I am in the market for a GPS. I want something for the boat for finding the secret spots and also for the ATV so when in strange areas I can backtrack myself to get home. Tell me what you have, how you like it and approx. cost and I will be most appreciative.

Bearwhiz

 

There are several units on the market. Garmine, Maggellan, Lawerence to name a few. Some have both fish finders and GPS. Do a search on line and you can find several for under $300.00 Acadame sporting goods has some units. um
I have a Magellan Roadmate 2000, just for car navagation. Just did a firmware update, and it trashed the unit. Got a RA number to UPS it back to Magellan.

Let us know what you find out there.

 

i don't claim to know anything about gps, i can barely operate this computer, but i have one on my boat. it's an eagle 642i, gps/sonar combo. i love it. got a hotmaps premium chip for it, which was worth the money. big color screen, unbelieveable detail. it does lot of things, but i still don't exactly know how to operate it. one night i followed my "trail" on the gps screen back to the boat ramp while driving facing to the rear of the boat. came within 6 feet of the dock before i looked. i know this may not help, due to it being a fish finder and all, but... oh, it cost around $650 i think.

 

oh yeah, eagles service is great. got into a mess while muskie fishing, broke both that unit and a $100 muskie pole in one fell swoop. talked to a real person on the phone, sent it in, got a brand new one in the mail a week later. wish i could say the same for that pole.

 

I first bought a Humminbird GPS/fishfinder/chartplotter for my skiff, the matrix 97. Great display, but I had to send it back three times for warranty work. They were really good people to deal with, very polite and fast service, but their product is a little on the light duty side, especially when it came to waterproofing. And the cable connections got gunked up way too easily for something that belongs on a boat.

The one I put in my 19' glass boat is the Garmin 188C, which has now been discontinued in favor of a model with the chart info built in. Mine has a little SD card with the charts on it. This one is waaaay better built and a much nicer unit overall. Bigger and better sending unit even, compared to the Humminbird, and way easier to quick disconnect to remove from the boat. Big heat sink built into the back, etc etc.

I have been out fishing in the skiff with the humminbird lately, and every now and then the GPS suddenly moves my "location" several hundred feet away from where I am for 20-30 seconds, before it finds its way back again.

I didn't like the Lowrance menus and interface, reminded me too much of Windows. And if you can afford it, definitely go for the color display, it is way easier to read on a bright day than the B/W displays are. I love my Garmin, for whatever that is worth, and I wish that both of my boats had that unit instead of the Humminbird.

 

If you want one for your car, get a garmin 330.

sweet unit, had it for 2 1/2 years so far. no trouble at all. gets you where you want to go with no B.S.

saves a bunch of time and Diesel.



Heres an example...


Had to go on a delivery 100 miles away. Had no idea where I was going, got there exactly on time without any wrong turns. Left there, 1/2 way back hit a traffic jam on interstate. Took the first exit I could, pulled over and used the zoom feature to see where I was on a bigger map. I could see another major road that basicly ran parallel to the road I was on only it was 10 miles to the west. Picked my way across side streets and neiborhoods using the map untill I came up on this other route. Took it home to loose only 5 minutes off my original time. I hadn't the foggiest idea where the heck I was and you will feel perfectly comfortable going absolutely anywhere.

This unit has the entire U.S. and Canada in it's memory from the factory.

 

The Garmin 530 is a good one, with color screen. It is compact enough for the ATV, but big enough for in car use as well. It also is equipped with a radio.

 

I have a street pilot 111. If I leave the already calculated route it will recalculate. I hit a traffic jam one day, and just did a left hander into points unknown. The voice comes on and says, off route recalculating. Missed the traffic went through someplace I have never seen and got to where I was going no stress.
But one thing make sure you can enter long and lat for waypoints. A guy I know has a Magellan and it won't let him do that. It will only let him enter street addresses.

 

https://www.dieseltruckresource.com/...d.php?t=105848

There is a thread that I started awhile ago, lots of good information.

I ended up going with the Garmin GPSMAP 76CSx. Alittle bit on the spendy side but the color screen is nice. The base map that it comes with leaves a lot to be desired but the topo maps you can buy for it are awesome. As far as their lake and city maps I have not bought either of those yet so I cannot comment on them.

 

Mine will say "off route, recalculating" as well. the only thing is it wants to recalculate you back onto the freeway that is a parking lot. So, if you zoom out and start hedding toward a different route, it will pick that new route up sooner or later.

 

If you want something small and easy to use in the boat, on the atv, in the truck, in the wifes car, hiking etc.. Garmin Quest II. All USA road maps are downloaded ready to use. Can download water and topo maps also.

 

I just recently got a Garmin Mobile 10. It is wonderful! It installs on my pocket pc (so its not just a GPS but anything else I can install on the PPC) so if you dont have a PPC its may not be the one for you. It is very versatile though, you can walk or drive or off road with it as long as you have a mount for the PPC. Very user friendly, easy to see buttons very good interface and great signal anywhere I have been. I havent used it anywhere but on the road with my car but its been great so far.

Off route calculation is very quick, usually before I get to the next turn. I have ignored the "Turn right" command a few times to see how fast it will change to an alternate route. The route selection is very easy to use, you can choose the types of roads and it works incredibly well. It will route you around anything you dont wish to drive on unless you have no other option.