I get questions about what GPS unit to buy more than I get questions about just about anything else. While I would love to believe this is because I appear to be omniscient, I think it has more to do with the fact that 1) I rave about my GPS constantly, and 2) GPS units have finally come down in price enough that most people can afford them if they want one.
The answer I emailed to someone this morning is really the only answer I have: Read the reviews. I find it difficult to tell someone “You want feature XYZ” when XYZ may be important to me but meaningless to you. And I don’t know about you, but there are lots of things I’m sure I’d love if my GPS did, but I certainly wouldn’t have paid extra for them. A lot of it is personal preference, is my point. Do your research and decide what’s important to you, and then start pricing them out.
That said, the Magellan Maestro 3100 is on sale today at Amazon for $129.99. That’s $20 cheaper than Target’s sale price (plus free shipping) and from the reviews it looks like a solid choice. Is it the latest and greatest? No. Will it get the job done? Probably. Have a look if you’re in the market for one, and take the time to go over the features and read what people have to say. I know we tell our kids not to do things “just because everyone else is doing it,” but checking out the opinion of the masses isn’t always a bad thing.
(When you think about it, the greatest thing that online shopping has given us is not the ability to buy gifts in our jammies, but the ability to tap into so much consumer feedback in such an easy way. Even when I’m not making my actual purchase at Amazon, I always hop over there to read reviews.)
Pretty Mir,
So I bought this thingamajig yesterday at $145.00 and now it is even cheaper. How do I go about letting Amazon know that I want it at the cheaper price? THANK YOU oh great one for all the money you have helped me spend 🙂
Mebbe I can help Mir save some time on this one, since it was addressed YESTERDAY by the very pretty ChristieNY:
To request a price adjustment from Amazon on a recently purchased item that has since dropped in price:
Go to Amazon.com
Click the Help tab on the right side of the page (next to “your account”)
Scroll about half way down the page
Click on the tab on the right handside under “contact us” that says “customer service”
Click on the tab that says “email”
Type in your order number that you were given with the item in question
Under “issue” select “returns & refunds”
Then in the area below, type in the product name, date purchased, price paid, current price, and total amount (the difference between the two) you are requesting the price adjustment for. Thank them for their consideration or their time and click “send” at the bottom.
You should receive an email back in 1-3 days.
I got this one at a local car place for $130 right after Thanksgiving and really like it. Of course, I have to remember that it isn’t all knowing (since it gave me directions to my own house that included a dirt back road…), but it has been super-helpful on out-of-town business trips, especially at night. It doesn’t have all the features of the fancier ones, but for a basic starter model, it works just fine!
The resource that I used to research which GPS to buy was gpstracklog.com. It has reviews, comparisons of features, low price info, all that stuff. And I absolutely love both my GPS units (I have a car unit and a handheld for backcountry stuff).
This is great- and I’m defiantly going to check out that site, Lisa. Thanks!