garmin refurbished devices?

[Cicli]

So, I am looking at the 810 and run across alot of factory refurbished devices. Seems odd that there are so many refurbs out there? What gives? They are US retailers so I doubt that I will end up with an empty cigarette box with Gurmin printed on the front. Thoughts?
For the record, I checked my LBS but in standard fashion, they are almost double some retailers so I will stick with them for consumables only.

[Chris]

My guess would be that they are units who had broken tabs or glass. When you send one in for repair, they send you a refurbed one and then refurb the one you sent in for future exchange.

[45K10]

I bought a refurbed Garmin 205 years ago and it worked fine for 5 years or so. Some of my friends have had not so great experience with Garmin refurbished items.

[dekindy]

Had a great experience myself. Forum member sent in a 305 for refurb and in the meantime his Wife purchased him a new, better model. So he advertised in the classifieds and I grabbed it. Lasted 5 or 6 years with flawless operation and battery held a 12+ hour charge right until the end. Would not hesitate to do again.

[Alan]

My recommendation is to buy new from Performance as they have for $399. If you can find cheaper they will match the price and you will get Team Performance points for at least 10% of the price back to use for other items. For price match you need to call to order. If you are patient Performance has double points weekends occasionally.

To ck prices you can use qbike.com

Alan

[jwalther]

I bought a refurb 800 from an ebay seller and had no issues.

[commonguy001]

I'd keep an eye on BikeTiresDirect and open an account so you get the 10% back on every purchase.
I've seen them as low as $339.00 for the base 810 but you'd need to wait for a 15% off sale which doesn't happen all that often. total price would just under $310 if you subtract the 10% you can use on your next order.

[Steve530]

So, I am looking at the 810 and run across alot of factory refurbished devices. Seems odd that there are so many refurbs out there? What gives? ...

I've read a lot of complaints about the 810 because the firmware. The FW may be fixed now, but my guess is that a lot of 810s were returned as defective because of the firmware issues.

[crownjewelwl]

You will probably send yours in for warranty replacement and end up with a refurb anyway

[steamer]

My factory refurb 500 has been going strong for about 5 years now.

[Elefantino]

My recommendation is to buy new from Performance...
I agree :beer:

[toastedbread]

Sent my 800 in out of warranty after it kept freezing/restarting on the loading screen and Garmin support couldn't figure out any way to fix it. They sent me a refurbed unit free of charge and it's been going strong for about a year now.

[roubaix]

I've had no issues with the refurb stuff from Garmin.

[rnhood]

The Garmin refurbs also come with a warranty,. Much better value imho than buying a used one off ebay or classifieds.

[tiretrax]

Buy it at Performance or REI - their lifetime satisfaction guarantee extends the factory warranty. When my 800 died, I got a full refund.