GPS purchased from America

In article <[email hidden]>, Steve
Crossley <[email hidden]> writes

Quoted message said:

Hello,
I have decided to buy an etrex summit.

I would say that was a bad choice. The Summit has at least one bug
(recording excessive track points) that Garmin are not going to fix. It
is near the end of its life and the likelihood of further updates are
very small indeed.

The Geko 301 is a much newer unit with similar features. If you really
think you need the built in mag compass and barometric altimeter I would
strongly suggest you go for that model rather than the Summit.

Quoted message said:

The prices on American
websites are really good $189.00 (that's dollars not pounds) plus free
holster. Does anybody know if these will be different in someway to UK
spec product, perhaps American batteries are different (fatter) and

They are identical to the units bought in the UK.

Quoted message said:

has anyone any experience of purchasing from one of these sites.

You may want to factor in customs duty (on the price and the shipping)
and then VAT on top of that (VAT is payable on the duty as well as the
price you paid) in your price comparison. You might not get charged duty
and VAT but I did when getting a GPS from the US - got charged ~£20 on a
cost of ~£80.

You can get a Summit from http://www.gpsw.co.uk for £158 or a Geko 301
for £155.

From Europe you can get a Summit for ~£150

http://www.aspid-export.com

--

Dominic Sexton
http://www.dscs.demon.co.uk/

The message <[email hidden]>
from [email hidden] (Steve Crossley) contains these words:

Quoted message said:

I have decided to buy an etrex summit. The prices on American
websites are really good $189.00 (that's dollars not pounds) plus free
holster. Does anybody know if these will be different in someway to UK
spec product, perhaps American batteries are different (fatter) and
has anyone any experience of purchasing from one of these sites. The
ones I have been looking at are listed on the Garmin site as official
internet suppliers.

As a long time Summit user all I can say is DON'T. The Summit has an
irritating bug that Garmin refuse to do anything about. The problem is
its use of trackpoints. It absolutely gobbles them up, even to the
extent of wasting them completely when you are stationary. I find that
on occasion I have filled the memory in under 3 hours walking and I
rarely get more than 4 hours before I have to save the track losing the
timestamps and most of the track points in the process. Loss of
trackpoints is rarely a problem when walking but I do like to know the
times. The associated problem (if you are as absent minded as me) is
remembering to save the track before the beginning of the track is
overwritten. In short using a Summit can be a pain in the [censored] and I
would strongly recommend you opt for a more modern GPS, perhaps one not
made by Garmin. You might even find it no more expensive if you source
it overseas.

ISTR warnings that purchases from outwith the EU attract customs duty
and vat so any saving on initial cost might be much diminished by the
time you get your hands on the product.

And last but by no means least Garmin UK might not want to be involved
should warranty repairs arise.

--
Roger
Looking North over the Aire Valley (and Marley Gasworks) to Rombolds Moor
Top Posters killfiled on sight

Ditto the comments about getting a Geko instead of the Summit. Good new is
that there is no customs duty on GPS units but you can still be charged VAT.
I phoned Garmin UK about the warranty situation and they confirmed that
Garmin products have a worldwide warranty so your US GPS will be covered by
Garmin UK.

Cheers, Jiffy

The only reason I am going for the compass option, is if I am going to
walk in a area of magnetic effect (parts of scotland/iceland) on an
ordinary compass I am assuming that this will be an ideal back up.
The Geko looks great I have not researched much yet but does look a
better option because also has wass for when available.
The customs question seems to be a luck of the draw thing though well
worth considering. As to the warranty, the price difference (if the
tax does not spoil it) does make a convincing factor.
The big shame is I spoke to a really knowledgeable friendly guy in
Gaynor sports and asked if he could do me a price match, but he could
not move at all. My usual outdoor shop Fell & Mountain have given up
all together on GPS due to internet prices (if the shop names are bad
netiquette tell me and I will not do again) I really believe in
supporting the shops but sometimes the price difference is too much.
Steve Crossley

Steve Crossley said:

The only reason I am going for the compass option, is if I am going to
walk in a area of magnetic effect (parts of scotland/iceland) on an
ordinary compass I am assuming that this will be an ideal back up.

