New GPS Micro Tracker II

Covertrac has come up with a new gps tracking model that surpasses the past models in numerous ways. The new Micro Tracker II is smaller than all their other models, measuring in at only 2.5" H x 1.5" w x .75" d. This makes it much easier to conceal. You can still purchase the extra 45 day battery if 1-2 weeks is not enough with the included battery. The device has a sensor that tells you when the battery is low. Additionally, it can use cell tower triangulation to locate the tracker when it looses satellites. You can create boundaries called geo-fences to alert you when it crosses that line. The price is about half what we charge on similar models with these features. Check it out at http://www.cascadegps.com/store/product.php?productid=8682&cat=130&page=1

Extended Warranty Now Offered

Cascade GPS announces that we are now offering extended warranty coverage beyond what the manufacture is already including with your purchase. We have teamed with CPS (details below) and believe we have reasonable pricing to make it worthwhile on some of your larger purchases. You can choose between 2 and 4 year extended plans. To qualify, you will need to purchase this warranty during the first 90 days on refurbished items or first 6 months on new items. If you purchase the item at a different store, you will need to purchase our warranty service during the first 30 days of purchase. You do not have to buy the electronic device from us but will need proof of purchase from the other store.

Who is Consumer Priority Service?
Consumer Priority Service was founded on the belief that consumers deserve better service. Putting the satisfaction of the consumer at the forefront of our corporate policy has driven our company to be among the very best at post sale service both on and offline. Our lineup of consumer protection products can be found at America’s largest retailers as well as America’s best boutique shops. Although some of our Authorized Dealers compete with each other they all share one common belief – Consumers Deserve A Better Service Provider. That is why your retailer has selected Consumer Priority service, a place where you, our mutual customer, is Always Our Priority.

Why Do I need This?
Consumer Priority Service Extended Protection plans provides you with easy protection from potentially high future repair costs. Planning ahead and taking action now can save you the stress of dealing with unqualified servicers should your product become defective. Saving time and money is in everybody’s best interests. We are here for you.

What is Covered?
CPS Protection Plans are extensions of your manufacturers’ written warranty a few added bonus features. Any malfunctions that would normally be covered within the terms and conditions of the original written warranty would be covered through the life of the Consumer Priority Service Extension. “Our Shield Means You're Protected.“

Benefits of owning a Consumer Priority Service Plan

Zero Deductible
All CPS plans are zero deductible. This means that ALLcosts associated with Parts and Labor to repair your defective product are covered. Owning a CPS service plan means you’re FULLY COVERED.

Total Access
With CPS you can file a claim for repair or replacement 24 hours a day 7 days a week through our consumer network at www.cpscentral.com

In-Home Service
In-Home parts and labor protection plans provide service for your products at your home or your workplace. Contact us Toll Free at 1-800-905-0443 so that we may arrange for a convenient service time for you.

Express On-Site Upgrade
With our Express On-Site Upgrade plan you can now upgrade any of our service plans to include door-to-door service. We'll pickup your defective product from your home or workplace, repair or replace it, and return it to you.

Product Replacement Plan
Any product that plugs in or takes a battery qualifies for this program. If your product fails to operate properly under the terms of its written warranty, we will replace it, No Questions Asked!

Nationwide Service
Consumer Priority Service provides complete coverage across all 48 contiguous states.

No Lemon Guarantee
If our authorized service center determines your product to be beyond economical repair or they have unsuccessfully attempted to repair your product three times, we will replace your product.

Peace of Mind
Owning a CPS service plan virtually guarantees that you will get years of use from your product through the duration of the plan.

