best price on a garmin

[No Tacks]

Hello Crew, Im looking around for the best price I can get on a garmin 182-c color plotter..It seems that 999.00 is the norm retail around the northeast..Has anyone done better??Im really jazzed about that unit,so if you have one what did ya pay for it???Thanx in advance....bill... :D

[Leprechaun]

Bill - call Bob at www.dbmarine.com for a good price and good delivery.

Its who I got my 182 from - his price was the best at the time and delivery was next day.

Also good are www.cmelectron.com and www.threeriversmarine.com - but you will have to call all of them as they are only allowed to publish list price or what they call "M.A.P." over the internet on their sites. You have to call for the pricing on Garmin.

Make sure you specify that you want the external antenna model.

rgds, Leprechaun

p.s. - I went "In" Sat morning.

[No Tacks]

glad to hear ya back in the water just in time for a foot of snow lkololol thanx for the info ill call tomorrow external antenna huh ok

[Hugh Copeland]

I was thinking of maybe a 176c. Anyone have an opinion about it?

[Tony]

Speaking of "external", I see Garmin advertises plotters with "internal" antennae. Is there a problem with the latter? I could be looking at one this season. What's the scoop on this issue?

[Lolo Kane]

I'm trying to decide between the Garmin 182C and the Navman 5500. The Navman is a lot cheaper and can display fuel flow data. But I can't find anyone with experience to speak to the quality of Navman products. So I'm on the fence with Garmin and Navman.

Lolo

[Leprechaun]

HC - I don't know what boat you own - but that 176C has BIG problems displaying a bright image in anything but a completely shaded environment.

Shamrock Freddy has a 176C in his 20' Pilothouse and even in that boat we cannot see the screen very well during the day. Even with the 4-sided enclosure in the pilothouse boats that unit has issues.

Nice screen at night though. But very small - best that you mount it very close to the helm if that's the one you are considering.

I have the 182 monochrome (external Antenna) on my boat and like it very much.

Nice at night, nice during the day and a screen big enough that I can see where I'm going without excessive staring. The color would have been nicer - its got a completely different screen technology than the 176C and has no such daylight-washout issues - but it wasn't available when I bought. And was $300 more - not really necessary for me, I'd rather blow that extra money on more unneeded custom fishing rods.

As far as Garmin vrs Navman - no input other than the Garmin units are a proven quantity - and their customer support is legendary, plus with the Garmin you get to use their proprietary "Bluechart" cartography - which is just awesome - just like the USCG/Geodetic Survey charts that you buy in the marine supply stores. If it were I, I'd would try to find somebody that already has that new Navman unit and have a discussion on the subject prior to dropping high-hundreds on a unit that has no market exposure yet.

Oh and as far as Internal vrs External antenna - I had a long conversation with Garmin on this subject - If you have a hardtop - get the external as the hardtop will block line-of-sight access to some of the sattelites - and they also said that the Internal Ant would work under canvas - until the canvas gets wet - then it would begin to lose signal. Great - one thing about these boats - they are wet in rough weather - just when one would want the GPS to work the best.

BTW - Freddy's 176C is an "Internal Ant" model - it works fairly well in his Pilothouse - just not that great - Freddy intends to buy the optional external antenna and retrofit it this Spring.

rgds, Leprechaun

[Prior Engagement]

Picked up a flyer in Boater's World this weekend and they have the 182C with the internal antenna for $979.99. Not sure what the external antenna model goes for. If you are a Capt. Club member, they supposedly send you $12.50 coupon for more stuff for every $300 you spend. That would net an additional $37.50 in store credit.

Not sure if this helps.

[Hawkeye]

Wholesale on this unit (182C w/ext ant) is $799.99.

http://store.yahoo.com/gobuys/010-00259-00.html

You might find it someplace else for less - but I doubt it.

[Leprechaun]

Hawk - that link shows the price at $879, not $799.

rgds, Leprechaun

[Lolo Kane]

The best price for the 182C I can find is $871 at Dave's Marine:

http://www.brokenlegdave.com/index.html

Mike

[Hawkeye]

The $799.99 is Garmin's wholsale price. Now if you order thousands per month of product from Garmin and are a quick paying customer you can get a 7% discount off that wholesale to $743.99

$871 at Dave's Marine + 10.35 Dave's ground shipping = $881.35

GoBuys.com price includes ground shipping. Keep looking. Actually, the best place to buy is at eBay. I've seen this unit go for just over $600.00 new in the box; but I am quite sure the anti-theft alarm strip was cut out of the box :shock: ; just a bit on the warm side if you get my drift. :wink:

[Leprechaun]

I gotta strongly disagree with you on this Hawkeye.

Buying delicate electronics off e-Bay, with the codes cut off the box no less is about the worst idea I've heard today.

And I have no clue where you got that dealer net price on the 182C, but I doubt its buyable at anything approaching that price from a legitimate source.

I think that one of the e-stores mentioned will match about any price that one can find and its theoretically possible to play one off the other to some extent, but there's a limit to this game and it ain't only the money.

I had a friend that bought a $2300 Lowrance fishfinder from Bob at dbmarine.com and there were problems.

He took it back no questions asked.

That tells me more than I need to know about where and how to buy.

Lowest price isn't always the best policy with this kind of equipment, IMO.

That's my $.02, anyway.

rgds, Leprechaun

[No Tacks]

WELL i GOTTA THANK ALL OF YOU FOR YOUR INPUT..i BOUGHT THE UNIT AT DBMARINE FOR 863.99 PLUS 129 FOR THE CARTOGRAPHY CHIP AND TAX AND SHIPPING CAME TO $ 1,004.35 ANYTHING NICE ALWAYS COST AT LEAST A GRAND.... :D THANX AGAIN TO ALL AND THANX LEP

[Hawkeye]

Lep, who licked the lolli of your pop last night? I know it wasn't me. You need to read my post again.

There are authorized Garmin Dealers who market on eBay. There are also theives who market on eBay (anti-theft alarm strip cut out). I did not and do not recommend buying from the latter.

The wholesale price I quoted is direct from Garmin's wholesale price sheets (which I am looking at right now on my desk). If you want a copy I'll be glad to email them to you.

I did not say you could buy this unit for wholesale. I quoted the wholesale price so our fishing friend could see the dealer's mark-up; that enables him to make the best deal if he wants to bargain or he can just pay sticker - or should it be sucker - price and move on.

Identical products with a manufacturer's warranty from an authorized dealer; I'm buying from the guy who has the best price. But hey, that's just me.

[Leprechaun]

"who licked the lolli of your pop last night?"

Man, I only wish.

Its been slow on that front, too much time in front of the 'puter.

I gotta get a life.

rgds, Leprechaun