The magnetic anomaly will have the same effect on the GPS compass. It
uses a flux gate to measure the earth's magnetic field, so if that is
deviating from normal for any reason any device measuring it will
follow it.
--
Phil Cook looking north over the park to the "Westminster Gasworks"

In article <[email hidden]>, Steve
Crossley <[email hidden]> writes

Quoted message said:

The only reason I am going for the compass option, is if I am going to
walk in a area of magnetic effect (parts of scotland/iceland) on an
ordinary compass I am assuming that this will be an ideal back up.

I feel that the mag compasses in GPS receivers are a bit of a novelty.
All GPS receivers will tell you what direction you are travelling in
when moving. The only advantage of the mag compass models is that the
map display orients correctly when stationary and they can be used more
easily for taking a bearing to a distant object.

Unless you have a real need for it I would not bother and thus save lots
of dosh! If you are really concerned about a magnetic backup you can
spend less than £10 of your saving on a basic Silva / Suunto.

Quoted message said:

The Geko looks great I have not researched much yet but does look a
better option because also has wass for when available.

I would definitely go for the Geko range over the older eTrex range.

Quoted message said:

The customs question seems to be a luck of the draw thing though well
worth considering.

Potential nasty surprise if not considered!

Quoted message said:

As to the warranty, the price difference (if the
tax does not spoil it) does make a convincing factor.

Garmin UK do not seem to have a problem with units bought from the US.

Quoted message said:

The big shame is I spoke to a really knowledgeable friendly guy in
Gaynor sports and asked if he could do me a price match, but he could
not move at all. My usual outdoor shop Fell & Mountain have given up
all together on GPS due to internet prices

Sadly outdoor shops don't tend to know much about GPS receivers either.

Quoted message said:

(if the shop names are bad
netiquette tell me and I will not do again)

No problem at all.

Quoted message said:

I really believe in
supporting the shops

As do I for general kit.

Quoted message said:

but sometimes the price difference is too much.

Outdoor shops have almost always been expensive for GPS receivers.
Before the boom in Internet dealers marine supply companies were good
places for deals as the sold a great deal more units they could afford a
lower mark up per unit.

--

Dominic Sexton
http://www.dscs.demon.co.uk/

Dominic Sexton said:

Outdoor shops have almost always been expensive for GPS receivers.
Before the boom in Internet dealers marine supply companies were good
places for deals as the sold a great deal more units they could afford a
lower mark up per unit.

Interestingly, I was looking at Amazon UK on Friday night and they have the
Garmin eTrex for £117.76 which is approx 173 Euro.

I went into Union Chandlerly - mainly a marine supply company with a good
hillwalking section - in Cork (Ireland) on Saturday morning and they had it
for sale for 159 Euro. Ireland is an expensive country and so I was very
pleasantly surprised at this bargain. Needless to say I made the purchase
and am very happy with it and am amazed at what it can do.

I had been under the impression that GPS units cost hundreds of quid and
were thus more appropriate to clubs rather than individual walkers. It sure
ain't so.

I'm now looking forward to testing it in really misty and foggy mountain
weather conditions and this being Ireland I won't have long to wait!

Regards,

John.

Roger wrote on Mon, 20 Sep 2004 15:42:41 +0100....

Quoted message said:

As a long time Summit user all I can say is DON'T. The Summit has an
irritating bug that Garmin refuse to do anything about. The problem is
its use of trackpoints. It absolutely gobbles them up, even to the
extent of wasting them completely when you are stationary.

Anyone know if any other Etrexes have this problem? I was thinking
about the Vista.

--
Tim Jackson
[email hidden]
(Change '.invalid' to '.co.uk' to reply direct)
Absurd patents: visit http://www.patent.freeserve.co.uk

Quoted message said:

And last but by no means least Garmin UK might not want to be involved
should warranty repairs arise.

When I smashed the glass on my American self-import eTrex Summit my
experience of garmin UKs service was that it was impeccable. They
replaced the glass FOC and the turnaround was 5 days including a
weekend. And they knew it wasn't sourced in the UK. This was a few
years back and I don't know if their policy is the same now.

