 60c are not going to be competive with other GPSr's on the market with perhaps the color units from Magellan, so I expect no real price break in the Garmin's line of units. Did you see a price drop when Magellan came out with their color units? I hope I am wrong for the sake of the hobby, lower prices is better for us. But I just don't see it. What you might see is a rebate program increase for the Magellan Sportrak color and Meridian color units. Quote Link to comment
Alphawolf Posted January 4, 2004 Share Posted January 4, 2004 (edited) Did you see a price drop when Magellan came out with their color units? I would agree with you if it was just color being the only difference. But, when you throw in the 50 (ish) mb of memory and autorouting, it will make it real tough to sell the Garmin V at $399.00 ever again. Also, the other top end units like the Vista and Map76S will have to compete in the handheld market directly against the 60CS, and at their high prices now, they won't be able to. The Legend and plain E-Trex models probably won't be affected much. But, boy will there be a lot of used ones on E-Bay! Edited January 4, 2004 by Alphawolf Quote Link to comment
+gpsblake Posted January 4, 2004 Share Posted January 4, 2004 I am not a marketing guru but I would suspect rather than drop the price of the Garmin V, they would simply discontinue it if sales fall off. But from what I read, the Garmin V comes with Mapsource CD while the 60c does not. I still like to see how the 60C is going to last 30 hours off 2 aa batteries, running on full color (which seems to me would take a lot more energy to run than a simple two color display). It seems Garmin is going to set it up this way 100 buck range - Etrex yellow or Geko (why buy the yellow Geko over a Etrex?) 150 buck range - Etrex Venture (if you can find it) or the 72 200 buck range - Etrex Legend or the 76 300 buck range - Etrex Vista, 76map 400 buck range - 60c 500 buck range - 60cs Buying a higher priced GPSr will give you more bells and whistles. But also remember, many a geocacher has had mega hours of fun (including me) with the basic yellow etrex. (I know own the Legend, I wanted a fancier toy). If the reviews from geocachers are good about the 60c, I might splurge on one in the summer. And like you said, many used units should be showing up on ebay or if the 60c is a flop (like the Magellan color units seem to be by reading what others say), those will be on ebay as well. Quote Link to comment
+GeckoGeek Posted January 4, 2004 Share Posted January 4, 2004 I still like to see how the 60C is going to last 30 hours off 2 aa batteries, running on full color (which seems to me would take a lot more energy to run than a simple two color display). In browsing the new PDAs, the sales guy showed me how I can turn the backlight off. It sure looks functional on that screen in daylight. Maybe the 30 hours is for no backlight? Sure, the screen would still take a bit more over monochrome. A better processor could probably make up the difference. It's the backlight that really sucks the batteries on a color screen. Quote Link to comment
capt caper Posted January 4, 2004 Share Posted January 4, 2004 I believe prices are all ready dropping aren't they? The 60cs will be about $100.00 more than 76S. Lot's of people won't or can't spend the extra money so the 76S won't drop to much and same goes for the others. Just my opinion Quote Link to comment
+wickedsprint Posted January 4, 2004 Share Posted January 4, 2004 Shoulda kept your V and mounted it in your car, the 60 is a better handheld, but the V is superior in vehicle mounting. Quote Link to comment
azman Posted January 4, 2004 Share Posted January 4, 2004 It seems Garmin is going to set it up this way 100 buck range - Etrex yellow or Geko (why buy the yellow Geko over a Etrex?) What about the Geko 201 WAAS enabled at ecost for $109 shipped?? Quote Link to comment
Alphawolf Posted January 5, 2004 Share Posted January 5, 2004 Shoulda kept your V and mounted it in your car I'm doing the StreetPilot for that use... Quote Link to comment
+gpsblake Posted January 5, 2004 Share Posted January 5, 2004 It seems Garmin is going to set it up this way 100 buck range - Etrex yellow or Geko (why buy the yellow Geko over a Etrex?) What about the Geko 201 WAAS enabled at ecost for $109 shipped?? Yes, I kind of forgot about the Geko line. While I don't understand one bit why anyone would want the Geko 101 over the Etrex Yellow except for the smaller size, I can see where the Geko 201 has a place, it appears to be a good bargain for the low end price scale but the Geko line seems to be Garmin competing among itself as Magellan offers no small units. The two differences I see is Geko 201 has WAAS (if that means something to you, it doesn't to me) and a few games (cool if you are bored) But even the Geko 101 will give geocachers many hours of geocaching fun, so if that is all a person can afford, it will serve the purpose. I read your thread about Etrex vs Geko 201 with a 150 dollar budget. One other GPSr you might want to look at is the Garmin Venture. For 150 bucks online, you get an EXCELLENT resolution display, the PC CABLE, and although no mapping, it does come with cities and towns database built in. Another one in the 150 range is the Garmin 72 which is a larger unit. Happy Caching, Blake Quote Link to comment
+benjamin921 Posted January 5, 2004 Share Posted January 5, 2004 I believe prices are all ready dropping aren't they? Yup, already have. Quote Link to comment
MotherNature Posted January 6, 2004 Author Share Posted January 6, 2004 Thanks to all who replied. I guess I'll just wait a few more weeks and then see how things look. Quote Link to comment
azman Posted January 6, 2004 Share Posted January 6, 2004 I read your thread about Etrex vs Geko 201 with a 150 dollar budget. One other GPSr you might want to look at is the Garmin Venture. For 150 bucks online, you get an EXCELLENT resolution display, the PC CABLE, and although no mapping, it does come with cities and towns database built in. Another one in the 150 range is the Garmin 72 which is a larger unit. Happy Caching, Blake Thanks for the advice! Quote Link to comment
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