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
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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
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.
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.
X2 on garmin
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
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
Were you using lake maps?
I have never used handheld on the water, so no lake maps experience.
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?
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.
Now I'm curious! What did you get for the PN-60? Does it replace the sd card?Quote:
Originally Posted by jsplinter
Thanks
Here's my 0.02
Delorme - have heard good things about them, but I have not used one. Pretty new to the handheld GPS market
Lowrance - took a MAJOR step backwards with the Endura series. Really poor units. Know a couple guys who bought them and have had major buyers remorse. Now, the older iFinder units are failing left and right, and Lowrance will fix them for you at the low low price of 150 plus shipping. This happened to me personally. After the experience I had with them and their terrible customer service, it will be a very long time before I buy a Lowrance product of any type again.
Garmin - after my Lowrance died, I bought a Garmin Colorado 400 - same unit as the current Oregon 400, but the Oregon has a touch screen, my Colorado has a rotary dial thingie. Really like this unit - very fast acquisition and map updating. I use the Lakemaster chip in it - great combo. The custom mapping features and ability to load satellite imagery as well as some other features, really set the Garmins ahead, I think, of everyone else. I use it ice fishing, it works well in the cold (as long as it's above zero - nothing works well below zero!!) Just really like the unit, I'd highly recommend Garmin over the others.
You can use your standard SD card navionics chip and place it in the SD card slot on the back of the unit.Quote:
Originally Posted by VTangler
it does not work with platinum though, only premium.
here is some more information
Earthmate GPS PN-60 with Topo North America 9.0 - DeLorme
NEW! Navionics Support for PN-Series GPS
you can buy them cheaper on amazon
and yes it replaces the external SD card while you want to use the navionics chip, it has 3.5 GB internal memory though
Looking at one also. Cabela's has the DeLorme PN-60 on sale for $299.99.
Anybody use the lake maps on the Garmins? Garmin sent me some bit maps of Decatur Flats. But didn't answer my question on whether their units would shade different depths like the HB units.
Navionics isn't very useful on some of my lakes. In fact, there is a big bass tournament going on right now on Wheeler. I noticed a lot of paper charts on the boats today. Talked to one of the pros, he admitted the Navionics map chip wasn't useful. I told him that the Garmin Inland Lakes and Lowrance Hot Spots maps had the same information he had on his paper chart.
There are some new fishing apps for smart phone users. They have GPS and lake maps on them and you can also mark you way points.
I bought a Delorme PN 40 last fall new for $230 with shipping. So far I like it a lot it takes the Navionics lake chips, and came with topo north America 9.0 looks to be great for hunting as well.
How far can you guys zoom in with some of the units your talking about?
I was watching ship shape marine on the tv the other day and they were testing I-Pads using a navionics lake map app. It looked pretty sweet!
I looked to see if otter box made a waterproof case, but they didnt....I wouldnt take an I-pad on my boat
They had the I pad inside of a water proof pouch that was mounted with suction cups.
They have ram mounts for the Ipads. See below. And the navonics maps for Ipad. I have two ipads2 with the wifi & 3g on them. I
think I may be getting one of these mounts and see what i can do with it.
Apple iPad Holders & Mounts
Here is some more info about the ipad and its gps capability.
http://gps.about.com/od/newproducts/a/Ipad-2-GPS.htm