Hand Held GPS recomendations please

[crazy charlie]

Hi guys,have not had much time to log on lately and I miss it!!!!! Birthdays a comin. My bride wants to get me a h/h gps.Anyone have a particular brand that they use and like.Please let me know.Seems to be a wide range of prices.Thanks Charlie

 

[Have Fun Today]

Re: Hand Held GPS recomendations please

Garmin is the way to go...I have an e-trex vista CX, color display, loaded with street maps and the inland water database. This is my second Garmin and I've been happy with both. Easy to switch between the streets and inland lakes. Computes road route when driving and I can switch database to waterway for boating...displays water depth (approximate) and marine navigation markers. Only drawback is the small display, about the size of a cellphone display. Also will need a micro SD memory card to hold all of the map data. Be prepared to spend a couple hundred for the GPS and map databases, though, it's worth the money.

 

[Jerico]

Re: Hand Held GPS recomendations please

I bought the Lowarnce H20 with MapCreate. It cost me $169 + $100 for the software = $269. I went with it because the screen is bigger than the Garman. I went with the black & white screen because I'm cheap. So far I have been happy with it. It has worked flawlessly in the boat for navagation and trails, and the street maps have been fairly good. It's not amazing to use for turn by turn navagation down the street, but as a reasonably priced GPS that I can use both in the boat and the car it works.

 

[eurolarva]

Re: Hand Held GPS recomendations please

I have the H20 and I agree with everything posted above and more. The display is excellent even in bright sunshine and it comes with a 12 volt power adapter where you have to pay 35 for the garmin adapter. Not to mention I have gotten over 12 hours of battery use. Color units you will be lucky to get 4 hours on.

 

[njlarry]

Re: Hand Held GPS recomendations please

Lowrance color h20 is my vote. Yes a color unit uses more power but I keep it on the dc power cord anyway and the color unit is much easier to read. With mapcreate it has worked well in both the boat and the car. I use the resturant data base with both. Still need chrts for depths etc.
BTW Lowrance customer service is first rate. I had a small problem and they replaced the entire unit very quickly.
Map Create covers the whole country without expense cartrages for different areas.

 

[gregmsr]

Re: Hand Held GPS recomendations please

Lowrance color h20 is my vote. Yes a color unit uses more power but I keep it on the dc power cord anyway and the color unit is much easier to read. With mapcreate it has worked well in both the boat and the car. I use the resturant data base with both. Still need chrts for depths etc.
BTW Lowrance customer service is first rate. I had a small problem and they replaced the entire unit very quickly.
Map Create covers the whole country without expense cartrages for different areas.

njlarry, what did you give for the h20 with color screen? And how are the lake maps if you have them?

 

[Jerico]

Re: Hand Held GPS recomendations please

When I bought mine, it was about $100 more for the color. I chose to spend the difference on the software. I haven't had any problem seeing or reading the b&w screen and don't regret not going for the color. That comes down to personal taste and how much you want to spend though.

 

[Paul DuLaney]

Re: Hand Held GPS recomendations please

My wife got me an Magellan Explorist XL for our anniversary in July. Have been trying to get mapsend lakes north for over two months now and their saying it will be at least the end of October. Now this is through Magellan and their recommended distributor's who are waiting on Magellan to get them the product(what a mess).

 

[crazy charlie]

Re: Hand Held GPS recomendations please

Thanks guys.I will take a look at both of the recommended.This may sound like a stupid question but if these also work by car ,wouldnt the same hold true for the portable gps units that every store recently has on sale for $199 and up???

 

[Have Fun Today]

Re: Hand Held GPS recomendations please

Most all portable GPS will work in cars, hiking, boat, airplanes, etc, just a question of reception. Sometimes tall trees or buildings block satellite reception. My car roof has never been a problem. For street driving, though, not all units will compute the driving route. If this is a feature you want, make sure it's listed in capabilities. Also, if you want route computing, you need map software that allows this capability...not all map software has the necessary data to allow route computation.

 

[eurolarva]

Re: Hand Held GPS recomendations please

I use my H20 more in my car then on my boat. H20 you have a choice of two awsome lake chips. Navonics (which I have) and lake master. Lake master has more detailed maps and will allow you to go down to like 1/16 mile where Navonics has like 8000 lakes and will go down to 1/4 mile. I have fished probably thirty or so lakes since I bought this and have always had a good detailed map of each lake I have fished. Also talk to an owner of an H20C on how good the screen is to read in bright sunlight. For christmas this year I intend to buy Mapcreate which is suppose to be good for the car. By buying this feature it is also easier to upgrade the firmware off the internet and burn it into the chip reader.

 

[TerryMSU]

Re: Hand Held GPS recomendations please

I have a garmin legend c. My dad bought the same model. It has been replaced by the Legend CX (same unit but memory card holds more maps.) Garmin has a fantastic lifetime warantee. I would buy it again in a flash, but definately the CX. I don't have any lake maps for it, but if I were actually on lake michigan, I would want them. Decent maps are going to be about $100.

Thanks,
TerryMSU

 

[Boatist]

Re: Hand Held GPS recomendations please

Garmin and Lowrance have a 1 year warranty.
The E trex models you must have perfect eyes to read such a small screens,
for me the screen need to be at least 2.5 inches.
Lowrance H2O has a bigger screen then the Garmin GPSMAP 76

I have a Gramin GPSMAP 76 and just got a Lowrance H2O C.
The Lowrance H2O C in my opinion is a much better unit and cheaper.
The base map on the H2O is much better than the Map 76
The H2O C comes with a free lighter power cord, Garmin wants $39 for a power cord
The display on the Lowrance is much brighter than the Garmin
My Garmin is unreadable in the car while driving unless the sun hits the screen or it at night with the light on.
The Lowrance has a dual processor and is much faster than the Garmin.
Lowrance redraws the screen in seconds the garmin takes minutes.
Lowrance H2O C has 16 channels and the Garmin has 12 channels.
My lowrance will sometimes lock on to 4 satelites inside my house and my garmin never locks on to even one.
Under my big tree in my yard the 76 will loose reception and the H2O C never does loose reception.
Garmin base map is so poor you will need to buy the upgraded maps.
Lowrance on the water I do not feel will need to upgrade maps but even if I do the Lowrance maps are cheaper.
Garmin 76 the buttons are above the screen so when change anything your hand blocks the screen.
Lowrance H2O the button are below th screen so can see the screen when hitting buttons.

Anyway I have both the Garmin GPSMAP 76 and the Lowrance H2O C.
They both operate about the same but the Lowrance screen is so much brighter and the base maps are much better.

Only thing I like better is the Gramin Batteries are a little eaiser to change.

 

[JC1933]

Re: Hand Held GPS recomendations please

I have the Garmin vista eTrex HCx, I am told this is a new model I agree that the screen could be a little bigger but it is really bright and easy to read.
As far as connecting to satellites I get up to 5 satellites from my house basement, base map could be better but I find it OK.

Have a nice day all.