The Garmin 1030, normally $600, is marked down to $400, same price as the 830. I speculate this means a new model is forthcoming. Which means this is either a great time to buy one, or a terrible time, depending one whether your neophilia outweighs your thriftiness.

To give you an insight into the markup on a typical Garmin product, retailers can drop the sales price by a full third overnight and not lose money. At $400 the 1030 is overpriced.

I saw the 130 was also on sale. I just got a 1030 for what I thought was a good deal, now not so great, got the package deal with all the sensors for $500. I am sure the 1030+ or like upgrade is coming. Still thinking that $400 for that head unit is a pretty sweet deal for how good the 1030 is.

Varia 510 Radar/Light also on sale with speculation of a newer replacement.

Or they are anticipating a economic crash and are blowing out while folks have cash.

It'll be nice to have that turn-by-turn navigation in the post-apocalyptic hellscape.

Coming to a bike store near you on April 15: Garmin 1040.

The Garmin 1040 has actually been around for years. It's a multifunction seagoing navigation display.

It’s the “Edge 1030”.

The 1040 you mentioned is not an Edge.

That's true. I was responding to the post where Pdlamb called the new device a "Garmin 1040" not a Garmin Edge 1040. In any case, it's not really that important.

AFAIK, that's not true, margins on electronics are typically 20% instead of 50% like normal

Despite the seemingly big numbers we see for sales of such, it's still a niche market. If we want to point the fingers at something that is overpriced, we should talk mattresses. <grin>

It doesn't necessarily work that way.

The retailers might be getting a rebate from Garmin.

And the markup is irrelevant because you aren't going to make your own 1030.

If the price isn't worth it to you, don't buy it.

After upgrading from the 520 to the 1030, its worth it...such a nice device.

I’m inclined to think you’re right, since REI co-op specifically excludes GPS electronics from their regular 20% coupon codes. It makes sense now, given your post.

I've been an REI member for 30 years yet I rarely shop there these days. It's rare that I want any of the very select and odd items they discount. I can get my club membership 10% off on a Garmin at my LBS, whose prices are comparable to REI, so it's always cheaper.

I've been waiting for my REI dividend to purchase an Edge 1030 for several months now. When the dividend arrived I starting looking around again and saw REI still had it listed at $600 where everyone else had it at $399. So I called my local store to see why and was told they were out of stock and they had only one in the whole state at the Denver store. Further he said they are NOT getting any new stock from Garmin. I have to think that means a new model is coming and they're trying to get rid of the older one before they announce. Meanwhile I guess I'll continue to wait.

Why not buy at online at $400 and use the REI dividend for something else ?. Still a good deal that we won't see again one the units are gone.

Yea that's a good point too, have been considering just that. Thanks!

I think it's more likely that they are looking at the economy dropping fast due to the virus and they're trying to blow out inventory and increase cash reserves as fast as fast as they can.

Exactly. And with their margin gives them a great reason to address new competition and the economy. On top of that, doing this is a great opportunity to put hurt on their competitors with the falling economy.

There would be no reason to do this since they have no competition if this were normal times. If generating cash and dropping inventory fast is important, then this makes sense.

Garmin's production is in Taiwan which means they don't have a lot of the finished good supply chain challenges others do. Others can't get completed units and this is also an opportunity to run the market share back up. They have units, others are short on units.

That's an interesting take on it JohnJ80, thanks! So perhaps I'm being foolish waiting, uh.

Still remains, I guess, that only Garmin knows for sure. But I think the fact that the Varia 510 is on sale is key. That's a very popular product without competition - normally there is no reason to put it on sale unless you need to raise the bottom line quickly.

In most companies right now, especially publicly traded ones like Garmin, there is something close to feral panic going on when management takes a look at the economy. The threat is too little cash/too much inventory and the opportunity is a potentially brutal shot at less well prepared competitors if you start a price war. I would guess that most bike accessory companies are fat on inventory right now in anticipation of the season getting underway. That couldn't come at a worse time with this virus.

As additional thought, if Garmin were to be introducing a 1030 (or any) replacement(s), and it were to be made in China, the typical introduction schedule might be on hold for weeks or months. Thus the need for cash now might be more urgent. In 2 months, with millions in the US out of work, nobody's going to have cash laying around for toys just when Garmin needs tool up cash.

More good points! Thanks John & Steve!

???

Only one unit has been discounted. The oldest model too.

If your hypothesis was the case, they'd be dropping prices on a bunch of things.