Gadgets from the States???

[Zippy]

Im needing to get some new toys over the winter, i would like a fixed GPS and a Fish Finder but being a tight wad im looking for the best deals!

What with the exchange rate at the moment prices in the US are much lower than over here. My question is whats the difference?

If i sailed my boat to across the atlantic i would hope my GPS would still work so does it work in reverse?

Wouldnt be surprised if there was some cunning ploy to make us brits pay more but appreciate your advice.

Thanks
Howard

http://www.gpscity.com/gps/brados/26...marinegps.html

[TIM]

everything is the same exept for VHFs ...... But you even can get them to work over here too.

Watch the friendly customs man, as there is a good chance that you will get hit for vat , when they post stuff over... I use www.vitelectronics.com and found them friendly and fast...

The vat rules changed here recently , and now the courier company ie UPS of DHL are responsible for the vat... so there is very little chance of not getting hit here any more.

[ScottyDog]

I have priced up some of the American kit and it seems money can be saved. I emailed Lowrance and they told me the VHF sets are different but the other gear would be OK but the warranty (oddly 1 year in US, 2 years in UK) would be only honoured in the US so a pain if it needs fixing.

The duty is usually 5, 10 max 15% of retail value and then VAT will be added on entry in addition to standard shipping costs. (C&E told me this when I spoke to their enquiries team)

The only other issues, I imagine, is the lack of CE marking on some of the kit. The base maps included on the US units will also be based on US water not Europe, no big deal if you want to use bought cartography.

If you make any progress please post your findings as I am sure other forum members have considered importing kit.

Cheers.

[Zippy]

Im a bit concerned about the base maps. im looking at the GPSMAP162 which has a base map which can not be changed. does say you can download 2.5meg from cd tho..

Has anyone got one of these? i dont see the point in spending a fortune on an expensive plotter and cartography as i will only be using this in local coastal waters (solent and surroinding areas) is that being a bit short sighted?

[Dirk Diggler]

http://www.getfeetwet.com

Excellent service and pretty good prices!

[Nasher]

I've two bits of US origin Kit.

Garmin 240Blue Fishfinder which I brought on line from a US shop.

Works just fine although I was annoyed when it arrived in a box with a sticker on saying newly overhauled. Doesn't look as though it was ever used though.
No problems, and did save a considerable amount even with the import duty paid on the doorstep to the parcel force man.

Garmin GPSMAP 176C sourced used of ebay from a local guy who'd imported it a year earlier and used it in his car. Ok the base map is all wrong but I wanted to use it with decent cartography which I purchased a chip for. (South Coast).
Ended up with the unit plus loads of extras for about 70% new price in UK, and that includes the C_Map I brought new in UK.

Fingers crossed so far.

Nasher.

[swginn]

Got a Lowrance LMS-320 from www.onlinemarine.com.

Very good price,it arrived in 3 days and there was no trouble with mapping/software etc.

As you say the Lowrance warranty is not valid outside the US, but I never needed it. Its a good quality piece of kit, has taken a pounding in its 3yr life and still works just like it did on day one. Thinking about getting a colour Lowrance from the same place and keeping this one, using it in sounder mode.

[limeydal]

Steve,
been looking at the Lowrance line myself for a combo unit.
I stay pretty close to the coast and the M68c seemed to be a good entry level color unit.
I looked in the Online marine list and they quote $370.95 (plus our sales tax of 7.75%)
My local West Marine are a little dearer at $399.99 but at least you get to go play with it before purchasing . Also they have specials of 10% discount and also cash back awards if you use the West Marine card. So brings it to about the same price.
The only thing I was apprehensive about was the relativly small screen and wondered if you thought it was a little to small to be practical in a RIB.?

I experienced the fact they charge that end for imported goods!
I sent my father some nice Bose headphones for xmas from here but was astounded that the postman asked him to pay the 30 pounds tax or duty or whatever they call it!!!
cheers Dal

[Neil R]

An article I saw in a paper a couple of weeks ago gave the following phone numbers:

01702 366077 for 'which tariff' enquiries to get the commodity code - my understanding is that there are thousands of different categories all with different duty rates. Normal office hours.

Then the more general Customs helpline 0845 010 9000, who will turn the above commodity code into actual duty and VAT rates. 8 till 8 wekdays only.

The examples given in the paper, even for high street electronics stuff, seem to vary widely - e.g. no duty for a digital cameras and palm handhelds, to 14% for certain camcorders.

Anyone who tries this feel free to get back with some results for marine stuff!

And blame the 'Times' not me if this doesn't work!

[pettal]

Originally Posted by limeydal

The only thing I was apprehensive about was the relativly small screen and wondered if you thought it was a little to small to be practical in a RIB.?

Hi,

I've got the Garmin 178c and this only has a 4.5" diag viewing area and I find it perfect for what I need. The size of the screen depends on two things really in my experience:

1.) How blind you are......my mate hates the 178c and says the screens too small when he hasn't got his glasses on. My answer.....who's boat is it anyway!

