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…
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