You don't need a handheld lol. Follow the roastertails. That's where we are docking at as well.

Garmin makes the best hand held gps hands down. Don't look at any other brand as far as that goes. (I sold handheld gps's for 5 years at bass pro). If I remember correctly the colorados were unique because you could order them with preloaded topography. They were kind of replaced by the new touch screen models which are a little too animated. So I would say the colorado is a safe choice but if you have a problem with it I'm not sure garmin can replace it for you. (They might still be making them I'm not sure)

If there is anything else you want to know let me know.

Proper planning prevents piss poor performance grasshopper............... Im w you !! Plan your dive ....... dive your plan ! lol

Cell phones work the whole way, don't let them give you trouble, we all had our first time to Key West, Enjoy, Go to Rick's upstairs any given night and meet everybody.

Is there a map of the route anywhere?

Although I have a great tour guide I am following I must admit I am nervous.

something like this would be a pretty normal route..[ATTACH=CONFIG]546715[/ATTACH]

That's awesome lol

I have done the KW run in a slow boat......low 70's. The follow the rooster tail idea works pretty good and a handheld GPS will give you the highlight tour in the event you can't stay with the pack. The first time I did the run was 2005, they had 3 major hurricanes in the previous 15 months. Channel markers were missing everywhere. Run was great, but when you run WFO at everyone else's cruise speed then you quickly realize that the run can "run" without you! Bonus at being the last boat to Gilberts is you don't have everyone walking on your sunpad and you get to leave first!

In the current format, lots of CC's that run slower than the pack and smartphones that do just about everything you it will make for an easy trip!

epic