Looking to buy a hand held GPS. I would love some advice?

[deepwaterwolf]

I am looking to buy a new Hand Held GPS. I am wanting one I can use for hunting and fishing and try to stay around 200 dollars. I also want one I can load maps into. What are yalls opinions

[Tracker123]

Mine is a Garmin Legend HCs. I loaded Garmin topo maps and lake maps in it - very handy, and I enjoy it very much. I would suggest looking at the particular software/maps you want to use, then look at what is compatible with it. That's what I did.

[jaxsprat]

Any model with those features as long as its a Garmin, have had 2 they are great, easy to operate, very accurate, many have the download features u want. Check for sales, just seen some models on sale but can't remember where-sorry.

[CrappieLab]

X2 on garmin

[Don G]

I see back & forth discussions on which DF is better than the others but no discussion on which GPS is best...

GARMINThumbs UpThumbs UpThumbs UpThumbs Up

[VTangler]

Hey there,
New guy here. Don't know anything, yet, about crappie fishing but have owned and researched lots of handheld gps units! Last spring I bought a Garmin Oregon 450. It looked like a sweet unit, no buttons, huge screen, full color, mapping, etc. BUT, in the woods it just doesn't cut it. Unless you are going to keep your backlight on all of the time and eat up your batteries it is way to dark except in direct sunlight. So, that was out. I sent it back and bought both a Garmin GPSMap 62 and the Delorme PN60. Both fine units, imo, but ultimately the Delorme offered more bang for the buck to me.
Here is a little side-by-side initial impressions review I posted last Fall;
OK, I have both of these units in hand to make the decision on which to keep.

I got the PN-60 yesterday, so had some time to mess around with it a bit, and after some frustration and a few calls to Delorme tech support, was able to get some 24K quads loaded.

Today I took both of them out together and did a bit of a comparison. I would say the screen brightness is a wash, but the backlight on the PN is much better than the 62, like twice as bright. Both units have nice resolution, I could not really tell a difference, but I don't have any topos loaded on the 62, so a comparison in this area was impossible. Definitely more real estate on the 62 screen, but I had no problem with the PN screen.

Both units acquired satellite locks in similar, short time frame. The PN showed a considerably smaller error estimate than the 62 most of the time, especially in heavier cover, though I don't know if that means anything regarding accuracy. There were a few times when one unit showed more satellites locked than the other, and probably more times than not the 62 had maybe equal or one more satellite acquired. Even during these times, the Delorme showed a smaller error estimate.

PN-60 is solid as a rock, 62 was just as the complaints have been....SQUEAKY!

I realize nobody here is probably interested as you have likely already chosen your Delorme, just figured I would follow up.

Maps on the PN-60, after my Topo NA 9 download, are much more detailed than those on the 62. My street doesn't even show up on the Garmin!

Anyway, at the same price I would go with the Delorme this time around, and for the nearly $130 difference it is a no-brainer!
Ultimately, either unit will be great I believe, try to get your hands on each.
Hope this helps!
Todd

[Cane Pole]

Were you using lake maps?

[VTangler]

I have never used handheld on the water, so no lake maps experience.

[Stymie]

Navionics on Wheeler Lake sucks, so interested in this also.

I've seen that there are digital hot spot maps for lowrance units. How are those sierra hand helds?

[jsplinter]

I have the Delorme PN-60 also...absolutely love it....and oh ya it accepts the navionics chip, I use it when we take my buddies boat out instead of mine.