Article - Buying Local vs. Buying International?
I have lost count of the number of ‘resourceful’ buyers who, upon seeing the relatively cheap prices of the Garmin GPS units on US websites, have purchased a GPS from a US website and had it imported from the states only to find out that:
- the unit/accessories were different to those advertised in SA,
- the map software packaged with the unit is only of the USA and they still have to purchase SA maps bringing the price up to what they would have paid for the unit in SA anyway,
- the power plugs, cables are all different and finally,
- they are not getting any joy from any of the local dealers (or even the South African distributors themselves) that they have contacted so far….
BooHooHoo… Come on people, what do you expect?
I can assure you that we, as authorised dealers, are not out to rip anyone off (it simply doesn’t make good business sense) but we also cannot afford to spend time and money (service) on a customer who chooses not to support the South African GPS industry with their business.
If however, you plan on buying from overseas anyway, then there are a few things that you will need to take into account.
Firstly, when comparing the prices of a GPS package in South Africa to those advertised on a US website, make sure that you are indeed comparing ‘APPLES to APPLES’:
- Some Garmin GPS units have different specs depending on where in the world they are sold (the US version Garmin Quest sold in the USA, for example, only has 115Mb of built-in memory while the Atlantic version which we get here in SA has 243Mb of memory).
- The US versions have USA map software packaged with the units - SA map software will set you back at least another R 1,900. SA GPS units have the SA software (and in some cases European maps as well) included in the package.
- The USA generally use 110v AC power plugs and cables (and this is what will be packaged with the unit) while we use 220v in SA.
Secondly, remember that the legendary 1yr free warranty on all Garmin GPS units is held by the dealer that you purchase the unit from. If something does go wrong with the unit, which granted is rare, or you manage to damage the unit in some way, you will have to send the unit back to wherever you bought it from to get it repaired. The Garmin distributors in South Africa (with the blessing of Garmin International) will not even look at a ‘Grey’ imported unit, never mind repair it.
Also remember that Garmin themselves do not sell GPS units direct to the public (only accessories) and all the prices on their website are the recommended Retail Prices (RRP) for the US market only. Their prices around the world vary greatly depending on many factors including:
Shipping procedures and costs from the Garmin factory in Taiwan to a central distribution center and then on to the destination country (in our case, all SA Garmin GPS units come in via the UK),
- Availability, type of and cost of raw data for the basemaps for that country,
- Extra accessories packaged with the particular model (for example, in SA, our GPS 72 ‘Marine Pack’ is prepackaged with the marine mount, carry case and cigarette lighter adapter. This is not done elsewhere),
- Then of course, there are also the usual shipping costs, taxes, duties etc which differ from country to country plus many more factors…
When all is said and done, it comes down to a choice of either saving a couple of Rands on an (Grey) imported unit or getting the quality backup, service and support (that you so rightly deserve) from a local Authorised Dealer for the relatively large chunk of change that you are going to part with for your new toy.
I know which way I’d be going…
MadMapper - my friends, however, just call me Mad… 
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You sell Australia maps for R5000 whereas the Garmin website sells it for $290.00 which is about R3000. How do you explain the discrepancy.
Hi Antoinette
Unfortunately, as dealers, we cannot answer this question and are ourselves stuck with the prices as determined by the distributors. Your best bet for an answer would be to contact the local Garmin distributors (Avnic Trading) on 011 - 251 9999
Yes I am one of those “grey product buyers” but my excuse is that I work mainly in Europe and needed a European base map which came standard with the unit: Nuvi 360T I purchased in London. I also purchased a South African City Navigator v6 map from the same dealer for 95 pounds (R1425).
This map is the map distributed by Garmin themselves. But to my great surprise they have not updated this map since 2006 “I was told” after finding out that my wife was getting lost many times in Cape Town, because very many of the newer streets or most schools were missing from this map.
This was Garmin internationals answer.
“From us the City Select South Africa v6 maps are the latest of the moment.
