Suggestions on a handheld GPS

[yummysmokedham]

I am looking at buying a handheld GPS unit for the boat, and was wanting to get your guy's opinion on what unit to get and why. Any pointers would be greatly appriciated, PS I am new to this GPS thing.

[Dutch]

All of the people that I know of who bought gps units without mapping capability have quit using them. What ever brand you buy, be sure to get that or you will have an expensive dust collector.

[Steve Smith]

Yummy; there is probably others that can chime in here on this subject of Handheld GPS units. Mine is a Meridian Platinum series from Magellan. I believe I bought it at Wally Worlds for around $199. Then I purchased $99 Hot Spots chip map from Navionics. The best advice I can give you is try to find a place that knows something about GPS units, which may be hard to find. Luckily, I had a friend who already owned one, so I knew the map chips would work. This one also has a USB port and software to archive map information.

[Dutch]

Steve that is the same one I have except I bought mine as soon as they came out and paid $350. I have a couple of software programs which go with it. I don't go anywhere except to Wal-Mart with out it. It is always in the boat or truck.

[yummysmokedham]

by mapping do you mean the ability to display maps and not just coordinates?

[Dutch]

Yes and add cards with different topo maps on them. One that can take you some place it has never been not just back to where you have taken it before.

[drbewley]

You need a Garmin.

[yummysmokedham]

I had been kinda eyeballing the Lowrance H20, anyone have any experiance with it or have a better suggestion?

[Wayne SW/MO]

I had been kinda eyeballing the Lowrance H20, anyone have any experience with it or have a better suggestion?

Yes I have one, and the mapping program. My opinion of it is too ugly to describe on here. I could never get it to keep track of distance covered, then the DVD's wouldn't load completely, while attempting to load new maps I lost all the maps, except for the default map. Bottom line is that it tells me where I'm at on a river, but for about $300, I don't need the information that bad.

I'll sell it.

My wife and I have 2 Street pilots by Garmin, and if I get another handheld it will most likely be a Garmin.

[yummysmokedham]

How about the Garmin® GPSMAP® 76 GPS Unit, i noticed that it does not look like it has a SD card slot but it has pretty good reviews on basspro's website. Is it worth the extra money to get one with the SD card slot?