Refurbished Garmin

works just like new. i've purchased 4 from places like eBay and other online vendors and haven't had a problem with any of the units.

Most refurbished units also come with a 1 yr Garmin warranty.

Over the past four or five years I have purchased many refurbished electronic items ranging from vacuum cleaners to headsets and computers peripherals and I have never had a problem with any of the items.

The way I look at it the item has gone through a more extensive quality control and inspection process than anticipated with a normal item going to retail.

You usually have the same warranty periods and if something goes wrong the manufacturers will gladly honor their warranty.

Many good years of uninterrupted service with your newly refurbished Garmin.

There are many times when you will get a refurbished unit back from Garmin when you have sent your purchased unit in for repair. Haven't heard of many problems with them.

2 out of my 3 Garmins were refurbs, with my nuvi 750 being the latest. Only problem I had was with my first, a Streetpilot (the original non-routing B&W model) that had a problem with one of the buttons lights not working properly. Other then that, the unit worked just fine, and the nuvi 750 looked brand new out of the box. Other then the box itself saying it was a refurb unit, you wouldn't be able to tell.

That being said, if you do buy a refurb Garmin, make sure the seller/retailer is a authorized Garmin retailer. You can be sure the refurb unit will actually be a good valid unit with full warranty from Garmin.

How would I know if the seller is authorized?

My biggest concern is the NuMap Guarantee. The seller stated that it's in an "unused condition." I wonder if the guarantee will apply out of the box.

Thanks, guys.

BTW. it's from xtremenavigation.com through Amazon.

That would all depend on if the unit was powered on long enough to obtain a satellite lock and driven with. How long & how far is not disclosed.

I think it would be very hard to verify if the unit has been used under the above circumstances.

Guess I'll see.

FYI, BBB record http://www.jacksonville.bbb.org/commonreport.html?compid=004...

I recently purchased a refurbished Garmin 680 from Comp USA. It comes with the standard Garmin warranty and had no visible defects. So far it has worked perfectly and I would not hesitate to purchase another refurbished unit in the future.

Who refurbish these units anyway? Sellers themselves?

just be careful.

I just sent my 885T in for repair to Garmin. My understanding is the if it's older than 2 months and it need replacing, they send you a refurbished unit. Doesn't seem quite fair that I buy a top of the line gps and after 3 or 4 months, I get a refurbished one back. I alway wonder if a refurb from Garmin is as good as a new unit. Not like I have a choice. I bought it from Garmin...if I had bought it from Costco, I would have just returned to Costco...however, guess that wouldn't work, since Costco isn't selling the 885T.

I've purchased two refurbished Nuvis from the same eBay seller -- both work fine.

Only one problem -- with the second one, I bid on and won a 660, but they sent me a 680. Fine with me!

No problems with Garmin, either, getting them to honor the numaps warranty.

Cheers--

The c330 I have now was a refurb and zero problems...

They replied, "...Just as FYI - 99% of the refurbished GPS units have not been registered so when registering the, GPS the maps will be available for upgrade."

I certainly hope I'll be as lucky as you guys were.

refurbished items that come with a manufacturer's warranty are usually refurbished by the manufacturer itself. these are the same type of merchandise sold by "outlets" or factory stores.

basically, due to the commercial law in the u.s., if a product has been sold once, it can not be resold as "new" even if the product is just opened and never used.

Have several new ones and a refurbished one. They both worked fine. You might want to check all the functionality once you get it just in case. But in most cases, you will find that they will work just as new.

Every product manufactured has a certain OOB - out of box - failure rate, normally within the first 90 days for electronics. Once a unit has been used for 90 days, the failure rate goes much, much lower. So a unit that was returned for repair has already passed the bulk of the "infant mortality" period and should provide a long life expectancy.

Not to mention the fact that when refurbishing, there is an aggregate of failure causes that can be corrected whether even if that's not why any particular unit failed.

Technically, as you stated, a refurb unit should be in better shape electronically than a new one.

My boss buys refurb units all the time. He keeps a GPS for about 2 years. He currently has 5 between work and home and they are all refurb units and has not had a problem. I bought mine new and when it finally gets too old to use, I will probably think of getting a refurb unit based on his luck.

Thanks for the information, guys.

I'll post an update once I test it out sometime next week.

what if you are the 1%. How would you know this before you bought the unit.

Subject says it all

This unit works like new. It wasn't even registered and still have the 60-day NuMap Guarantee!

One question: When I add a route with waypoints via TakItWithMe, it's added to Favorites with no addresses. Routes/waypoints are correct, though. Is this normal?

Recently bought a refurbished 750. Like new in the box and works just great. One year Garmin warranty. Great way to save money.