According to an article in yesterday's NY Times, GPS devices were the "hottest technology purchase in the week ending on Black Friday, the day after Thanksgiving." Consumers dropped about $100 million on GPS units that week, a 237 percent increase over last year's sales numbers.
The average selling price of a GPS dropped 53 percent this year, with an average device selling for $171 (vs. $322 last year). The article goes on to say that more people are buying GPS devices this year than PCs, and, despite an overall slowing of tech sales, GPS sales are stronger than ever, beating out LCD televisions, MP3 players, plasma tvs, and digital cameras.
The Times also says that it's quite possible retailers will slash prices even further as Christmas approaches, and that bargain hunters might be well served to wait until the very last minute to buy a GPS this year.
There's no reason to wait to buy if your retailer offers an after purchase price drop guarantee. I bought my Magellan Maestro 3210 from Amazon for $253 at the end of November. They have a 30-day post shipping price guarantee, so when they dropped it to $224 the day after it shipped, I contacted them and they immediately refunded the difference (the catch is you have to ask them for it... they don't do it automatically). I'll keep checking back between now and Christmas just in case they drop it again!
TryingMagellan -- right you are. My Garmin Nuvi 200 fell $13 this morning, and they've already refunded that difference.
TomTom ONE was the winner this Christmas having a price as low as $124.95 after rebate, it's hare to beat. They currently hold 30% of the NA PND market share.
Magellan prices will drop even more as they have to compete with TomTom and Garmin.
Garmin lost market share but over all the top three is still Garmin, TomTom and Magellan.
Buy the right unit that fits your needs and not the price since the most expensive GPS unit you can buy is one that you will not be using. You get what you paid for so be a little smater and treat yourself to a better unit.
We all deserve it I think.
It definitely pays to shop around. Amazon has dropped the Maestro 3210 to $189.99 but it is selling for about $100 more at Circuit City and Best Buy's Maestros are not discounted that much. On the other hand, all of them have the TomTom ONE v3 at $149. Be careful on Amazon though, sometimes searches bring up alternate sellers with radically different prices (you can get the same TomTom from other vendors there for over $100 more)!