Purchasing a GPS

 

With all that's going on with the pandemic, there's apparently not a big market for GPS sellers and also a slackening of eBay sales.

Since I have eBay alerting me when a DriveLuxe 51 comes up, I bid and won one. The seller was a pawn shop selling a never-been-used open box and I won the auction for $53. With shipping, and taxes, it was under $68, but eBay sweetened the deal with an offer I had from them for $10 off a $20-or-greater purchase so I now have a backup DriveLuxe 51 that cost me under $58. eBay must be hurting somewhat now too as I don't remember getting a $10 discount offer from them before.

It was a genuine new retail-packaged item since it was in the fancy packaging, was never set up, and arrived with a 2017 map. Of course, the battery was stone cold discharged but it was quickly recharged with a USB cable at home.

I got it set up as I like it with the extra English language voices, a special vehicle icon, Karen's voice, and "Hey Karen" as a wakeup. I was somewhat worried after installing all the software updates with Garmin Express, then trying to update the map, but it repeatedly errored out at about 24% download regardless of what I tried. I then figured I might as well try my first wifi direct map update to the DriveLuxe and it worked flawlessly and actually much faster than GE told me to expect with a computer/cable map update.

I did have one frustration in trying to add a Custom POIs icon to the Where To page, then realized that there is no Custom POIs icon offered until after some Custom POIs are loaded. redface

A nice thing about the DriveLuxe 51 is that besides the wifi and other bells and whistles, it has sufficient internal storage so that I doubt it'll ever need an SD card.

This is me after testing it out on a couple of trips today and yesterday cool

Why a DriveLuxe 51

Besides the price, why a Driveluxe 51? I have the Drivesmart 55 and am totally happy with it.

powered mount

jackrabbit000 wrote:

Besides the price, why a Driveluxe 51? I have the Drivesmart 55 and am totally happy with it.

It's the powered mount.

Yes indeedy!

dobs108 wrote:
jackrabbit000 wrote:

Besides the price, why a Driveluxe 51? I have the Drivesmart 55 and am totally happy with it.

It's the powered mount.

That's why I keep up the FAQ:

http://www.poi-factory.com/node/45200

+++

CraigW wrote:

With all that's going on with the pandemic, there's apparently not a big market for GPS sellers and also a slackening of eBay sales.

Since I have eBay alerting me when a DriveLuxe 51 comes up, I bid and won one. The seller was a pawn shop selling a never-been-used open box and I won the auction for $53. With shipping, and taxes, it was under $68, but eBay sweetened the deal with an offer I had from them for $10 off a $20-or-greater purchase so I now have a backup DriveLuxe 51 that cost me under $58. eBay must be hurting somewhat now too as I don't remember getting a $10 discount offer from them before.

It was a genuine new retail-packaged item since it was in the fancy packaging, was never set up, and arrived with a 2017 map. Of course, the battery was stone cold discharged but it was quickly recharged with a USB cable at home.

I got it set up as I like it with the extra English language voices, a special vehicle icon, Karen's voice, and "Hey Karen" as a wakeup. I was somewhat worried after installing all the software updates with Garmin Express, then trying to update the map, but it repeatedly errored out at about 24% download regardless of what I tried. I then figured I might as well try my first wifi direct map update to the DriveLuxe and it worked flawlessly and actually much faster than GE told me to expect with a computer/cable map update.

I did have one frustration in trying to add a Custom POIs icon to the Where To page, then realized that there is no Custom POIs icon offered until after some Custom POIs are loaded. redface

A nice thing about the DriveLuxe 51 is that besides the wifi and other bells and whistles, it has sufficient internal storage so that I doubt it'll ever need an SD card.

This is me after testing it out on a couple of trips today and yesterday cool

Great price Craig!

The Driveluxe is also compatible with the BC40 wireless backup camera which I find useful. I miss the shaded green topo map on the 3597 though.

3597

bdhsfz6 wrote:

Great price Craig!

The Driveluxe is also compatible with the BC40 wireless backup camera which I find useful. I miss the shaded green topo map on the 3597 though.

Yes, the shaded relief map was quite attractive. It was quite a view along the rim road of the Grand Canyon's South Rim.

I wonder how long Garmin will offer backup camera options now that I think new vehicles offer backup cameras with the added benefits of distance brackets and indicated end point when the steering wheel's turned.

