I needed a new power cable for my Garmin GPS. I’ve gone through three of these things since getting this GPS a couple of years ago. Two came apart, and one actually popped a fuse on the cigarette lighter on both of our cars. These things weren’t designed very well.
The last one I bought cost me $30 from Best Buy. When I dropped by there a couple of weeks ago, they no longer had the units, and were phasing out handheld GPS units for the dash mounted ones like TomTom.
I figured I might have more luck where they carry hunting and hiking gear. After being on hold with Dick’s Sporting Goods for nearly 15 minutes and giving up, I finally got through to someone at Sport’s Authority. He told me that they didn’t stock them anymore, but that he had a couple of cables left. I hurried on over.
What I found was a treasure, albeit one about to disappear. The salesman had not two, but lots of cables for both Garmin and Magellan GPS units which they no longer carried. He said that after inventory in a couple of weeks, these would probably be labeled as "obsolete" and just thrown away. Of course, I had to ask if he’d just give them to me, since they would be tossed. He said he couldn’t, but I did get them for $1.50 – $2.50 for most of them, with a couple of the later ones at $9. I bought every one I could that would fit either of my GPS units. Considering that each of these cables usually sells for $40, I made out quite well.
Should I ever need another cable for my GPSs, I think I can still get one online. Retailers just don’t want to stock them any more. However, I think I’ll need a new GPS unit before I run out of data and power cables.
[tags]Garmin, Magellan, GPS, cables, accessories[/tags]
I’m just going to call you if I ever need a cable.