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Have you ever noticed that there seems to be a huge abundance of refurbished GPS devices for sale, in just about every online retailer that you can find? It is really no big surprise, considering the popularity of the hand held refurbished devices, and especially the automotive GPS devices.

What are the reasons behind this deluge of cheap refurbished GPS out on the market right now? Well, that brings us to the important points of WHY so many GPS devices (along with any electronic devices in general) end up being labeled as “refurbished”. Interestingly enough, some units are marked as refurbished even though they have never even been opened. Take a look at these reasons why any product could labeled as “refurbished”:

1. The person who originally wanted the product brought it back to the store, which means that they returned the item to the store that they bought it from within 30 days of the purchase date. In some circumstances the reason behind this return has nothing to do with the functionality or quality of the product; sometimes people just don’t want the product that they bought.

2. The manufacturer created too many of the specific model and needs to get ride of some of their inventory to make room for more. When this happens, the store will either sell the product for a clearance price, or deliver the unit to it source; when the product is sent back to the manufacturer, a business decision needs to be made about how to best handle the new inventory, this sometimes has the outcome of the device getting labeled “refurbished”, and then put the units back out on the market at a marked down price. In some cases these “refurbed” products will have never been opened, meaning that the discount is for no reason at all.

3. Another reason could be that the product was the one on display in the store. Display models almost always get sent back to the unit maker; the producer checks out the navigation unit for any defects or damage and then sends it back out to be sold as a refurbished GPS.

4. The product was opened. When this is the case, there is nothing wrong with the product, other than it needs to be sent back to the manufacturer to be repackaged, in which case, oddly enough, it is then labeled as “refurbished”.

5. Shipping damage. When this happens, it usually just means that only the box that the product was in got damaged, but if anything other than the product was damaged (accessories, or the actual unit), it is completely fixed or replaced by the manufacturer.

6. There was a defect in the product. This can be pretty common depending on the batch of GPS navigation units. Once the defective GPS is in the hands of the manufacturer they test it to see what exactly is wrong with it, and anything that was broken or defective is replaced with brand new parts; once the repair is done the GPS is as good as new, and some might argue it is now actually less likely to become defective than the non refurbished products sitting on the shelves of the retail stores; they argue this because refurbished devices generally undergo a battery of tests.

As you can see, the reasons for a GPS to be refurbished are varied. The chances of getting a bad unit is probably just as likely as getting a “new” one so take the plunge, save some money, and go refurbished.