GPS questions

[Jim Duncan]

I would like some input on GPS units. I don't have one on my boat, but I joined a bass club that fishes waters I've never been on in the past. To add to that, two of the tourneys are finishing at night (2am finish time). I would like some input on whether to get hand held or boat mounted. I really don't know if there is much of a difference. Thanks in advance!

 

[Rob LaMoy]

The handhelds are nice because you can take them out and use them for hunting and in your truck. That's the primary benefit to me. The drawback is that the display is smaller and therefore harder to read when running in rough water.



I would recommend the Lowrance Ifinder H2O. It's a great unit, VERY accurate, tons of options, and you can put the MMC chips in it with programmed maps on it. I used Buzz's last year when mine crapped out and it was awesome. I'm getting one soon.



If you do go with a fixed one, stay with Lowrance or Garmin. Both are good.



On the handhelds, mount them using a RAM mount in the boat, but be sure to put a tad of electrical tape around it in the mount to keep it from popping it out in rough water. Anything up to 3 footers and you're fine. But in really rough water, if you MUST run (say in a tourney) then make sure she stays put with a little elec. tape. It doesn't leave any gunk or marks on the unit either.

 

[Jody Woodruff]

I've used both and agree with Rob that the handhelds are nice because you can use them anywhere. I've got the Garmin GPS 72 and it's a nice unit, just doesn't have enough memory to load the lake maps. Be sure if you go with a handheld it will accept map downloads.



I went with a GPS/Sonar Eagle 501C FishElite on my new boat and am very impressed with both the GPS and sonar functions. I paid $549 at Cabelas and installed it myself in a couple of hours. I like it better since it's got a bigger screen that's easier to read while running and it's color.

 

[Texas Transplant]

I use the GPS Map 76 handheld, and have for several years. Nice, but a bigger screen would be nice also. I have a HBird 87C with GPS functionality, and have started using the GPS functions on it. I don't have enough seat time with it at the moment, to adequately give you a suggestion.



Tex

 

[Edward Lea.]

I have a Magellan sport trak pro hand held. Excellent unit. Extremly accurate came with street and maps and topo map. The street mapo is great when on vacation and the topo is perfect for the new lakes. It has the topo of the land the lake is made on. It doesn't know the lake is there so it shows you going over the ridges, drops, draws, and creek channels as they were before the lakes were flooded. Outstanding for being able to get right on top of two channels connecting. I can follow the channels through the trees without having to watch my graph. The variation on the magellan is within 3 feet.

 

[Mark Hofman]

I use three different GPS units.



The Garmin iQue 3600 is a GPS/PDA handheld that has voice guidance. It is the unit I use in my truck and in rental cars when I travel for work.



But...in my boat I use a Garmin 176C. It is no longer made. The replacement unit (which my father-in-law has) is the 276C. The 276 has a brigher screen and more user-friendly interface. It also has voice guidance. We have mounts for both our trucks and our boats.



The 276 will fit into your palm, but the screen size makes it more useful in a vehicle or boat. It's sealed against rain so it can handle being wet. My iQue won't.



It uses a 256MB data card to store maps. The maps aren't preloaded. The result is that you can load and unload maps at your convenience from your home computer.



(BTW - The voice guidance is a great feature we use so much we've given her a name- Myrna from the Mothership).
http://www.garmin.com/products/gpsmap276c/

 

[Jim Duncan]

Thanks all! I am a hunter also, so it would be nice to have, just in case. I do think I will go with a hand held model for now, and see in the future. I just don't want to be stuck on Lake Norman at 2 in the morning with no idea where I am. 50,000 acres is a whole heck of a lotta water. Thanks for the suggestions, as well. I have an Eagle depth finder that I like really well, but I believe Garmin is the way to go with GPS. Thanks again!

 

[fatrap]

I have two EAgle handhelds. One is a mapping unit the not. I use the Eagle Explorer for hunting and the other Eagle Accusport in the boat. Neither has missed a beat with a lot of rought use. I have adapters for both that plug into cigarette lighters saves on batteries.

fatrap

 

[Texas Transplant]

Here is a very good link to some testing that was done between a Magellan WAAS unit, and a Garmin non-WAAS unit.



Interesting stuff.



Tex
http://www.doylesdartden.com/gis/gpstest.htm

 

[Mike Grap]

The Lowrance iFinder series is awesome. I have the pro but I would recommend the H2O because it's waterproof. I got stuck in that snowstorm in the middle of the country last xmas time and mine was invaluable for getting around the traffic and finding a bettr route. I'll never travel any distance without it again.