GPS Handheld Question

[trout_slayer]

I am looking at buying a GPS Handheld and was just curious if anyone has any suggestions on which one to buy? I just want it mainly to mark fishing spots on various lakes and such. Any info would be greatly appreciated!!!
J A K
[signature]

[ajensen83]

I have a Garmin GPS60csx and I love it.. I was not cheap but the color screen and the maps that are available for it are awesome.. I saw one in Cabelas bargain cave for about 300 dollars the other day..
[signature]

[trout_slayer]

Now with these GPS Handheld units do you have to buy certain programs for it to recognize certain places or is it all internal??? I see on Cabelas where they have CD-ROM stuff, memory cards, programs and such. Thanks for the help again.
J A K
[signature]

[Fishhound]

[black][size 3]I have the Garmin GPSmap76s with the Mapsource TOPO map CD's. The unit itself has enough memory to hold all of the TOPO maps of Utah at the same time.[/size][/black]
[black][size 3][/size][/black]
[black][size 3]For the lake fishing information, I use my Humminbird sonar's GPS system.[/size][/black]
[signature]

[Majja]

With regards to the additional stuff for a GPS it depends on the model. I have an older GPS that works pretty well. I would like to get my hands on some of the new Garmin E-Trex units they are much smaller than mine and also much more efficient. Here is Garmins website

http://www.garmin.com/outdoor/products.html

My other suggestion would also go into Cabela's, Sportmans, REI ect and play with the different models and see what you like and also determine how much you want to spend.
[signature]

[DonInDenver]

I have the Lowrance iFinder H2O and I really like it!!
[signature]

[Fishrmn]

I've been around several Garmin units. Every one of them has the buttons in the wrong place. They are either on the side of the unit, or above the viewing screen. I can't stand them. I've used them, and I also don't like the menu. I've used one Magellan. It was the cheapest one they've ever made, and it was obvious. They undoubtedly make better units than that.

I've owned four GPS units in my day. All of them were made by Lowrance. I've upgraded, sold, and had one get ruined by a careless aquaintance, but never been dissatisfied. I currently own the Lowrance iFinder Expedition C. Until somebody makes something better than that, I'll stick with Lowrance. The H2O units are pretty nice, but the Expedition has more pixels, and therefore better resolution. You can load maps on to an SD card and have 2 gigabytes of map data at your disposal. They have two microprocessors. One for the reciever, and one for the menu, screen, and storage.

They're the best. IMO.

Fishrmn

[IceFishingGod]

Justin,
Come get mine and play around with it before you buy one. Check your PMs for my number.

IFG

[fishyfishyfish]

I received a Magellan Explorist 500 for Christmas and have used it quite a bit this winter both snowmobiling and ice fishing. I really like it a lot. It has a color screen and once you spend a few minutes watching the instructional DVD (sold separately of course) its pretty easy to Navigate. It has a lith-ion battery but you can get an adapter that allows you to use 3 triple A's in a pinch. It has a color screen and an SD slot that allows you to store additional maps.

Magellan does have additional map software available and I purchased mine for about 10 bucks with a special they were running around Christmas. I bought the TOPO software since I spend most of my time up in the hills however I have found that the Maps of SLC are very accurate as well.

You can pick one up for about 200 bucks at Cabelas. if I were grading my GPS 1-5 I would give it about a 4 1/2 simply because it does take a few trips of trial and error to figure the software out.

(if you go this way let me know and I will let you use my DVD- save ya about 15 bucks)
[signature]

[Troll]

All good advice above. I have had a Garmin 76 and now have a Garmin E-trex Legend CX. Maps, 64MG of memory w/changeable SD card.

Almost any $200 or above GPS out there will mark fishing spots and a whole lot more. Mark deer spots, map your route to the duck blind in the fog, calculate speed, direction, time to destination, when to turn and what time it is.

Dicks sporting goods has the best price on the whole packet, including CD's and PC cable so you can exchange information with your PC, and auto (or boat) dash mount.
[signature]

[AFDan52]

I have the Garmin Rino 120 with the 2-way radio feature, I have never had any problems using it. But then I am still in the learning mode .

