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Saving money is really important to you in your consumer purchases. You want to stretch your dollars so that every cent gets you the best value in everything you buy. This is true whether you are buying an mp3 player, laptop computer, or refrigerator. You want value in your GPS purchases.

The only way to do that is to do research on the highest quality products and to find the best way to get those products at the lowest price point. One way to do that is scour the internet and newspaper adds for the best sales. This can take time trying to find out what things are really selling for these days.

Or, you can buy a refurbished GPS.

It is true that there has been a dramatic dip in the pricing of GPS units across the board. In car navigation systems used to run above $500 on a regular basis. These units were costly and you could only hope to get a deal on them if you really looked hard. If you were lucky enough to find a refurbished item it was often gone in an instant because so many people wanted these items.

Now prices are relatively low, often well below the $500 mark. This has left some people wondering why you would even consider buying a refurbished GPS. The reason you should still buy refurbished is that these items are still cheaper than a “brand spanking new” model.

The current price for a TomTom One Third Edition auto GPS on one online retailer is currently just under $200 ‘new.’ If you were to buy its refurbished counterpart on the same retailer you would see a savings of $50. That is like getting a 25% discount just because you went with a product that initially failed the manufacturer’s production standards but has since qualified after being re-outfitted.

The product is exactly the same. The functionality is exactly the same. The value is exactly the same. But the price is radically different.

You shouldn’t just listen to what you read on the internet, though. You need to go out and do your own research and talk to a sales rep yourself if you really want to take advantage of the deals available. Know what you are getting into when you buy a refurbished item and what exactly the means. You will be surprised to know that it can mean a lot of different things.

A refurbished item can simply be on that didn’t work like the company wanted it to so they then fixed it post production. It could have a scratch on it that prevents the manufacturer from selling it as new because of their own production standards. Or it can be an older device with new guts. Whatever the reason the reason for the refurbishment, you will want to know why. This will make you an informed consumer and it will help you decide if the 25% discount is really worth it or if you just want to spend money needlessly.

Why buy new when you can buy refurbished? It is cheaper and you get the same bang for your buck.

Joe teaches people about the benefits of a refurbished GPS and about refurbished GPS fleet tracking.

Fleet managers have a hard enough time as it is keeping track of all their drivers and the whereabouts of their services. Thankfully modern technology has alleviated some of the stresses from the world of fleet management. One of these technological advancements has been the encroachment of GPS tracking systems into the world of fleet management. These systems do not purely give drivers the right directions when they are lost but instead provide an invaluable resource of driver whereabouts, vehicle condition and ETAs to a variety of destinations. Understandably these fleet management systems are rapidly being implemented to increase company efficiency and hence, profitability.

The most advanced fleet management solutions give managers a resource that allows them to track all of the vehicles in a fleet whilst they are out of the office. This is great for managers who feel they must keep an eye on certain employees whilst also assessing the unauthorised use of company vehicles. In addition to information on vehicle whereabouts these systems allow managers to understand the driving habits of their operatives such as excessive speeding and idling time.

For managers this is not the only benefit that fleet management technology can bring. The administrative tasks related to fleets can be greatly reduced meaning that man hours can be better spent elsewhere. Most systems will give information on when a particular vehicle is due a service, or even an oil change; subsequently maintenance dates are not forgotten and bills will be reduced. The best systems out there can even notify managers of specific problems with vehicles meaning that issues are immediately flagged subsequently increasing the lifespan of company vehicles.

GPS recorders can act like the black box in aircraft in the event of an accident noting the direction and speed of the vehicle. This is important information when it comes to making insurance claims as any guess work on the part of the insurance company is negated. In a world where liability is increasingly important after accidents, this kind of information is vitally important.

An added bonus of installing a GPS fleet management system is that your company insurance premiums will in fact drop. The reasons for this are numerous. Firstly as you have the ability to track a vehicle, in the event of a theft it makes recovery that much easier. Additionally as your drivers know you are watching, they will drive in a safer more considerate manner that reduces the chance of an accident. Both of these actively work towards reducing the premiums you have to pay.

Understandably many fleet management officials are wary about the implementation of GPS systems and the effect this will have on staff morale. Many expect a backlash over privacy issues and fear they will see unified action as a result. This however is a common misconception, in fact, once staff members are given an explanation of how the system will make their lives easier, they will embrace it wholeheartedly. Even this does not occur, as a fleet manager it is your assets you are trying to protect, not your worker’s privacy during business hours.

Ultimately a fleet management system that relies on GPS will enhance the efficiency of your business. Reducing fuel costs and increasing the responsiveness of workers out in the field forms part of this, as does a reduction in insurance and maintenance costs. So if you are a fleet manager the question you need to ask yourself is; can I really live without a tracking system?

Technology expert Thomas Pretty looks into how GPS fleet management solutions can help in increasing efficiency and profitability.

GPS watches are mainly used for fitness and people tracking purposes. However, this is not the only use of these powerful devices. They can be used in many, many ways if you are imaginative enough to think outside the box. Here are just a couple additional uses.

