projected pricing for I3?

forest · Occasional Visitor Joined: Oct 18, 2005 Posts: 13

hi all, new bloke here. have been browsing this forum for a couple of weeks now, and boy you guys know your stuff!

anyway, the i3 seems like a damn nice bit of kit, and the price is a bonus.
a lot of posters seem to be holding back on purchasing an i3 waiting for new maps, however will this see a price hike to compensate for the updated mapping?

basically, as a student (not much money!) do you forsee a big hike in price? or will other manufactuers try to bring out a similair package to the i3 in the comings months.

thanks in advance

Lester_Burnham · Frequent Visitor Joined: Oct 17, 2005 Posts: 618

Mr_Gonzales · Posted: Wed Oct 19, 2005 1:24 pm Post subject:

I thought they'd hike the price when the v8 maps came out (and charge extra for the v8 mpas to those who'd already bought the version with the v7 maps) but now they seem to be giving the update to v8 maps free to all the people with v7 maps on the i3.

I thought the old v7 maps being on it was the reason why the unit was priced much lower than garmin were listing it on their US site... perhaps once they've shifted the i3's with v7 maps on them they might raise the price? It'll be interesting to see what the price of the i2 (non colour version) is when it comes out. Maplins have it listed as £240 and I've read somewhere that it's going to have the v8 maps from the start. BUt they won't sell many at £240 if the colour version is still £200 - something has to change - the price for the i2 could be the first sign of what's going to happen to the i3 price.

If you want to save money, buy it from currys and use the promotional code: NHS247 to get money off. If you buy it with an egg card (get to the currys site from the egg website link) you can save some more money - think mine worked out at about £180 in the end. Even at £200 it's a total bargain - no other GPS comes close or will come close for a while yet.

forest · Occasional Visitor Joined: Oct 18, 2005 Posts: 13

thanks for feedback.

so if i buy now, do i hold back on registration of product as to get updated maps? is there a legal time frame that i must register a product by, or does it not matter?

the egg discount is tempting, but didn't some guys on another thread mention the bad experience of trying to return goods to a certain chain (was it currys or comet), or would paying on a credit card protect you. i think some cards do offer this, but don't know how long it would take to sort out.

thanks again.

Mr_Gonzales · Posted: Wed Oct 19, 2005 4:47 pm Post subject:

As far as the info I've read goes, the v8 maps will go out to all i3 buyers, so there should be no problem regarding when it was registered. Garmin have yet to make this official, though. Their site should carry the news when the time comes.

Buying from UK stores, I think they're legally obliged to sort it out, even though some will try and shift the responsibility. I had no problems with Currys, even arrived earlier than I expected). I've also returned a faulty product to Comet a few months back and they were fine. I think it depends more on who you deal with, rather than there being any company policy on trying to screw the customer. Card protection shouldn't come into it if the product doesn't work - they sold a faulty product they have to sort it out.

Lester_Burnham · Frequent Visitor Joined: Oct 17, 2005 Posts: 618

forest · Occasional Visitor Joined: Oct 18, 2005 Posts: 13

one final thing if you can help mr g, lets say i purchase and update the os system, will that be noted by garmin and invalidate me from free upgrade? or can i still upgrade and register later, if you see what i mean.

thanks for help.

zogman · Posted: Wed Oct 19, 2005 5:11 pm Post subject:

forest ,i can answer that for you....the os is in the gps and the mapping is on the card...it seems that it doesnt matter when you brought or registered the i3 ,garmin will still give you a free map upgrade to version 8.... .
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forest · Occasional Visitor Joined: Oct 18, 2005 Posts: 13

excellent, cheers for all the help. just need to convince the girlfriend to get the egg card out of her purse now!

Mr_Gonzales · Posted: Wed Oct 19, 2005 9:55 pm Post subject:

Logan1475 · Posted: Mon Oct 24, 2005 5:00 pm Post subject:

Why bother buying on the egg card and through the net to get the discount, you can go to Argos or Staples and get one for £179.99 as there standard price, and you won't have to wait for delivery! :D

zogman · Posted: Mon Oct 24, 2005 6:57 pm Post subject:

Jaz666 · Posted: Mon Oct 24, 2005 7:50 pm Post subject:

The 179 price seems to have come from a knee-jerk reaction by a lot of retailers to Argos' "one weekend only" price.
I can't give you any exact figures (as I'll lose my job), but I think many retailers are currently selling these at way below their usual profit margin (going for the "many sold at small profit" approach).

I can't see many shops going any lower, without Garmin lowering their cost prices.

kevinbev · Occasional Visitor Joined: Oct 04, 2005 Posts: 22

Was in Argos today (Mon) and thought I would just check the price in store. Still showing as £179.99 and you get your £10 voucher. Strange how price online has been coming up as £199.99 for last 2/3 days.

OneArrow · Occasional Visitor Joined: Oct 24, 2005 Posts: 3

The Garmin i3 got a mention in the Sunday Times Driving MPH supplement on 23rd Oct 05. This was accompanied by a full page advert from Garmin for the i3 on the back of supplement. It states a "Now Only" price of £199.99 until 31/12/05 and has the rrp. as £294.00.

So is the price really going to go up at the end of the year? Confused

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