who has best hand held gps?

[fish_head]

Purchasing a hand held gps. Between Garmin ,Lowrance and Magellan wich would you recommend? Looking at a colour model. Wich model has the best ocean maps and is easiest to use

[Blackened]

G'day
I have a magellan meridian color. It has since been superseeded, so only made better since. My unit is very good, does all of which it is asked and is very user friendly. Mapping is pretty good, although not up to chart standard. Some of the areas I have found the mapping is a bit untrue, but it's only a minor thing.
Dave

[joey_1987]

Garmin 60cx all the way. This unit was first released Jan 2006 in USA and a few months later here. It has all one could ask of a GPS and more, it replaces the 60c, a good unit, but it was limited by 56mb of memory, not much if you want to load road maps of all of Australia because they are 130mb for the whole lot. The 60cx has expandable memory with microSD cards which now go up to 2gb, but you won't need that much unless you want to load full DVD's of American maps, 256mb or 512mb is fine for Australian Maps and charts, the detailed maps are 130mb as I said and for 1/3 of the coastline worth of charts it is about 25mb, so with a 256mb card you have space left over. I looked at other handhelds, Magellan (not as user friendly and have some bugs from what I read), the Raymarine I looked at was nice, big screen, but far too bulky to use as a portable handheld. The 60cx has a large enough screen and it is among the best to be viewed in direct sunlight. This GPS also has another great upgrade, a SirfstarIII chipset, making this GPS super sensitive, it will get satellite fixes where normal GPS's won't, inside houses it is not uncommn to get a fix. It also tells you the sun/moon rise/set times and it calculates the best days and times to fish based on your location. Going back to maps/charts, if you put the right garmin road maps onto this unit it will perform as an in-car navigator, minus the voice guidance, it calculates routes and will direct you to where you need to go. For sea, it accepts Bluechart marine charts, which are as detailed as the Government paper charts you can buy, all depths, bottom type, markers, buoys, hazards are there. It also uses 2x aa batteries which are quoted to last for over 30 hours. I suggest you google "garmin 60cx review" and read what people have to say about this GPS. I am actually selling one of these, check the for sale section. Cheers, Joey.

[Payneful]

I got the garmin 76Csx as a backup/second gps for the boat and I am very happy with it. We use it in the car when we go offroad so we can always find our way home. Don't have the road maps for it but have them for the c320 and they work well. Look abroad and you can find some great deals ;)

Sam

[SatNav]

1. Joey_1987, Curious to know why if the 60cx is all you make it out to be then why would you be selling one you only brought last week?

[joey_1987]

Hi SatNav, the reason I advertised to sell it is because to start with I didn't even know if I wanted to spend that much on a GPS, now that I have bought it a part of me thinks that I spent too much on it and should sell it but I know what an excellent GPS it is and for a handheld it can't really be beaten. If I don't sell it then I will keep it and use it and try and forget how much the thing cost, though if I sell it I don't know if I can even get anything cheaper that I will be happy with. Cheers, Joey.

[SatNav]

1. The "best" then can be quite a contradiction in meaning and terms depending on a persons perspective and requirements?

2. Regardless of if it can be beaten or not (and you can be assured it is not the best of the best in "handheld" terms) it does sound like you really didn't know what you wanted or why!

3. I must admit I do find this a rather odd. Perhaps you could better seek the advise of others.

[onerabbit]

Without a doubt, best value for money hand-held GPS is Garmin72, good reliable machine that WORKS. Priced at around $300. Very reliable.

Muzz

That said, I fully recommend you spend the bit extra on the 12v cable & cradle, makes life SO much easier.

[SatNav]

1. That might not be a bad comment onerabbit as something can be good, even excellent in it's own right but might not be the "best" or most suitable for an individuals actual requirements.

2. So many variables and individual requirements that go into the meaning of "best" in GPS terms. Nice to have with all the extra features is not necessarily "best" or in most cases even required.

3. A GPS handheld worth $300 does just about all the GPS functions of much more expensive models that really go beyond the pure function of a GPS.

[john_laura]

I have to agree with onerabbit, Garman gps 72 being one of the best value for money gps's around.

John

[Seahorse]

hey fish-head,
i got garmin 72 and swivel base for sale. as new

cheers
greg

[JB]

GPS Garmin72 , Just get it, dont muck around with anything else.

I've had lowrance and garmin, u cant beat those 72's they never miss a beat.

[Richard]

Hi Fish_head,

I have the Garmin 60C which isnt as expensive as the Csx but still does a good job. As you were asking for a colour version, it's a good choice and can accept the standard Garmin Bluechart maps. If you are just after a single region then the memory in it is heaps

I find it easy to use and see in the sunlight. A lot better than the old Garmin III i had.



Richard

[ozscott]

Top of the line Magellan has by far the biggest and clearest screen and allows full PC planning using Magellan Discover OZ software which I have used and is brilliant (including TOPO mapping) - the best part of that for me is that they show 4wd tracks not just dirt roads and main roads.

Having used the Magellan shes a beauty.

[davo]

If you want a colour Garmin hand held the Etrex Legend Cx is about $200 cheaper than a 60Cx. My mate bought one for $500. The Etrex format is very good. I have the standard Legend as a back up handheld and the joy stick on the front makes it easy to drive and you only have one button on the front to quickly mark a waypoint. With the micro SD card it is a much better way to go. I'm upgrading mine next year.

[Rod_Bender]

garmin 72, with power 12 volt cable and mount and you'll get to your spots every time....

[onerabbit]

Hey Rod,
Did the garmin 12 finally cark it???

Muzz

[ahoj]

All in all most GPS's are pretty good only price difference----- That is comforting so what ever i buy --no big disapointment.... that is good news taa..

Ahoj