Chart Plotter from US

[Ianj68]

I'm after a Raychart 435 for my new boat but don't like the prices of them here in the UK. It looks like there are big savings to be made by buying from the US. Most websites offer international delivery, insurance etc. However, regardless of it coming from the US there's still a fair amount of money involved which is making me a little wary.

Can anyone share their experiences of buying kit from abroad, did they pay import duty, VAT etc. were there any unexpected hassles?

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[[2068]]

I bought my Garmin 276C from the US (boatfix.com), and got whacked with import duty (3.5% or thereabouts) plus VAT at 17.5% plus the shipping costs. In the end, not a huge saving, maybe £50 cheaper overall.

It turned up fine, with a US plug for the charger (DOH), but this isn't a big issue as it's permanently connected to 12v. Also the "basemap" is US, which I also don't care about.

Overall, not sure if I'd do it again this way...

dv.

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[Boating_Buoys]

I did the same once and saved quite a bit on a Garmin System from the GPS Store on the East Coast somwehere.

Very good service etc ...but

Now with all the technology involved, software updates and stuff this time round I bought in the UK, it cost me more, but I have excellent after sales service, and no risk of guarentees requiring the kit to be sent back to the US etc.

It's a difficult call, depends on the savings, fitting needs etc. For anything more than a GPS I would (and have) bought in the UK.

Don't know where you are but I would recommend Inight Marine (insightmarine.co.uk) run by a great guy called Adrian. He's based in Southsea, but coveres most of the south coast. On my new C80/Radar/GPS/VHF package he did a great deal, and a fantastic job and first class aftersales service too.

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