--
Boo

Does all the Etrex range suffer from the porblem of excessive use of
trackpoints. I am about to order a Legend. One of the reasons I chose this
model was for the amount of trackpoints 10000.

Cheers

Tony

"Dominic Sexton" <[email hidden]> wrote in message
news:[email hidden]...

Quoted message said:

In article <[email hidden]>, Steve
Crossley <[email hidden]> writes

Quoted message said:

Hello,
I have decided to buy an etrex summit.

I would say that was a bad choice. The Summit has at least one bug
(recording excessive track points) that Garmin are not going to fix. It
is near the end of its life and the likelihood of further updates are
very small indeed.

The Geko 301 is a much newer unit with similar features. If you really
think you need the built in mag compass and barometric altimeter I would
strongly suggest you go for that model rather than the Summit.

Quoted message said:

The prices on American
websites are really good $189.00 (that's dollars not pounds) plus free
holster. Does anybody know if these will be different in someway to UK
spec product, perhaps American batteries are different (fatter) and

They are identical to the units bought in the UK.

Quoted message said:

has anyone any experience of purchasing from one of these sites.

You may want to factor in customs duty (on the price and the shipping)
and then VAT on top of that (VAT is payable on the duty as well as the
price you paid) in your price comparison. You might not get charged duty
and VAT but I did when getting a GPS from the US - got charged ~£20 on a
cost of ~£80.

You can get a Summit from http://www.gpsw.co.uk for £158 or a Geko 301
for £155.

From Europe you can get a Summit for ~£150

http://www.aspid-export.com

--

Dominic Sexton
http://www.dscs.demon.co.uk/

Tim Jackson said:

Roger wrote on Mon, 20 Sep 2004 15:42:41 +0100....

Quoted message said:

As a long time Summit user all I can say is DON'T. The Summit has an
irritating bug that Garmin refuse to do anything about. The problem is
its use of trackpoints. It absolutely gobbles them up, even to the
extent of wasting them completely when you are stationary.

Anyone know if any other Etrexes have this problem? I was thinking
about the Vista.

No it is Summit specific. In any case the Vista has 10,000 points
available. The tracklog in a Vista can be set to mark a point based on
time, distance or four levels of automatic - more often, normal, less
often or least often.

http://www.garmin.com/manuals/eTrexVista_OwnersManual.pdf
--
Phil Cook looking north over the park to the "Westminster Gasworks"

Quoted message said:

Hello,
I have decided to buy an etrex summit. The prices on American
websites are really good $189.00 (that's dollars not pounds) plus free
holster. Does anybody know if these will be different in someway to UK
spec product, perhaps American batteries are different (fatter) and
has anyone any experience of purchasing from one of these sites. The
ones I have been looking at are listed on the Garmin site as official
internet suppliers.

The non-mapping Garmin GPSRs are identical in spec between the European
and USA versions, the same is not true for the mapping ones where the
basemap is different.

I imported my own Summit from the USA and sold it 3 years later for
around a tenner less than I paid. My current GPS is also a Garmin
(60CS) and that is also a self-import. My experience is that if you get
stung for duty then the effective exchange rate is $1.50 to the £ so if
the price is attractive at that rate then my advice is go for it.

Various people on this ng seem to have bad feelings about the Summit but
I was very please with mine - worked perfectly and did everything I
needed. Also it takes AA batteries which is a blessing these days. If
you are wondering why I sold it it's only because I desperately needed
the money ;-)

IMO you've picked a good GPS and importing it from the USA at the price
you quote is likely to leave you with an exceptional deal (especially if
you are lucky on the VAT / duty front).

hth,

--
Boo

Phil Cook wrote on Mon, 20 Sep 2004 22:42:15 +0100....

Quoted message said:

Tim Jackson said:

Anyone know if any other Etrexes have this problem? I was thinking
about the Vista.

No it is Summit specific. In any case the Vista has 10,000 points
available. The tracklog in a Vista can be set to mark a point based on
time, distance or four levels of automatic - more often, normal, less
often or least often.

OK, thanks very much.