One of the powerful uses of GPS tracking watches is the power to measure things. Most fitness watches enable you to track the exact path of your exercise routine, giving you the distance you traveled as you ran for forty-five minutes. This can be harnessed measure objects, large objects, that you always wondered just how big these objects are.

Thinking about how large your apartment building is? Or the distance between you and your your favorite park? Or just how close the nearest ice cream shop is? Well a GPS device is just what you need to find this information out. Since they can also interact with computer mapping programs you can get a birds eye view of the distance you traveled.

Another interesting thing you can do is go exploring with your GPS watch. Many of these devices have the ability to set way points. These enable you to mark the exact locations of special or remarkable geographic features on journey’s through the wilderness. By using this feature you can see understand the geography of an area better or get an idea of exactly where that landmark you always pass by is exactly. This can create a nice discussion piece with other outdoor adventurers and help foster collaborative exploration efforts.

It is also very helpful for exploring new urban landscapes. Those on business trips can help themselves interact with their environment in new and sometimes strange places. By using way points you can give yourself freedom to explore side streets and back alleys that you would normally never consider going down for fear of loosing your bearing on where your hotel or hostel is. This can be done away with if you have a GPS watch to point you back home.

Still another use is to analyze your commute. With gas prices being what they are it is always helpful to drive as efficiently as you possibly can. In addition to other gas saving techniques, you can drive around wearing your watch, using its power to silently and efficiently track and monitor your speed to help you test. This will help you understand how much of your time is spent in bumper to bumper traffic and how much time you are traveling the posted speed limits. It will also be able to assist you in determining how quickly you accelerate and decelerate - important metrics for fuel efficiency.

In addition to gas saving information, if these devices are paired with a heart rate monitor they can provide information about your level of stress during your commute. Is there an noticeable difference in your heart rate depending in the speed at which you travel home? Is your commute stressing you out? A heart rate monitor might be help you better understand this portion of your commute.

As you can see, GPS tracking watches have tons of uses in many different situations. Their ability to record many different layers of information is the key behind their versatility.

Joe teaches people about the benefits of owning a gps tracking watch and how to benefit from a refurbished GPS device.

Kids love adventure. This is doubly true of boys. They love to turn all sorts of thing into some type of quest or battle. Sticks quickly turn into guns, boxes into forts, and imaginary men into enemies to be vanquished. At the heart of every boy is the spirit of an adventurer.

This can often be misunderstood in boys to be ‘misbehavior’ or ‘disobedience,’ but that is not really what it is. Instead the boy is just trying to live out what he is - a brilliant and daring man, longing to do something great with his life. Knowing this, you can help your child grow in this as well as keep get them to wear their GPS tracking watch. The thing is to appeal to their spirit of adventure to do it.

The absolute best way to introduce your child to their GPS tracking device is to make a connection to it and the spirit of adventure that already rests within them. There are many ways that you can do this, depending on which adventurer your child is particularly fond of.

Do they like archaeologists like Indian Jones? How about the Dora the Explorer? Are they into Bob the Builder? Thomas the Train? Any of the these childhood heroes could definitely benefit from the use of a GPS device. All you need to do is suggest to the children that these individuals already use them.

This should not be very hard since many of these types of people already use GPS in real life. Archaeologists really do use GPS to record the locations of their finds. Sometimes they even use two units at the same time to get an even more exact reading on the location of the item.

Explorers, the police, constructions engineers, and trains all use GPS in one way or another in real life. By making the connection between your child’s favorite hero you are already building an in with your child. Combine that with the foothold of trust you already in your child’s life and helping them to wear their safety device and to treat it with respect and awe is completely within your grasp.

The next phase is to go on an adventure with your child using their device. This will help give them some experience with their GPS kids device and help you guide the conditions under which they have this experience.

For this adventure be sure to bring a real time GPS tracker of your own or a internet enable phone so you can check your status with your child in real time. Consider going to your favorite park where you go on some imaginary adventure with your child. Be sure to pull out your GPS unit at key moments in the adventure to help reinforce the idea that being an adventurer can be related to the device that you want them to have for their safety.

By doing this you will help ensure that they will have a healthy respect for their device and keep it safe. After all, if Indiana Jones needs his GPS it will help give your child incentive to keep his by his side. And that is exactly what you want as a parent - your child safe.

It is also important to realize that a GPS tracking watch is only an effective safety tool if it is used in additional to more traditional safety information. Be sure to share with your kids the basic principles of childhood safety. This will go a long way in ensuring that you kid can handle themselves safely in a multitude of circumstance.

Joe writes a gps tracking watches guide and as well as provides information on refurbished GPS.

GPS vehicle tracking systems are rapidly becoming a vital tool for many business owners. In fact, nearly all businesses who have a large vehicle fleet are considering tracking systems as a way to improve their efficiency and in effect, increase profitability.

Who uses these vehicle tracking systems though? What type of company can benefit from the implementation of this GPS technology? Companies that have large numbers of contractors out on the road, such as electrical and plumbing businesses are rapidly implementing tracking solutions. It is not just contractors however, limousine and taxi companies can use vehicle tracking software to increase their efficiency and haulers can use the technology to keep track of particularly valuable assets.