Great deal Craig!

What a great price for a "hard to find" item!

--
Alan - Android Auto, DriveLuxe 51LMT-S, DriveLuxe 50LMTHD, Nuvi 3597LMTHD, Oregon 550T, Nuvi 855, Nuvi 755T, Lowrance Endura Sierra, Bosch Nyon

Good Question

CraigW wrote:
bdhsfz6 wrote:

Great price Craig!

The Driveluxe is also compatible with the BC40 wireless backup camera which I find useful. I miss the shaded green topo map on the 3597 though.

Yes, the shaded relief map was quite attractive. It was quite a view along the rim road of the Grand Canyon's South Rim.

I wonder how long Garmin will offer backup camera options now that I think new vehicles offer backup cameras with the added benefits of distance brackets and indicated end point when the steering wheel's turned.

Backup cameras have been required on all new vehicles in the US since 5/18. Some are better than others though. I put my BC 40 on the rear of my trailer when towing and sometimes move it for a better view when hooking up. Some new vehicles have a multiple camera feature but they aren't universal and are often a pricey option.

Hopefully, Garmin will continue to offer the BC series cameras and compatible GPSr's for the foreseeable future.

Great!

Great deal!

Question?

You aren't being charged with theft Craig. That's a steal!

--
Nuvi 2797LMT, DriveSmart 50 LMT-HD, Using Windows 10. DashCam A108C with GPS.

!

Melaqueman wrote:

You aren't being charged with theft Craig. That's a steal!

razz Of course, my cost if in Loonies would have been $78CDN.

thaniks

thaniks

Warranty?

I assume since the unit is new, it comes with the usual Garmin warranty.

I don't want to rain on your parade Craig but I would thoroughly test the unit in the near future. I read an article on the net that reported the Driveluxe 51 was plagued with an unusually high percentage of defects. Supposedly, this is why Garmin pulled the unit from production so quickly. It may also explain why Garmin still has a supply of these units 2 years after production was halted.

Both Alandb and I recently received defective refurbished units which were promptly replaced by the GPS Store. My defect, a boot loop, didn't show up until the unit had been used for around 10 hours. The replacement has been working fine for over 50 hours so far.

Testing

bdhsfz6 wrote:

I assume since the unit is new, it comes with the usual Garmin warranty.

I don't want to rain on your parade Craig but I would thoroughly test the unit in the near future. I read an article on the net that reported the Driveluxe 51 was plagued with an unusually high percentage of defects. Supposedly, this is why Garmin pulled the unit from production so quickly. It may also explain why Garmin still has a supply of these units 2 years after production was halted.

Both Alandb and I recently received defective refurbished units which were promptly replaced by the GPS Store. My defect, a boot loop, didn't show up until the unit had been used for around 10 hours. The replacement has been working fine for over 50 hours so far.

I am now using this eBay special but with my COVID-19 driving these days, it'll take a long time to reach 50 or even 10 hours. laugh out loud

No Rush

CraigW wrote:
bdhsfz6 wrote:

I assume since the unit is new, it comes with the usual Garmin warranty.

I don't want to rain on your parade Craig but I would thoroughly test the unit in the near future. I read an article on the net that reported the Driveluxe 51 was plagued with an unusually high percentage of defects. Supposedly, this is why Garmin pulled the unit from production so quickly. It may also explain why Garmin still has a supply of these units 2 years after production was halted.

Both Alandb and I recently received defective refurbished units which were promptly replaced by the GPS Store. My defect, a boot loop, didn't show up until the unit had been used for around 10 hours. The replacement has been working fine for over 50 hours so far.

I am now using this eBay special but with my COVID-19 driving these days, it'll take a long time to reach 50 or even 10 hours. laugh out loud

I hear you. Since my state has relaxed it's virus restrictions I've just recently resumed my seasonal driving trips.

I didn't mean to be an alarmist with my post. You'll likely be fine with your unit. The warranty is usually one year so there's plenty of time.

I have 2 of these units, both refurbs. One was replaced but both are now working fine. I believe Alan had a similar experience.

From what I've seen, most problems with the 51 show up quickly. My delayed failure was probably rare. The article I referred to was actually part of a bloggers review of several Garmin products. I was going to post it last week in Jim1348's Driveluxe post, http://www.poi-factory.com/node/50666, but was unable to find it again.