Navico Pricing

Hi folks. Cascade GPS here and we just wanted to make a note about pricing issues since Navico has taken over Lowrance, Northstar, Navman, Simrad and Eagle products. This also applies to Humminbird, Minn Kota and any other brand owned by the parent company Johnson Outdoors. The gps and marine electronics industry is changing the policy regarding how prices are advertised on the net. It is understandable that these manufacturers want to protect certain high volume big box store wholesale buyers against discounted internet pricing. So they now require all internet vendors to display a minimum advertise price (MAP). We can no longer even offer a lower price in the personal and private shopping cart like we used to be able to do on some of these brands. Additionally, we cannot upload our discounted price to any price comparison feeds like froogle google base or Shopzilla. Only the MAP can be shown. Unfortunately, this means you will not really know what the sale price is without calling or emailing us. This also benefits large well-known brand name stores since buyers when tend to feel safer on their website vs a smaller lesser known and friendly family run business showing the same price. Please always feel free to contact us for price matching or for our lowest possible price since it is sometimes far below what the Cascade GPS website is allowed to say. We understand you are on the net looking for savings as well as good customer support.

Humminbird Pricing

Many web shoppers are wondering why does Cascade GPS show .01 or .05 on the shopping cart price for Humminbird newer fishfinder and combo products. This is a way of handling the MRP or minimum required price Humminbird requires all e-tailers to display on their website. Humminbird claims they will not honor the warranty if a merchant does not sell at the MRP on the website. We show it on the product description page and that number usually ends with a '9'. To prevent you from buying, we make the price almost zero so that it blocks the transaction. If you try to place other items in the cart just to get the minimum cart price to accept the order, we just void the order and call you. We don't want you loosing the warranty and of course would not sell it at a penny anyway. Many Johnson Outdoors product lines now have this MRP just to confuse everyone on the net. However, you will find numerous merchants operating in violation of this code. This only undermines those of us trying to cooperate with the manuf. Just be aware if you by there and need warranty work, you will likely get rejected.

Once you see the lack of price in the cart, we expect potential buyers to call us at 360 734-1409 or email info@cascadegps.com for a price quote. So give us a call for the latest price quote.

Why is Lowrance So Backed UP All The Time

Lately there has been a lot of frustration over getting Lowrance products shipped in a timely manner. Hopefully this will shed some light on the subject. Lowrance was bought out by a parent company named Navico. It has always been difficult to keep their products on the shelf. This is mainly because they continue to be the leader in popularity for providing a quality product at a mid-range price. They also put plenty of marketing to back this up. Since being purchased by Navico, there have been changes in the production schedules, slowing down availability of their products. Many of the components such as transducers and networking cables are under-produced by 3rd parties that Lowrance depends on. We have not figured out if it is the fault of sending inadequate quantity requests to these factories or if the factories themselves just can't keep up. When it comes to new models, such as the HDS series and LSS-1 structure scan, Lowrance was not expecting such a strong demand and they were not prepared. So most people are waiting patiently while the factories catch up. It has always been this way for new release products from Lowrance. The other issue in 2010 has been the pending lawsuit between Humminbird and Lowrance over the side-imaging feature. Humminbird claims patent infringement. We are sure that has caused some delays on these new products as well.

As a result of strong demand, underproduction and a pending lawsuit, we expect most Lowrance products to continue slowly trickling in at a rate slower than the number of orders we get. Preordering is advised if you need products before the next season. Often an order placed in winter will fill in spring and a spring order will fill in summer on the newest models. Our lower prices draw in more crowds of orders; so it can take a little longer. Sometimes you have to pay a bit more to get things sooner. If you ever need to find out how many of a certain item we have, please do not hesitate to call our business at 360-734-1409 to find out availability. We are open 7am to 7pm M-F on the west coast USA. If you avoid the google checkout or paypal system, your payment is never charged on our website. We manually run the credit cards only if the product is in stock and will always call a customer if backordered. We do not keep you in the dark wondering when your fishfinder will ship. You get the opportunity to cancel anytime up until the ship date. We charge cards only when shipped. However, there may be a temporary authorization in the meantime. This just allows us to ensure that the card is valid. If you use google checkout or paypal, they control the card transaction and will even sit on the funds for a week after you cancel an order. Please check us out at www.cascadegps.com

