GARMIN nuvi 3597LMTHD Limited time offer, ends 12/27 By Throwback Deals

Thanks for posting for those seeking to buy the discontinued popular 3597 that is becoming harder and harder to find. The link shows for a new unit at $310.00 and no refurbs available.
I suppose if somebody wants one bad enough the price is acceptable.

In the future, if buying a Nuvi, I would only buy a Garmin Factory refurb for the cost savings and knowing I get a unit that is no different than a new one including the warranty.

Agree, have two Garmin refurbs and would recommend them to save money and for warranty piece of mind.

I bought my 3790LMT as a factory refurb from Walmart online nearly two years ago. When it arrived other than it being in a blue and white garmin box it looked just as perfectly new as the brand new garmins I have bought in the past. All the accessories were brand new and when I registered it registered as brand new for the first time. Came with the same factory warranty as a brand new one and was about half of a new one at the time at $150.
It is still working perfectly and the battery is still strong as when new.

I got exactly same thing with the exception that I paid $9 more. It is still working very well as of today.

PC nation still shows the refurbished 3597 in stock for $240.

http://www.pcnation.com/web/details.asp?item=5427AA

A couple of years ago, I purchased a refurb Garmin that developed issues well within the warranty period. Customer service was as good as one could expect with a new unit and a replacement was provided and functioned well thereafter. My 3597 is also a refurb and I wouldn't hesitate to buy another.

I think the refurb 3597 for $240 is way to go.

It's been bugging me for awhile now. Everyone here on the forums seems to have nothing but positive things to say about the 3597LMTHD, so where are all of these refurb units coming from? Refurb would mean that it was broken and fixed and then resold, right? If the unit is that great, why so many refurbs?

It wouldn't surprise me if Garmin reboxes new units and sells them as refurb at a discount to reduce inventory when they are getting ready to discontinue a model. That way they can keep the going retail shelf price of new units at or near the MSRP.

Also, just from reading the various forums, I know many people return perfectly good units for ridiculous reasons ... like not being able to figure out how to use the unit, or having unreasonable expectations about how a GPS works, not having good enough Internet service to update the map, etc.

My first choice in buying a Garmin is always a factory refurb. The majority of the units I’ve owned over the years were factory refurbished. I have never had a problem with any of them. None had marks or blemishes of any kind. I suspect alandb is right about Garmin selling new overstock as refurbished.

There are a great many of us here at the factory who own 3597’s, both new and refurbished. If there were an inherent defect in the product, I think it would have been noticed by now. I have yet to read a post to that effect.

When I broke the screen of my 3790 I was sent a new one by Garmin. I am sure they repaired it and sold it to someone else as refurb. They also get units that are returned for myriad reasons. A lot of people get things a gifts, or they don't like it after awhile. Returns can't be sold as new so they go out a refurbs too. Also, we really don't know the number of refurbs that were available to resellers. Garmin may have just sold them new units as refurbs when the model was discontinued as to not hurt sales of remaining new units.