While you can certainly find
good deals on discontinued chart plotters, consider that your
good deal is only because you have just chopped of 4-5 + years of product support and parts availability off the long end of the deal..
With many
discontinued products, parts and product support only last as long as the company can get or has the parts to support the product. This can be as short as 18 months on some popular devices and as long as 3-4 years on others. On our own boat none of the plotters are still supported so when they die, they are gone. I could have still purchased these units new 2.5 years ago but I have had them much longer.. If I had purchased them new 2.5 years ago I would have had no repair support in just 2.5 years...
Buying a new current model, or the
latest and greatest, will result in the longest product support life and in many cases 10+/- years of parts and support vs. 18 months to 4 years... I have many customers who have fallen prey to the
good deal then been pretty unhappy when 18 months to 4 years later they can't even get the product repaired, even if they wanted to pay extra for it, because the parts simply do not exist.
Also keep in mind that a discontinued product you are buying may not have been discontinued yesterday or even last month.. Sometimes inventory of DC'd products can last 2+ years on the open market, especially with
factory refurb items..... Despite you buying it
new but discontinued it may now already 2 years into its discontinuation, as the clock runs... While this may not seem like a big deal on a simple small chart plotter it becomes a very big deal on a networked system with multiple installed displays and networking. It is also a huge PITA on auto pilots etc. that require extensive installations.
If you get lucky, and the product lasts as it
should, then a discontinued product can be a good value, but do consider the options.
I always give my customers this same story. Over the last two summers I had many wait the extra three + months for the new Raymarine small "e" series (e7's, e9's and e12's) and last summer the new Garmin 741. I had only one customer jump at the DC'd Garmin 740 and the rest patiently waited for the Ray "e" series or the Garmin 741. IMHO they made a wise choice as they will have these units longer and be able to get a longer service life....
Sure I could have made more money by selling each and every one of these customers a DC'd 740 or older Ray model but I chose to be honest. I made about 4% selling the 741's (there is no markup for installers). 4% Does not even cover the time it takes me to pick the product up, but I try to be honest with my customers and steer them towards the deal that will get them the most bang for the buck, over the long haul.
This service life issue is not limited to any one company and all manufacturers do this. That said I still like Garmin but install it all. Garmin is reliable, they don't use proprietary NEMA 2K cables, have little to no software glitches and have good tech support. Over all you get a good complete package with Garmin, support, reliability, lack of glitches, easy to use & easy to install... Some may have a good product but fall down on support while others may have a horrible product but stand behind it like there is no tomorrow.
I think all the products are and can be buggy these days but Garmin slightly less so. Navico group eg: Simrad, Lowrance and B&G are all the same basic products inside with varying software & shell/case differences. I think they have done a tremendous job in recent years getting into the game but still don't find their support nearly as good as some others.
When I install a Garmin system I stick the manual or CD in the customers chart table or leave it in the boxes. I never hear from them because the system is easy to use. When I install Furuno, Raymarine, or Navico (though slightly less so now days), I get multiple calls even after leaving the manual open and on the chart table. Each one of these calls or call backs exceeds the 4% I may have made selling the priduct and in every case it is an issue of not understanding the product or not comprehending the horse $hit written manual.....
With Garmin I can't recall the last time a customer called me to explain how to do
this or
that...
Unfortunately this is the little dirty secret of the electronics industry and very few installers or dealers will even mention it to you because they are often making MORE MONEY selling the DC'd products than they do when selling the
latest and greatest. They also get to sell you a NEW unit sooner!!!! Caveat emptor....
If simple matters, then Garmin still owns that market.....
