[aprssig] Garmin GPS-18-USB for $25 !

[Jason KG4WSV]

On Fri, Dec 12, 2008 at 6:34 PM, Chris Rose <kb8uih at sbcglobal.net> wrote:
> Well,
> Just do anything to confuse people.  That makes the buyer very dependent on reading all information on an item.  How many different versions of one product are necessary?  If one product was made with options to set it to different outputs wouldn't it be cheaper in the long run?  The price could be lowered on the manufacturer's end.

Price couldn't get much lower on the mfr end as it's all the same
hardware, just with different firmware and cable sets.

They're catering to their customers.  Some (like many trackers) are
building custom devices so they don't need the expense of termination
on the cable/regulated power/true RS232 voltages, so we get the LVC
model.  Some folks are going mobile with true RS232 (D7/700/710) or
have an old-school PC so we get the PC model.  Some want faster update
rates (UAV/UGV) so we get the 5Hz model.  Some want easy and cheap
with a modern computer, so we get the USB.  All Garmin has to do is
load the appropriate firmware, attach the corresponding cable and
label, and they hit several markets with the same device.

I have no idea if the firmware is out there or updateable, but I'd bet
that the USB model would morph into one of the others if we could
change the firmware.

-Jason
kg4wsv