Normally a GPS vehicle tracking system will consist of a tracking device placed inside a vehicle along with a central server and software that lets the user track the fleet from headquarters. The information is relayed using geostationary positioning satellites that give any fleet vehicle’s speed, position and direction of travel. The device inside the vehicle transmits its position on regular intervals in order to remain up to date at all times. The interval is usually around every two to fifteen minutes depending upon the manufacturer’s and owner’s preferences.

But why go to the expense of implementing a vehicle tracking system? Here are ten of the most common reasons.

1. Vehicle tracking systems can help to reduce running costs by specifically targeting those who speed and waste fuel. By focussing upon these drivers it is possible to not only reduce fuel and maintenance bills, but to also reduce insurance premiums.

2. By using a system’s automatic mileage reminder it is possible to reduce time wasted through vehicle maintenance. In addition, by having a service that ensures your vehicles are regularly serviced means that resale values for the fleet will also be higher. It can also help to avoid penalties for issues such as bald tyres and tax as reminders are clear and precise.

3. Some insurance companies will offer around a thirty percent discount to companies who implement a GPS vehicle tracking system. This is not only because it encourages safer driving, but also helps recovery if thefts do occur.

4. Productivity of workers can be increased by being able to keep track of lunch hours, exposing unauthorised stops and breaks and by evaluating the overtime requests of workers. By having detailed information on the whereabouts of vehicles at all times, it is far easier to keep an eye on employee activities.

5. GPS devices help businesses to become more customer friendly. For instance, a cab company that is using a vehicle tracking system can tell a customer exactly where the nearest cab is and give a realistic estimate on how long it will be.

6. Business owners can find their most productive employees and use this information to implement further training or even a system of bonuses to enhance staff members’ work ethic.

7. Vehicle tracking systems will vastly reduce your phone bills as it is no longer a necessity to constantly call employees to find their location.

8. By having all the relevant information on one screen, those running the software have easy access to answer enquiries rapidly and accurately.

9. GPS systems reduce the amount of paperwork that drivers must fill out. By doing this you not only soften the blow of introducing such a system, but also increase the accuracy of your records.

10. By having detailed information on the whereabouts of all employees, business owners are far more in touch with their business operations. Meaning they have greater levels of control over their company.

These ten reasons are just the tip of the iceberg when it comes to the benefits that vehicle tracking software can bring. If you run a fleet based business, it is about time to consider bringing your operations up to date, making use of advanced technology to not only improve your operations, but also efficiency and profitability.

Technology expert Thomas Pretty studies the benefits of GPS vehicle tracking systems and how they can improve the operations of fleet based businesses.

Covert GPS tracking devices are easily available almost everywhere nowadays, and because the technology has got so much better and the cost of manufacture has got so much cheaper, they are within the reach of most ordinary folk.

Because of this, the numbers of units being sold has risen dramatically over recent years, and the number of companies offering covert vehicle tracking services has risen as well. It’s no surprise then that more and more individuals and companies are using covert GPS vehicle tracking as a way of discovering if their spouses or employees are cheating on them.

Spouses That Cheat

In years gone by, if you were having an affair, your only worry about parking your vehicle outside a motel room for the afternoon was that someone you knew would see it there are and tell your husband/wife. Today however, things are much more high-tech and it’s increasingly common that a simple do it yourself GPS tracking system has been hidden in your car somewhere. If that is the case, every journey you make, every stop you make on your trip, and every time your car is parked for an extended period of time (such as outside a motel room for the afternoon), is logged and can be viewed, printed out, and used as evidence against you.

Lets just think about that for a minute - if you want to track your spouses behavior, you can know precisely where their vehicle is when they say they are ‘at work’, or that they are ‘going on a night out with the girls/guys’ - and this can be done for a little more than a cell phone costs!

It’s quite a scary thought, and it does go wrong sometimes, there are instances’ where the spouse is not cheating, but has been subjected to covert GPS tracking vehicle. When they have found out about this, relationships have ended because of the lack of trust, so I would advice you to be very careful if you are planning to use covert GPS vehicle tracking to confirm your suspicions, it’s far better to use it to get firm evidence for a divorce case say.

Employees That Cheat

Hands up if you have never sneaked any time off when you should have been working - not many of you then!

If you have a company vehicle and you do extend you lunch break regularly, or go shopping in work time, then don’t be surprised if one day you are found out. Some companies treat this theft of time as seriously as they would treat theft of company property, and it is hard to argue why they shouldn’t.

Because they can now know exactly where their vehicles (and lets not forget that they are their vehicles) are at all times, some companies have seen dramatic increases in activity since employing GPS tracking fleet management specialists, and dramatic decreases in overtime payments to employees as well - some larger companies are saving tens of thousands of dollars every month since they had these systems installed.

It is estimated that it will take six to twelve months for a GPS fleet tracking system to pay for itself, through increased productivity and reduced expenses. It can pay for itself almost instantly though if a company vehicle is stolen and the system is used to successfully recover it.

The Author’s website Covert GPS Vehicle Tracking Systems features articles, tips and advice about using a Covert GPS Vehicle Tracking Device.