Garmin i3 update

I preordered a StreetPilot i3 from GPSExplorer.com back in late July. It's now August 10th and I still haven't received the unit yet. I have called GPSExplorer several times asking when I should expect to receive my new i3. Last Friday, one of their service reps told me I'd get it "...probably by next week." On Monday, another one of their service reps told me "...about a week and a half from now."

The only factoid that's remained constant each time I called GPSExplorer is that they were waiting on Garmin, and that's why I didn't have my i3 yet, so I decided to e-mail Garmin directly being that this was a supplier-to-vendor issue, and this is what I wrote:

Hello. This is a question concerning the estimated ship time for the Garmin StreePilot i3's to vendors. I have recently preordered a Garmin StreetPilot i3 from GPSExplorer.com for $400.00, which they said on their own web site would be available in August. On every inquiry I make to them concerning when I will get my i3, they keep stating that Garmin (you guys) haven't shipped out the i3's for one reason or another. All I want to know is whether Garmin has started shipments of the i3's to vendors or not (particularly to GPSExplorer.com), and if not, when?

That was Tuesday. I got an e-mail from Garmin today:

Thank you for contacting GARMIN International. We have not started shipping the newly announced Street Pilot i3 to our dealers at this time. We do plan to start shipping the Street Pilot's sometime in August. We do not have a specific shipping announcement date at this time. The only information that I can give to you as well is that we will start shipping sometime this month. Please watch our website we will make a public announcement when the product begins shipping to dealers.

While I appreciate the fact that Garmin did actually respond to tell me what's up, I'm sort of bummed out that I don't have a more definitive answer. Does this mean the i3 will be sent out this week? Next week? End of the month?

I see the bright side of this - I did get an answer from the manufacturer themselves, and they were timely with their answer. It might have not been the best answer in the world, but at least I got a response.

Published 2005 Aug 10