What is a Refurbished GPS

Commonly people ask me if a refurbished gps is reliable or they want to know what this means. A gps that is refurbished, or otherwise labeled 'remanufactured', could be called so for a variety of reasons. When someone purchases a gps, he or she might decide they really wanted a different model and return it unused or slightly used. It could no longer be sold as new once used and the package seal is broken (if the factory made one). Sometimes the gps will have more extensive use and get returned due to damage, defect or change of mind. In either case, the manufacturer inspects it by running tests, checking or reloading the software and then they rebox it as a refurbished gps. They also back it up by either a 90 day or one year warranty, depending on the manufacturer. It is then resold at a significant discount off the original retail price. Because of this, it would be no surprise if you have to pay a restocking fee when returning an unwanted gps. Merchants have to make up the difference since it cannot be sold new.

For personal use, I almost exclusively buy refurbished gps and have never returned it for warranty work. They can work for years, just like a new gps. In fact, I keep waiting for my old etrex legend and gpsmap 76 refurbs to just quit on me so I can upgrade. But at least I can rest assured, knowing that I can return it to the manuf. for warranty repair when I acquire another remanufactured gps.

To see what refurbs we might have in stock please visit us at http://www.cascadegps.com/store/refurbished-gps/ . Keep in mind this category of gps product is the most popular and often sell out the same day we post. You can always call or email and ask if we have more.

Cascade GPS Returns Policy

This post is in defense and a response to a recent post by a customer who apparently wants to blab his frustration and take it out on our company, Cascade GPS. He posted a comment blasting us for not allowing him to return and refund a used item. We posted responses on that blog and of course he intentionally erased it, not allowing us to explain. This leaves potential buyers thinking the worst when they try to buy from us. His post could not be further from the truth.

This buyer bought a specialty weather antenna to connect with his Humminbird fishfinder. He installed and used it and decided it did not live up to his expectations. It functioned and was not defective. Our distributor's do not allow returns of installed used items and this was a product that cannot be resold once used. He would have found the same returns issues if bought from any other discount e-tailer. He did not ask in advance if it could be returned after being installed and used. He read our policy that said we accept back unwanted items but did not understand this refers to items not installed and used. We would not be able to resell it and you would not want us selling you something already installed and non longer new. Our policy states a 5% restock fee on items not opened or used. This can be applied to another purchase. If opened, there can be up to 15-20% restock fee; but if used/installed, it is left to our discretion. Then we take it on a case by case basis. Many things cannot be taken back. However, we often only apply a 5% restock fee on opened items and apply that as credit toward another purchase. Keep in mind if the seal is broke, it is no longer new on many items. We have no control over this and consumer laws require us to make it refurbished on broken seals.

Please understand, we always take back items that were damaged upon delivery or defective. We must inform consumers that we can only offer bargains on products by not pricing in a 'no questions asked' returns policy that some big box stores might provide. Those stores are making large profit margins when doing this. Our margins are extremely tight, leaving no wiggle room on full refunds. If you want a huge discount, you just might be giving up a convenience you are accustomed to at big name stores. They price in this convenience. Most of our customers are happy with very large discounts and understand they cannot just return anything after they used it. We do allow a 30 day return allowance for unused items, even if you just opened and looked at something.

Just remember, please always ask about the return policy before buying, not after. We could have avoided this whole scenario if he had just asked to clarify the policy. Please point me to a store that does not have at least one negative comment.

If you are still uncertain about trusting Cascade GPS, please check reseller ratings, Google checkout and various other review sites where customers have posted very positive feedback. Our goal is complete customer satisfaction. www.cascadegps.com 360-734-1409

If you have read this far and are ready to make a purchase from Cascade GPS, tell us you read this and we will discount $5 off the shipping cost on your next purchase. Offer applies one time per person.