Handheld non-mapping GPS

Am looking to get a non-mapping WAAS handheld and am looking for some input as to easy of learning, use, etc. 95% of my fishing is on a 3500 acre lake with-in 2 miles of my home. Most of the shore line is in a state of change which, along with my memory, is making it hard to get back on my line-ups. I'm getting well along in years which means it hard to teach me new tricks. Just bearly can use my DVD, VCR etc. so I'm looking for one that will be easy to learn. Am looking at the Lowrance ifinder Go, about $100, the Magellan explorist 100, about $95, and 2 Garmin's, the GPS-72, about $150 and the Etrex Venture, about $135. Any input from those who might have any of these? The GPS-72 got the highest marine rating of the 4 units of 3 stars out of 5 at the GPSSTORE. They give the best ratings to mapping units. I figure they are the hardest to learn plus they are more expensive.

Can't comment on the others, but I do have a little Garmin hand-held
(non WAAS) and it is easy to use - from all I've heard or seen, you wouldn't
go wrong with a Garmin. Jeff

I used a etrex by garmin 99.95 ---one of the easyest to use there is --sold it and bought a gps76s--wished I had the etrex back --the only thing I use is the go-to and the e-trex did that great

if you are getting on up in years you might want to make sure you can read the screen okay - I am 45 and I just had to get my first set of bifocals to read with and I got the Garmin 76 because the screen is a little larger and easier to read with my glasses on

Oh yes I am well up in years, 71, and I went to Wal-mart this morning and looked at the screen size and the Garmin 72 screen is a lot bigger than the others so that is the one I am leaning toward. I can get it from Amozon for $123 with free shipping. Do you that have the mapping units get a lot of use from the map function? Seems like it would be a lot more useful in saltwater and on very large freshwater lake. Don't believe it would be of much use to me. The 76 is $184.

I bought a Garmin GPS last week #72. Still playing with it trying to get the hang of the thing. Crazy thing can't remember which button to push end up with a bunch of waypoints that I didn't put there. Of course it took me 6 months to learn how to turn the PC on. LOL

I use mine on the lakes and it helps alot but I do fish the NC Coast alot and that is what I bought it for - I do have some brush piles and and secret holes marked on mine from the lake

I have another question, I was reading on a GPS forum, it was a car type forum, and in an answer to one of the questions it was stated that if you saved a waypoint and went back the next day, non-WAAS, you might be off about 20 feet and if you went back a week later you may be off 50 feet. Anyone had that problem? If so I would think that every time I went back to my stump it would be best to re-enter that waypoint position. Any thoughts?

Yes, sort of. I started using GPS, or should I say trying to use it, back
in about '97, when SA was still in effect, for those of you who don't remember
it, it made gps about useless for locating fishing spots, unless you had
a differential beacon receiver. Long story, obsolete stuff now I guess.
Still got my dbr, but hardly ever use it now, after SA was done away with.
I am not up to speed on WAAS, know sort of what it is, but don't have
compatible equipment. But to answer your question, it can be off quite
a bit, and the amount of error (and direction!) from day to day varies.
Fighting uphill against SA, mine used to be off several hundred feet sometimes. I would not THINK the error would get cumlatively worse over
time, but again, I am no expert. Maybe some rocket scientist can answer
better, also wish they could tell me some stuff about WAAS - Is it available
(the coverage) nationwide, 24/7? And how does it stack up in real world
against my beacon receiver?

I have a magellan gps unit that i like verry well and it's also verry easy to operate. one thing that you might want to look for is a unit that is completly waterproof. most fo the magellan units are, and they will also float if you drop them overboard. :)

the Garmin 72 also floats as well. I nice thing since I have the habbit of losing things in the lake.
I've been messing with mine on my to and from work. Getting used to it and seem to like it so far.
I'll see how it does wehn I get to the lake.

I thought I would show a sample photo of some that I was fortunate to be able to obtain from a friend during a severe drawdown of the lake where I do most of my fishing, only 3 miles from home. I have about the upper 3rd of the lake in photos. The corps drew it down to plant some cover crops and the fishing was real good for a few years after that. I only wish I had borrowed a camcorder and ran the creek during that period. All the shoreline line-up I had been using have changed so much with the tree growth that I have really been having a hard time finding my line-ups, so you see why I want a good GPS. The older I get the more help I need.

http://i12.photobucket.com/albums/a2...Okatibbee2.jpg

how deep is that creek there?

At that place there is about 7 or 8 feet of water on the banks in summer and the winter draw-down is 4 feet. The creek bed is maybe 8 to 12 feet deep up in the upper end of the lake so most times there is plenty of water around the stumps to hold fish. The normal pool is about 3500 acres. The lake is pretty infertile for Mississippi but with some shad so the crappie are fairly thin for their size. But they are great on the table especially in the winter, the flesh firms up some. I'm located in east central Mississippi. Can't wait for some cool weather, done got too old to fight the hot weather. Back in my younger days we would take a bar of soap with us and jump in and wash off in the heat of the day a couple of times and it sure made us feel better.

I'd give a vote to the unit with #1 water proof, #2 a bigger screen, and #3 more options concerning marking your fishing spots and way points. I really like the icon choices on my Lowrance H20. I've got baitshops, and Walmarts, motels, etc all marked in icons all over my tournament trails! LOL! All of the different types of symbols makes finding things back a breeze! I like that it has a choice between easy and advanced modes too!

If they ever draw that lake you are fishing that far down again, I'd suggest you hire you a neighbor kid or two to go take a mud walk for you with your new GPS unit, and mark all of the exact points to the channel bends, and the stumps along the banks for you. They'd have a blast, make some coin, and the info would prove priceless to you if you did have a WAAS enabled unit. That would save you tons of unproductive searching time looking for your hot spots and navagational points when the water comes back up.

These dang GPS units can be Greek to learn though. I have been struggling with my H20 unit because I too have an aged learners block for some reason even though I am still in my 40's. :confused: My unit just has so many bells and whistles that it's difficult to remember just what I need to do for different things I want. But wasn't that what we used to look for in toys when we were young'uns - bells & whistles & challenges? Adds spice to the salad! LOL!

Full baskets to ya Steve, and best of luck with your choice!

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