Author Topic: £70 for a new Vista HCx ?  (Read 1941 times)

Scoosh

  • Happy velocouchiste
£70 for a new Vista HCx ?
« on: 15 March, 2010, 11:36:16 am »
I'm interested to see that the full RRP is around £229, while a NOH version can be had for about £150.  ???

AFAIK, both come with a 1 year warranty, same cables, manuals etc in the box.

Is it worth spending the extra money to get a shiny, new Garmin or is it better to put the saved cash towards maps/RAM bike mount/Carradice bag .... ??  Are there any advantages in spending the extra £70-80 on a new one ?
'It takes a wonderful brain and exquisite senses to produce a few stupid ideas'
~ George Santayana

Martin

Re: £70 for a new Vista HCx ?
« Reply #1 on: 15 March, 2010, 11:43:51 am »
I only paid about £160 brand new in box for one last year from Handtech; I would have thought they were even cheaper now

Re: £70 for a new Vista HCx ?
« Reply #2 on: 15 March, 2010, 11:47:21 am »
I'd also recommend checking handtec - their service is very good.

DaveJ

  • Happy days
Re: £70 for a new Vista HCx ?
« Reply #3 on: 15 March, 2010, 11:48:48 am »
I only paid about £160 brand new in box for one last year from Handtech; I would have thought they were even cheaper now

About the same from PentagonGPS where mine came from.

Dave

Scoosh

  • Happy velocouchiste
Re: £70 for a new Vista HCx ?
« Reply #4 on: 15 March, 2010, 02:58:53 pm »
Thanks for the replies but they actually don't answer my OP.

The Handtec unit, Buy Garmin eTrex Vista HCx - NOH Reviews , specifically states that it is a NOH or Newly OverHauled unit.  This can apparently mean anything from having been returned as (electrically ?) faulty, then reconditioned, to having been initially despatched without the proper cable, manual or whatever. Once returned, they are not allowed to be sent out as New (in a black box) and must be sent in a White box = NOH.

Does it make a difference as the warranty appears to be the same ?  Is a black box worth an extra £70 ??  :o
'It takes a wonderful brain and exquisite senses to produce a few stupid ideas'
~ George Santayana

Martin

Re: £70 for a new Vista HCx ?
« Reply #5 on: 15 March, 2010, 03:05:18 pm »
up to you but for the extra £20 I'd go for the BNIB from the same company,
Buy Garmin eTrex Vista HCx Reviews
as you say it could have been returned for any reason

Re: £70 for a new Vista HCx ?
« Reply #6 on: 15 March, 2010, 03:07:50 pm »
I think they did but the question was wrong. The NOH unit is £139.94, a new unit is 158.51 so the question is "is the black box worth an extra £20?" I'd also suggest you get the comfort that you're also getting a brand new unit rather than an overhauled unit for that £20. Don't know about you but I'd spend the extra £20 personally.

Martin

Re: £70 for a new Vista HCx ?
« Reply #7 on: 15 March, 2010, 03:14:15 pm »
I suspect that the NOH unit works perfectly otherwise they would presumably have sent it back to Garmin if it was a returned item. Can't see what the £229 version comes with; maybe a map? (not cheap)

frankly frankie

  • I kid you not
    • Fuchsiaphile
Re: £70 for a new Vista HCx ?
« Reply #8 on: 15 March, 2010, 03:35:25 pm »
Probably had a replacement rubber surround put on it, since I think this is what the overwhelming majority of returns are about, it comes loose in hot conditions.  (The surround is largely cosmetic AFAICS)
when you're dead you're done, so let the good times roll

Re: £70 for a new Vista HCx ?
« Reply #9 on: 15 March, 2010, 03:47:08 pm »
I've bought a white boxed garmin before, as I wanted a certain model that wasn't available new anymore (it had to be that model as it had a certain interface implementation that no others in the range had - and white boxed came in at £60 rather than the original £450 for that model).

Anyway, what I got wasn't a plain white box from the seller, but a printed white box from Garmin - i.e. the unit had been back to Garmin, Garmin had done whatever, and repacked it with brand new accessories/manuals/cables.

From memory the box had a blue stripe around the top with the Garmin logo, then printed details of the unit model etc.  - a professional box from Garmin that just happens to be mainly white, without pretty product pictures, rather than a tatty box that the retailer found lying in the back somewhere. Imagine a "Tesco Value" style box.

Mine came with full warranty, registered OK as "new" on the Garmin website, including giving me the map updates that car units get for the first 30 days or so after purchase.

It looked absolutely new to me and has been perfect - but there is always the niggling doubt that the original owner had sent it back for an internmittent fault that hasn't been fixed.