2.) If you know your local boating waters......I've had boats in Guernsey for nearly 15 years and know my local haunts like the back of my hand. I only use the plotter as a quick visual reference or if I'm looking for something in particular.......dive site for example.

If you don't know your local waters that well then I'd suggest a bigger screen as you'll spend more time looking at it.

The other small one off item that pushed me towards the Garmin was the fact that I didn't know quite how much mounting space I'd have on the console and so went for a smaller unit. In hindsight I could have probably fitted a lot bigger unit in than I initially thought.

If I had the money at the moment I'd probably be looking at: Garmin 3010c with all the toys attached, Lowrance LCX-104c or I'd like a Raymarine C-Series.......but not sure if they are waterproofed enough!?

As I've already got the charting software than I'd probably plump for the Garmin!

Top shopping! I do like shopping for toys!

[swginn]

Dal, whether the screen is too small or not generally depends on the type of boating you do. If you are ripping it up all day, jumping off waves and spend most of your time over 30kts then a big screen is advisable. However if you just potter around from a to b, in calm conditions at a leisurely pace then the smaller screens will do. Always try to buy the biggest screen you can afford. I would have bought a bigger screen had I enough room (GPS came from last boat)

Will have a look at LBS 2005 but will probably buy from the states again.

[Jon Brooks]

Originally Posted by TIM

everything is the same exept for VHFs ...... But you even can get them to work over here too.

Not legally you can't.
The US radio's are not approved over here, diff spec and channels.
DSC is diff too.

We (Icom) will not carry out warranty work on radio's purchased in the US.
Also Icom UK offers 3 year warranty Icom USA does not.

Regards

[Zippy]

So... It looks like a few people have bought from the US and most have had to pay import duty and vat.

it also looks like i will come unstuck with some of the cheaper plotters with simple base maps in (Ones which dont apear to accept chip cartography. EG Garmin 162). the spec on this model says you can download 2.5 meg from mapsource CD. Does anyone know what this equates to in terms of area covered??

im sure the customs officers out there are reading this and putting a black mark against me!

[atlantic-diver]

try www.getfeetwet.com , got stuff from them recently , quick and no vat
added - see their site . 2 year warrenty

[Hightower]

Howard, I might be off to the States in Jan. Will keep you posted, at mo it's 40% States 60% China and if I find a cheap last minute holiday over Xmas I really couldn't tell you!!

Andy

[pettal]

Originally Posted by Zippy

it also looks like i will come unstuck with some of the cheaper plotters with simple base maps in (Ones which dont apear to accept chip cartography. EG Garmin 162). the spec on this model says you can download 2.5 meg from mapsource CD. Does anyone know what this equates to in terms of area covered??

This will basically give you a good chunk of the south coast......or there abouts.

I have a Garmin with a 32MB card and that does from the Scillies down to Brest, up past the Channel Islands (which is handy) all the way up the French coast and into Holland (Rotterdam to be precise), then across to Ipswich and back along the South coast of england.......and all that is stored on a 32MB chip........not including waypoints, routes etc.

Hope that helps.

[Bilge Rat]

Is there any real way to get around the import duty other than having it shipped locally to someone and having them bring it across by hand ?

Or is it just easier to pay the duty when it arrives at the door.

I've just priced a Garmin 178C on "get wet feet" for $689 which in real money means £357 thats almost half price what you can buy over here for !!

[Alan]

Originally Posted by Bilge Rat

Is there any real way to get around the import duty other than having it shipped locally to someone and having them bring it across by hand ?

Or is it just easier to pay the duty when it arrives at the door.

I've just priced a Garmin 178C on "get wet feet" for $689 which in real money means £357 thats almost half price what you can buy over here for !!

Short answer is no. Duty is there for a reason and Customs are there to enforce it. The only way around it is to send and hope that it doesnt get checked (although this no longer seems to work) or bring it back by hand. Even in the latter case there is always a risk that the customs officer at LHR will ask to see your baggage and quiz you about that nice shiny boxed chartplotter that you have nestling amongst your smalls!

You could get someone in the US / Canada to buy it an mail it to you as a gift but even then a value has to be declared to customs and you could be liable for duties.

If I couldn't find someone to handcarry for me I would be tempted to be completely above board, get the right tariff code (& everything in the world has its own tariff code) and pay the duty. Remember also that duty is payable on cost of item + freight cost to UK! At the very least it would be worth pricing up for item delivered duty paid to you in UK as a worst case scenario to see if its still cheaper. A few years ago when I was looking at Plotters I found it just as cheap to buy in the UK.

Alan

[Pete7]

The last GPS I imported and DHL were the courier. They automatically pay the VAT and import duty on your behalf and then won't release the goods until you pay them. They also added £27 admin charge to the total for the priviledge. Still at least you can track it.

Wot we need is someone in Canada who has nothing to do during the long dark winters who can package up electronics in plain cardboard boxes and post them to the UK.


Pete

[Jon Brooks]

What we need is the government to drop tax,duty and all that so as to make UK sellers better matched to the good old US of A. IMHO


Regards