Have you ever noticed that there seems to be a huge abundance of refurbished GPS devices for sale, in just about every online retailer that you can find? It is really no big surprise, considering the popularity of the hand held refurbished devices, and especially the automotive GPS devices.
What are the reasons behind this deluge of refurbished navigation GPS on the market? Well, that brings us to the important points of WHY so many GPS devices (along with any electronic devices in general) end up being labeled as “refurbished”. Oddly enough, some of the refurbished GPS devices have actually never even had a problem at all, and in some cases, they are still brand new, literally still factory sealed. Take a look at these reasons why any product could labeled as “refurbished”:
1. The person who originally wanted the product brought it back to the store, which means that they returned the item to the store that they bought it from within 30 days of the purchase date. In some circumstances the reason behind this return has nothing to do with the functionality or quality of the product; sometimes people just don’t want the product that they bought.
2. The product sat on the store shelf too long and became “overstock”. When this happens, the store will either sell the product for a clearance price, or ship the GPS back to TomTom, Garmin, or Magellan; once the company that made the product get it, the manufacturer will, in come cases, label the product “refurbished”, and then distribute the devices out again at greatly reduced prices. In some cases these “refurbed” products will have never been opened, meaning that the discount is for no reason at all.
3. Another reason could be that the product was the one on display in the store. Display models almost always get sent back to the unit maker; the producer checks out the navigation unit for any defects or damage and then sends it back out to be sold as a refurbished GPS.
4. The device’s packaging was opened by a customer. When this is the case, there is nothing wrong with the product, other than it needs to be sent back to the manufacturer to be repackaged, in which case, oddly enough, it is then labeled as “refurbished”.
5. Shipping damage. When this happens, it usually just means that only the box that the product was in got damaged, but if anything other than the product was damaged (accessories, or the actual unit), it is completely fixed or replaced by the manufacturer.
6. There was a defect in the product. This can be pretty common depending on the batch of GPS navigation units. Once the defective GPS is in the hands of the manufacturer they test it to see what exactly is wrong with it, and anything that was broken or defective is replaced with brand new parts; once the repair is done the GPS is as good as new, and some might argue it is now actually less likely to become defective than the non refurbished products sitting on the shelves of the retail stores; they argue this because refurbished devices generally undergo a battery of tests.
In examining all these reasons we can see that refurbished GPS devices are probably just as good as “new” devices. Not every device out there is going to be great, but there are a lot of excellent units just waiting to be purchased at rock bottom prices.
Is GPS on mobile phones as Good as the Stand Alone GPS Devices?
Tags: Reason, Abundance, Magellan, Store Shelf
