Hand Held GPS

[blackfinjerry]

I am in the market for a handheld portable gps.
I hear that it might be best to consider one of the crossover models, like;
Magellan, as they are easy to use and can be loaded with marine and road travel maps.
Any experience with portable gps units would be appreciated. Both good and bad fb will help me decide on which one to purchase.
Blackfinjerry

[seaswirl]

well i have a garmin map 76, and it has all the mapping in it, and i like it, but its too small to really use all the features. but it works well!!

[Re-Bait]

I have has several garmin's, and own two GPS76's currently. Whichever unit you purchase, getting the PC link and backing up your waypoints is a huge bonus.

[joekampf]

well i have a garmin map 76, and it has all the mapping in it, and i like it, but its too small to really use all the features. but it works well!!

I have the Garmin Map 76csx. I love it!!! Gets the job done. I use the compass feature more than anything. I also like the ability to upload and download waypoints and tracks from to and from my computer.

I use the same device in my truck. I even got the GPS hooked up to my VHF for the DSC call.

Joe

[Dunk]

I've got a Garmin 478.. Works great on the boat or in the truck. A smaller version is the Quest I or II. The Quest is the same unit as the 76 except it's built to be used horizonaly, has rechareable 20hr battery and comes with a 12volt plug it power cord with a speaker for voice directions on the road.. The Quest II comes with the whole US road maps loaded. After that just like the 76 you have to buy the Blue Charts for your boating area..

[Bay Stalker]

I have the Garmin Map 60csx and love it I have the blue charts in it and the road maps.

[mucho clams]

I have the same unit. I like mine but I had down loaded the coastal zone and then tried to also add the Delaware Bay and it erased 1/2 of my coastal zone. Do I have to buy a memory chip to put in the 76 csx or should it have enough memory to hold both??
Thanks

[joekampf]

I have the same unit. I like mine but I had down loaded the coastal zone and then tried to also add the Delaware Bay and it erased 1/2 of my coastal zone. Do I have to buy a memory chip to put in the 76 csx or should it have enough memory to hold both??
Thanks

I have the road maps for the mid atlantic region, as well as the Bay, CHP Bay, and the Ocean areas around NJ. You should have plenty of memory.

You need to put all of the maps in at one time. You can't go back and add maps, you have to re-add all your maps. I keep a profile in that Maping program they give to you with all my Way points, Maps, Tracks and Routes. (Although I rarely use the Routes. In the truck I let the GPS make up the route with 1 way point and on the bay I am usually going in a straight line.)

I also hide the road maps when I in the boat, and I hide the Blue Chart and Marine Info when I am in the Truck.

Joe

[carnivore]

I think you would do better picking up a entry level auto GPS for you car and handheld for fishing/hunting. The Gamin Nuvi's 200's are nice for the car especially the text to speech when you are not able to pay attention to the screen. I'm not sure if any handhelds have that capability.

I use a Magellan marine handheld for fishing and in the woods. I have had the same unit for about 7 years now with zero problems whatsoever. It's a tough unit that has never let me down. I purchased the "Blue Nav" and "MapSend Topo" charts on CD. If I'm planing a trip out of the area I simply upload the chart to my handheld. You will probably see and hear more about Garmin stuff in general because of their marketing. When I made my purchase Magellan were light years ahead of Garmin in regards to their handheld products. Now I'm not so sure they are probably the same. My buddy has a Gamin 76 handheld it's a nice unit but for the money the screen is tiny... I can hardly read it.

[Dirty Blond]

I just got a Lawrance H2O Color handheld and it works great. My main use is as a back up but since my boat is down I loaded all my hot spotsd into it and we use it fishing my buddies boat. It came in hand about two weeks ago when we were fishing way down south and had to run into Port norris and the main GPS malfunctioned.

[Dunk]

I have the same unit. I like mine but I had down loaded the coastal zone and then tried to also add the Delaware Bay and it erased 1/2 of my coastal zone. Do I have to buy a memory chip to put in the 76 csx or should it have enough memory to hold both??
Thanks

Blue Charts are all about 15 megs each. The road maps are heavy because of all the address's and other info you get. I'm pretty sure the 76 also has 115megs of memory..Same as the Quest I. The Quest II has 140 megs plus all the road maps are permenatly loaded ahead of time.

Yes, each time you uplaod to it it erases everything that's in it. You have to put everything in at one time. When you are using Map Source it tells you the meg count as you add county maps. If you go over the memory amount it will not load anything and it will tell you it's too much for the unit.

[swab1985]

I have the Garmin Map 60csx and love it I have the blue charts in it and the road maps.

Good stuff right there.. Thats what I got and love it

[blackfinjerry]

Thanks for the fb guys, I will start my hands on research this week.
Blackfinjerry

[finaddict5]

blackfinjerry,
I sent my GPSMAP 76s back to Garmin and come to find out I entered a wrong settingand lost my display. Something about enabling WAAS? Anyway they were great. It was two years out of warranty and they still sent me a refurbished GPSMAP 76s at no charge. They have GREAT customer service (courteous and fast) and I highly reccomend them.

My unit is a not color, but is loaded with a basic marine map. It shows inlets, buoys, and the major stuff I need for fishing the Deleware Bay, ICW, and just off the Jersey beaches. You don't have to buy an additonal chip for basic mapping with this unit. So for less than $200 you can have a pretty nice little unit. Manually add in GPS coordinates from the resources pages here on the Barn and they show very nicely on the map. It's also very simple to use.

I also tried the GPSMAP76cx too. BUT YOU HAVE TO BUY THE MINI SD CHIP or the download for Blue Chart to see anything marine!!! There is no built in map to use for marine navigation! It does come with street navigator though, but I don't use that anyway. I figured $350 for the unit plus you had to add another $150 for the chip for a total of about $500.

For my purposes $300 bucks more to see things in color on a tiny handheld screen just wasn't worth it to me. If I'm going to spend $500 plus, it has to be a larger screen fixed mount color unit.

Hope this helps you.

[Dunk]

Just plug in Garmin 478 on ebay... I see them there for 525... All the maps are in them, both road and marine for the entire country. By the time you fool around with a 76 buying mounts and blue charts, not to mention batteries hassels your done when you buy a 478. It's got all the mounts for both boat and truck...in the box..and lot bigger screen than the 76/60..