I thought I would give my boat a new GPS for Christmas. Too many to choose from any thoughts and experience would be appreciated.

I am thinking a small chartplotter would be nice but I am concerned that a small screen would be impossible to see bouncing around at speed. I have to stop to see my handheld chartplotter. but I do not have a feel for how much larger you need to have. 7" Garmins are pretty pricey. Can you see a 4 or 5" screen?

Thanks

I put a Garmin 492, 5in screen, in my 2007 30/308 Skater when I had it built. It is very easy to read and follow pre-defines routes, at speed.

Location is more important than screen size.

Having said that, I would almost always put the biggest screen I could fit.

I see it is not in front of the driver. Can you see it when you are driving?

Yes, but obviously I do not stare at it for very long. It is quite bright, and easy to see. I plan out almost all of my trips, with pre-defined routes. They show up as a thick purple line, right over the chart.

5 in screen is plenty, but if you have room for a 7 in, do it.

one thing to consider, if you have engines that are Smartcraft compatible you can get a GPS / Plotter unit that is Smartcraft capable. It's nice to be able to get to the extended engine info as well as have a plotter.

Mine is a Northstar.

we just bought the garmin 541...it works wells and is very visible. i would vouch for buying at least a 5" screen. anything smaller may not be as useful. for $600 you should buy something you will have for multiple season and be fully satisfied with. just my 0.02

Which model did you end up with?

garmin 640..it can be used on the boat as well as in your car..very accurate...big enough screen.im useing a r a m mount on it .suction cup type. never had it break loose.to be honest i ve never had it in the car..but its a garmin. it would have to work well there to..and it a plotter

I had the Northstart with the Smartcraft interface; switched it out to a Garmin.

Why?