I am going to buy a GPS unit this spring. I really like the flexibility (and price ) of the handheld models as I plan on using it in my car as well as the boat. I plan on getting a Garmin with a color screen to make it easier to see as that is my main concern. Has there already been a thread discussing this or does anyone have any thoughts on this? TIA for any help.

Andrew

well, the pros for a handheld gps are that you can get in your car with a stop watch and time to distance about 10 mile markers at a constant speed lets say 70 mph and make sure the gps is exactly right.

the cons are you will get in your boat and that gps that you just tested and is exactly right will be wrong because it will say that you are not going the 170 mph that your boat speedo says you are.

I had to say this because I have tested a handheld gps with acceleration and constant speed and it is exactly right then I get in a boat with a gps speedo and it is 10-30 mph off at speed. the only conclusion I have been able to prove so far is that some of the boats that have two speedos hooked to one gps sensor have a lower impedence going to the sensor causing it to read higher.

here is a case in point.

I can guarantee you that this boat has never gone this fast, if you drop this boat out of an airplane at 30,000 feet it will not hit that speed because of laws of physics

Pro- Good Cheap Backup
Cons- They eventually sink like cell phones.

I love mine Garmin 76cs. I use it in the car, boat and mountain bike. It is an autorouting unit for use with Mapsource City Select. I had 115mb of memory that is enough for BlueChart 6, MapSource City Select, and Topo 24K for your area.

Roby

i have the same one Roby has . nice unit an if your gonna go hand held its a pretty good value for the $$. although i eventually went with a fixed unit for the boat because the hand helds can be tough to read while underway sometimes.

Garmin 276c.
A bit larger than handheld, but can mount in car too.

Roby and glassdave, glad to see you two like the 76cs, that's the model I'm looking at. I've heard the handhelds are little hard to read while at speed but the color ones are better. Can someone who is not at the helm read it easier when under way? I'd love to get the 276c but a little more than I was hoping to spend plus I'm limited on dash space on my boat for a fixed mount. The speed issue is not a concern for me.

Andrew

Have you tried: www.gpsdiscount.com I bought mine there and it was the lowest price I could find on the net.

$584 for the 276c and $438.95 for the 76cs

Roby

I found the 76cs for $410 with free shipping on ebay, that's cheapest price I've seen for the 276c though.

Andrew