When it comes to electronics I have absolutely no idea but I want to get myself a handheld GPS to take with me for both land-based missions and offshore. I'm after some advice on what's good, what's not, particular brands and what should I look out for in terms of features, specs etc. Looking to spend up to $500 on a good one that will last. All comments appreciated.
Cheers!
"holy sh!t, did you see that?"
Garmin GPSMap 76CSx
its a bit of an older model now, but apparently the newer land/sea ones are not too much to write home about. The 76CSx is reliable and accurate and can load charts for both road and sea (although no voice directions for road). Only other issue is the relatively small screen, but it has worked great for me for several years now.
I have a Garmin GPSMAP60CSX which i use for both land based (topo & 4WD charts) and nautical. Cost me $489.00 + $140.00 for Garmin Blue chart & $80.00 for topo charts. Great little unit.
I am looking at the Oregon 400c, bit more then your budget though
I was lucky enough to get a Garmin Oregan 400c for fathers day (good old mummy and kids, eh!!). Great little unit so far. Whilst i little more than some units, it does come loaded with marine charts so you save ~$200 right there.
Beak - seems like a great unit so far (done one reccie of the Burnett R. with it so far). Seems to have heaps of wrecks and other marks pre-loaded. Ofcourse, if you know anyone else with one, it can 'talk' wirelessly to other Garmins (with the wireless feature).
Whilst I'm no expert (only other experience with GPS personally is my Tom Tom for the ccar) I would recommend it. Has a heap of features - including barometer, calendar etc and seems pretty good on batteries too.
edit -> oh you can load land based maps as well. And is waterproof/shockproof.
i used a garmin gps72 (in a dash mount bracket with a ciggy lighter adapter for power) for years in our boat and it was a top little unit. there's no background map, but if you only need it to get to a point and don't need a chart they're top value.
another thing to keep in mind for the future is to maybe buy one that can interface with a chart plotter. for instance you might want to look at buying a raymarine handheld now (which is cheaper than a raymarine external antenna) and maybe connect it to a raymarine chart plotter in the future to give you a dual redundancy for whenever one breaks down.
I'm with Paddles,
I know nothing about the later model Garmin gps units because my 72 is still going strong after years of use. ( I even have a spare unit, still kept in it's packet, only bought out to update waypoints, have had this one for about 4-5 years and it has still never been in the boat).
Muzz
A while back I got a Magellan Color marine hand held for the boat and car. Works well, but it depends on how good your eyesight is.
If you are now an old fart like me, reading the detail on the small screen is a pain in the **se as well as the eyes.
When you have a look at the various models, try them at the rough distance away from you it(they) will be in the boat and see if you can pick up the detail of the reefs etc. that you want.
Marine charts - what exactly do they allow you to display (depth contours, shorelines?)? Are most handhelds compatible?
"holy sh!t, did you see that?"
The marine charts on my 400c have depth contour lines, shorelines and nav. markers as well as other 'POI's' (points of interest) such as wrecks etc. Touch on the screen on the icon and gives you a small summary of info about the icon.
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