Handheld Gps

[crispygator]

Helllooooo!

Looking for the best handheld GPS for topo maps of lakes that I can carry with me from boat to boat. Been looking at Garmins (76csx and 62cs), but thought there might be something better out there.

Appreciate tips and insights.

Crispy!!

[Wayne P.]

Lowrance has the Safari series that reads Navionics mapping software.

Delorme has mapping with their units, don't know about the detail for waters though.

Some prefer the mapping software that Garmin has.

It all depends on what products have the coverage and detail you want.

[crispygator]

Wayne,

Thanks for the reply. There are so many........

Chris

[JIGFISHERMAN.]

Not sure what your budget is, but you can pick up Lowrance H20's on ebay for a good price, and load cards with lakes of your choice, using map create 6 or 7

[Crestliner2008]

I have been using a Garmin Legend CX for 3 years now and love it. Great maps available too. Probably a lot cheaper today than when I bought it!

[Hooligan]

The Lowrance units are a waste of money. They're hard to navigate, and the resolutions within the maps are terrible. The menu system is also terrible. The new Garmins are wonderful, when you get beyond a certain price range. I have a GPSMap 62ST and it's worth every penny to me. I would recommend it to anyone that wants detailed mapping and fast acquisition. The disadvantage is that they're not very good about high detail lake specific mapping. The second unit that I have is the Magellan 510, while not perfect, it's an excellent fishing tool. I use it as a secondary device for backing up my GPS unit. If anything happens with the console unit, I have ALL of my waypoints mapped and I can simply swap the card. The 510 is a touchscreen which causes it to be a little laggy, but that's a minimal hassle in the grand scheme. It is also faster than the Garmin in terms of satellite acquisition and positioning. There are a TON of things to look for in a hand-held, the least of which is the basemap or whether it will take a chip. you can do many things to get around that, without even modifying the base GPX files.

[Hooligan]

I have been using a Garmin Legend CX for 3 years now and love it. Great maps available too. Probably a lot cheaper today than when I bought it!

It's now discontinued. The technology has grown by leaps and bounds compared to that unit. You'd be amazed at the new maps.

[crispygator]

Thank you all for your input. I think I'm going to have to pick one (probably Garmin 62 sx) and give it a solid try.

I appreciate the help.

Crispy

[BrianSnat]

See if you can find one of the older Garmins like the 76CSX or 60CSX. Many places still sell them. They are outstanding units and you can get them for half of what they listed for a few years ago. The newer Garmin units have little on the 76CSX and 60CSX other than geocaching features.

As one person here mentioned the old Lowrance H20 or H20C are good units that you might be able to pick up cheap. They would be an excellent value at around $100 used. The newer Lowrance Endura series however is junk. Don't even THINK of buying one.

DeLorme also makes some pretty good units. The PN60 is an excellent unit.

Unless you have geocaching in mind see if you can find a 76CSX or 60CSX for around $200 or less. If you do you got yourself a bargain.

One advantage of Garmin is that they have a very good, but expensive line of marine mapping software. Also you can find free options online. DeLorme has pretty good free maps that come with the unit and for $30 a year you can download all kinds of maps and sat photos.

I noticed you said 76CSX and 62CSX. The 76CSX is an older, but still outstanding unit. The 62CSX is the latest version of the old 60CSX which as I mentioned is still a great unit. The 78SC is the latest version of the 76CSX.

Generally with Garmin the 70 line is meant more for marine use. The units are larger, they float and have some marine related features like tide calculations that come standard. The 60 line is meant more for the woods.