The South Africa Street Maps product is not something we produce but is made by our MPC vendor there. It is a separate thing. It is not an update to City Select South Africa… it is its own product made by the MPC vendor: Best regards, Loy”
I was told to purchase SOUTHERN AFRICA STREETMAPS V1.5 from Garmap in South Africa for R2166.
Now my question is, Why? - If Garmin is selling a product why don’t they update it? They are one of the leading Brands in the world when it comes to navigation and marine products. I and many other have supported them through the years. Why do we now have to go and purchase a new map made by another company for more money. You make the calculation.
Don’t get me wrong, if it was not for Garmap everyone would get lost in SA. They have an exceptional product and it makes me proud to be a South African seeing they started of in the late 1990’s as Avnic Trading CC because no mapping was available from Garmin for Africa and this resulted in frustration by the end users, which in turn began a drive to produce maps that were developed by South Africans for South Africa.
Well done guys! It took a SA company to help them out.
Although I am still frustrated and blame Garmin for not coming to the table. They should have bought the data from Garmap and updated their own maps. Now there are two different versions of maps out there and some sod like me who didn’t know better is stuck with a map I can’t use in SA and having to buy another for more money.
Could you just warn any other European buyers out there who tour SA frequently that Garmin does NOT sell a SA updated version and save many other the frustration I feel.
Cheers
Sean
Hi Sean
I feel your frustration. I get asked this very question on a daily basis and my best answer is as follows:
Unfortunately (take that as you will
), at the end of the day, Garmin is a business. Driven, as are all businesses, by economic factors and with the aim of making a profit. Producing maps is a very expensive, time consuming and resource intensive business. In their end goal of having accurate detailed maps of the entire world, they would have to start somewhere. They cannot suddenly produce maps of the entire world in one day, week or month (or even in one year for that matter). They would obviously start with the countries that provide their biggest income and work their way down the list through to the least economically viable countries last.
South Africa is still a very small market compared to the USA and Europe. Even Asia and Australia are bigger markets than ours. They will get around to mapping SA in time (whether that means buying up the Garmap data or simply mapping SA properly themselves) and unfortunately we cannot rush them on this (unless of course we could suddenly create a huge viable market for them in the space of about a year, but this would mean that out of our estimated population of 40 million, at least 5 million would suddenly have to have the means to buy a Garmin GPS
This also assumes that the European dealers have this knowledge in the first place and I doubt that Garmin International are going to be informing their European dealers of these facts anytime soon (they would lose what few sales of the City Navigator SA software that they are presently getting).
Also unfortunately, European buyers tend to buy their units in Europe so it would then be up to the European Dealers to warn their customers that if perchance they were thinking of traveling to sunny SA, they should rather purchase the Garmap maps to the Garmin maps. We do our best on this side but we only have so much reach
Dear MadMapper
Read through your comment i.r.o. “Buying local vs. Buying International” and must comment that legally purchased items, whilst travelling overseas are not what you term “grey”. They are covered by a warranty and fully serviced in the country of purchase.
Many of us purchase cameras, lenses, GPS handhelds etc this way. Regrettably our small (South African) market gives many sole importers the leeway to charge excessive prices for these items. Our weak currency has nothing to do with the matter.
Hi Dave,
You are quite correct. Perhaps the term “Grey” is not quite the correct one to use and we could undoubtedly argue the use of this particular term until the cows come home, however, most people generally understand it to mean “a unit that is purchased in a country other than the one it is to be used in and then is not supported by the local distributors”. This is precisely the case with imported Garmin GPS units not brought in to SA by Garmin SA is it not?
Your sentence “They are covered by a warranty and fully serviced in the country of purchase” kinda negates your argument. Especially when we refer to a “Grey” unit as one that was not purchased in this country and therefore is not fully serviced in this country.
It is indeed serviced in the country of purchase… and it must be sent back to that country, by the customer/purchaser, for any service and warranty issues.
That being said, I do agree with your comment that our small (South African) market gives many sole importers the leeway to charge excessive prices. What can be done about it though? Grow the market to the extent that it becomes viable for other importers to enter the marketplace? Isn’t that what we, as dealers, are trying to do?