Garmin certified refurbished

I've had many refurbished and they are great. Like new..you have 1 yr so if it's working fine after a while you'r all set.. Garmin builds good stuff really and they will stand behind that unit for you..register it and you should be all set.

I have used a refurb nuvi 3597 for more than a year. It looks and operates like new.

dobs108

I recently bought a refurbished 2699 and so far it has been working great!

I have purchased two 3590 units. One official factory refurbished unit that would not locate satellites, and a used one that will not retain power (see my other thread). The used one drops power randomly and prompts to shut down. It may then re-establish power for a while. It has the same behavior sitting on my desk, not moving or being touched.

The first one was replaced by Garmin, and after year or so it started to power up to a white screen. The only way to recover seemed to be to disconnect it and let it power off, then try again. It also started to have random audio issues (volume would drop to near zero, then return to normal and recently the voice would occasionally "stutter").

I have owned many Garmins since the StreetPilot III. All have worked well. The 3590 seems to be a very unreliable unit. Perhaps that's why there are so many refurbished and used units on the market.

I agree, Had 3790LMT refurb and had no problems at all with it and looked every bit as new as any new one I have bought.

Bought a refurb LM50 last year an have no issues so far. Looked like a new unit to me. Well worth the price, even with out the lifetime maps.

I bought a refurb 3590 as well. I think they were returned to Garmin for a power issue, exactly as you describe, where it will randomly power down. When I got my refurb, it did exactly the same thing so it appeared Garmin did a cursory inspection.

However, when I took a look at the bottom contacts, it appeared there was some kind of clear varnish over the tiny contacts. I cleaned and scraped that off, and it has been flawless ever since.

Maybe take a tiny screwdriver and scrape off the contact faces a bit and polish up the contacts on the mount with a fine file.

My 3590 was a refurb and it randomly powers down and sometimes will not power up when power is turned in... I have to use the power button.

As long as you buy a Garmin Factory refurbished unit from a reliable seller you should have no problems and receive a unit that looks and performs as well as a new one including a 1 year warranty.

Here's list of Garmin authorized online sellers:
http://www.garmin.com/cgi-bin/online/online?dealer_type=Cons...

Reading this thread it appears there are problems with the 3590, I think that could be a flaw in that models design and not because it's a refurb. In the future I wouldn't hesitate to buy a refurb from a reliable vendor, the cost savings is quite significant.

Refurbished by the big box stores are refurbished by Garmin. They are almost brand new when you get them. I bought the last 4 for myself and family members and they are like new and I didn't even notice any scratches.

I have had good luck with a Garmin refurb from an online retailer other than Garmin.

I tried a bit of "scraping" of the contacts, but I think I'll try to use a bit of fine sandpaper to see if it helps.

Always hesitant about buy a refurb gps device....I always felt that it would crap on me at the worst time.

I bought my 760 refurbished from a seller on ebay many moons ago and I still have the unit! carry for work so occasionally I use it in the company truck.
never an issue.

A lot of "refurbished" items (GPS or otherwise) are nothing but returns that actually had nothing wrong with them. They are inspected, repackaged and sold. I really don't know what would be worth the time or money to actually fix in a GPS to resell it, short of flashing the firmware.

One other thing with a refurbished unit is that you know someone actually spent time with it making sure it really works.

Last 3 I bought were refurbished. Actually the new one I got(Refurbished) came with a 1 year warrantee.

I've purchased both refurbished and new 3590's. The refurbished 3590 unit is very lacking in reliability. I've spent numerous hours attempting to fix unfixable errors within the device.

+1

Works better than my nuvi 2460LMT except for audio which sounds raspy at times. Screen is too shiny and has reflections. Seems to be weak mounting hardware and has fallen out a few times. Added a film and reflection issue is improved. I would buy Garmin Certified Refurbished again but a different model.

Although you will find a few complaints on our site about Garmin refurbs, they are far outweighed by positive comments.

I have owned more than a dozen Garmin factory refurbished products over the years and have not had an issue with any of them.

IMO, the considerable cost savings is well worth the small risk involved. Be sure you are buying a certified factory refurbished unit with warranty and not one refurbished by a 3rd party.

Count me as another that has had a very positive experience with a refurb unit. I've had mine six months now without any problems.

with zero problems

My past experience in manufacturers' lab was that some returned items problems could not be identified and fixed. The device was running for now so it went back the the "manufacturer's certified refurb pile", even if it did fail in a customer's hands at some point.

I have a Nuvi and an Etrex that are refurbished by Garmin. Both are good. Except for the plain white box they come in, you would not know that they are refurbished products.

I bought a refurbished 1300 off of Ebay a few years ago. Came in plain white box. I have had no troubles to speak of. The only thing I have done is replaced the battery. Still good for a few more years! Map updates are a little bit of a pain to put on a Micro SD card but I am happy with the refurbished unit.

A Zumo 550 I had bought new started acting up after a bunch of years of flawless use. After trying a lot of things to fix it (master reset, reload maps, etc) I decided to send it back to Garmin. They determined they couldn't fix it and offered to sell me a refurbished one for $100, it was a discontinued product by then, (new it was around $800) I bought it and it's been working great. They even transferred the lifetime maps subscription I had bought with the original to it.

So I'd give refurbished a two thumbs up.

I bought a package deal from GPS City with a refurb 2689LMT and a new BC-30.

Aside from the post office missing the ship priority, (It sat somewhere tween Vegas and Nashville for four days!) the package arrived in quick order.

The refurb is excellent quality, I'd even go as far as saying it was perfect, but only it came in a white box, not the factory one. All the cords and cables were brand new, and had not been uncoiled. The little tie thingies were still factory fresh. The GPS had a cover film on it just like new. In other words, except for the box, same as brand new would have been.

However, I am sending it back as a refund because it has a minor flicker, more like a wink really... It's no big deal, but it is a little distracting to see it winking over there on the dash as I'm driving...

I just ordered another one to cross ship, as I dont want to be without a GPS, while it gets replaced. SO as soon as my next one gets here, the first one goes back for full refund.

I noticed today that they, Gps City, is doing extended returns thru Jan. for items purchased tween Nov. and Jan.

I have never had any qualms about buying refurbs and have bought a LOTTTTT of items that way. For instance, the 2689 is 215 new, and 140 refurb. YA save $75 bucks. No Brainer!

My vote... Go for it!!!

One additional aspect of factory refurbs is that if there is a weak point in the design, e.g., a fragile solder joint, causing a lot of returns, the factory would have made the repair. Typically that results in a more reliable model. On the other hand, a particular model may have invited a lot of returns (e.g., size preference), which are simply repackaged. Another possibility is the unit is just sold as "refurbished" to move inventory without reducing the list price on an overstocked model.

I got a used refurb'd 3592. The unit performed fine, but the active circuits in the docking cradle needed replacement. (Like I say, the unit was not bought new.) Still a good value.