--
Tim Jackson
[email hidden]
(Change '.invalid' to '.co.uk' to reply direct)
Absurd patents: visit http://www.patent.freeserve.co.uk

Tim Jackson said:

I was thinking about the Vista.

Martin has one.

Paul
--
http://www.wilderness-wales.co.uk
http://www.wildwales.fsnet.co.uk

Roger said:

ISTR warnings that purchases from outwith the EU attract customs duty
and vat so any saving on initial cost might be much diminished by the
time you get your hands on the product.

I bought my latest & greatest GPS from Sportextreme.com, which is based
in Denmark I believe. I saved a lot of money compared to UK sites but
no extra duty or VAT since it's within the EU. Also, they sell models
with the European basemap.

Worth a look;
http://www.sportextreme.com/Se_Shop/Produktliste.asp?SubkategoriID=228%2
F&Currency=GBP

Paul
--
http://www.wilderness-wales.co.uk
http://www.wildwales.fsnet.co.uk

Steve Crossley said:

The only reason I am going for the compass option, is if I am going to
walk in a area of magnetic effect (parts of scotland/iceland) on an
ordinary compass I am assuming that this will be an ideal back up.

Aside from the fact that it probably won't work anyway (as Phil pointed
out), the compass is mostly a gimmick. It's only useful if you really
need a compass when standing still. As Dominic pointed out, all GPS
models have a "compass" screen which works fine when you are moving.
Since a compass is most useful when moving this not a problem. I've had
a non compass GPS for five years and was never really bothered about
this. If it's not pointing the right way, just start walking, it will
figure out the correct direction within a matter of yards.

Recently a bought a new GPS with an electronic compass. I've set it to
remain off. I haven't needed to turn it on yet and I don't really
expect to either. Basically it's a gimmick. Potentially useful if you
really like to use a compass when you stand still, but I only tend to
use one when moving so it's not much use to me.

Why did I buy a model with an electronic compass? Because of the
barometric altimeter of course! Now that definitely ain't no gimmick (I
used to think so but was persuaded otherwise). All GPS units will tell
you the altitude, but it tends to fluctuate rather a lot, over a range
of 5-10 metres. With the barometric altimeter it's much more stable and
accurate, usually to within 2 metres (from my observations so far). No
big deal if you don't need really accurate altitude readings, but if you
do it's really good. What's also really good is the barometer. Mine
records a pressure trend for the last 48 hours, which can be a handy aid
for weather forecasting.

Quoted message said:

The Geko looks great I have not researched much yet but does look a
better option because also has wass for when available.

Yes, when available. Not yet, but soon apparently.

Quoted message said:

The customs question seems to be a luck of the draw thing though well
worth considering.

See my link to Sport Extreme in my other post.

Paul
--
http://www.wilderness-wales.co.uk
http://www.wildwales.fsnet.co.uk

The message <[email hidden]>
from Boo <boo@spam_me_no_spam.net> contains these words:

Quoted message said:

Various people on this ng seem to have bad feelings about the Summit but
I was very please with mine - worked perfectly and did everything I
needed.

I have made it very clear why I don't like it so I have to presume that
either you don't walk very far or you didn't want to keep a detailed
record of where you had walked.

--
Roger Chapman so far this year 55 summits
New - 33 (Marilyns 12, Sweats 5, Outlying Fells 21)
Repeats - 22( Marilyns 7, Sweats 16, Wainwrights 16)

Paul Saunders wrote on Mon, 20 Sep 2004 22:50:29 +0100....

Quoted message said:

Tim Jackson said:

I was thinking about the Vista.

Martin has one.

Does it destroy cairns as well, then?

--
Tim Jackson
[email hidden]
(Change '.invalid' to '.co.uk' to reply direct)
Absurd patents: visit http://www.patent.freeserve.co.uk

Tony Gent said:

Does all the Etrex range suffer from the porblem of excessive use of
trackpoints. I am about to order a Legend. One of the reasons I chose this
model was for the amount of trackpoints 10000.

Cheers

Tony

I've got a Legend and haven't had any problems with trackpoints being
used up excessively fast, done 5 day walks without running out of space.
I have it set to save trackpoints every 100m which is accurate enough
for me.

Tony