AFdan52
[signature]

[ajensen83]

the gps has basic information internal in it.. for example you can see I-15 but it wont show you the street you live on.. I would suggest the topographic map for hunting and there is a streetmap program if you are looking for more detail on street locations.. if you get the gps unit with the removable SD card you can have one with streets, one with topographic information and one with lake structure detail.. I think any of the newer units are good, it is kind of a chevy ford argument (by the way the titan kicks both of their butts) ..

I personally do not like the smaller units like the etrex because I wanted to see the map overlayed on the screen, I didnt want just a blank screen with waypoints marked.. a couple of my buddies have an etrex and they are nice but they can not see what road they are on or what the next intersection is like..

you really cant go wrong with any of the brands mentioned here..
[signature]

[MACMAN]

i have the etrex vista. i've had it for 5 years, put it through unbelievable extreme conditions, never had it fail. i can load mapsource topo maps for hunting (for fishing it is acceptable, not great- but i just mark spots and go to them so it works). not sure about the buttons being in the wrong spots? i can handle mine like a 12 year old on a playstation joystick, i think its just getting used to it. when and if this one dies, it will be a no-brainer to buy the same unit again, maybe only with the color feature.
[signature]

[trout_slayer]

Now this maybe a dumb question but when you buy the Topomaps CD-Roms do you have to plug the GPS unit into the computer. Reason I ask is because the one I just purchased (Garmin GPSMAP 76S) has a cord you plug into the back of it and the other end goes to the computer (my laptop where you would plug another monitor in). The problem is that the end that goes to the computer is a male end and so is the computer. So I bought an adapter for it and the female adapter fits the male end of the GPS cord, but wont fit the plug for my computer because it does not have enough pins in it!!!! What the heck is going on here???? Any help would be appreciated. Thanks
J A K
[signature]

[ajensen83]

yeah, the gps hooks into your computer.. but it should use a usb cord so you should not be able to see the pins.. the cord you use should have two female connectors as the usb plug on your computer is a male as is the usb connector on your gps.. if you are seeing pins are you sure you are not looking at a serial cable???
[signature]

[trout_slayer]

Yeah that is what I was hoping is that it would be a USB cable, but it is not. On one end is the plug for the GPS unit and on the other end is the plug that goes to the computer, but it looks exactly like the plug you use to plug your monitor into the tower on a desk top computer, it has the two screws on the side to keep it in place. The thing that sucks about that, like I mentioned before, is that the adapter that I bought fits the GPS cable, but it does not fit the part in the back of my computer because it does not have as many pins as the port on the back of my computer requires...........WEIRD!!!! As you might tell my blood pressure is sky rocketing!!!
Thanks,
J A K
[signature]

[BearLakeMack]

[font "Comic Sans MS"][black][size 3]If you have a GPS with a removable card like the Lowrance, you just exchange data on SD or MMC cards with a standard card reader attached to your PC. These cards can contain up to 2 gigs of memory. Once you set up a few maps on different cards, all you have to do is exchange cards. Yes, you need some kind of mapping software but you need that for all GPS units to switch out maps.[/size][/black][/font]
[font "Comic Sans MS"][black][size 3][/size][/black][/font]
[signature]

[Quakflak]

You should be able to go to Radioshack and get a USB adapter to fit the serial connection to your GPS. I can't remember how much it costs but it should come with a driver that you will need to install possibly, sometimes the computers already have a general driver installed for this purpose, try plugging it in and then turn on the software if you have it and then communicate. If you can't or doesn't recognize on an auto search then you might have to install the driver.
I really like my topo program but the recreational lakes and fishing hot spots doesn't have a lot of depth lines and doesn't have anything on a lot of the lakes around here, or they don't have much information on them, just a body of water.
I do like the mapsource software, I have a lot of items stored and can download a lot on to my e-trex, create routes and trip logs, these are great tools no matter what kind you have.

Scott

[MACMAN]

you think your blood pressure is rising, i know the exact cable your talking about, so i went to find mine to check it out and its mysteriously missing!! guess i have a project for tonight... i'll let you know what i find out when i locate it, but i think your right about the cable having pins and hard attatching into the tower, i believe thats how mine WAS connected- gotta love having a 12 year old computer messerwither [mad]
[signature]

[Apocalypse]

Your best bet for a handheld GPS is just your basic Garmin, If you just want to plot points and be able to get to them you really don't need anything fancy, Can't go wrong with a garmin and it will probably do more than you will ever use.
[signature]