GPS Question?

[SKEETER2]

Okay here is the million dollar question. What GPS should I buy? I want one that I can load maps for water and topos of land. I also want one that I can have detailed street directions from a car. I also want one that is setup with the WAAS system. I'm looking for the best value for my money and I'm willing to spend around 300.00. Any suggestions.
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[Hawkez]

I have sold GPS systems for many years and for what ever reason they facsinate me. Since I have sold them, the most popular unit has been the Garmin Etrex Legend. The older blue model. It is a black and white display and it is WAAS capable. It has 8mb of memory for maps and that will load the entire state of Utah's street maps, or about an eighth of its TOPO maps. It will not, however, give you driving directions from address to address, but will give you directions as the crow2 flies. This is a great GPS for the money, it is around $150 or less.

Garmin came out with a newer Legend version that has a color screen, expandable memory, and Auto Routing (turn-by-turn navigation). These units are really small and great to pack around, but difficult to read if they are sitting on a dash.

I own the Garmin 76CS. It does all of the same, but bigger. It is still easy to pack around, but has bigger screen and a more receptive antenna. On the open water you will not notice a difference between the two antennas, quad-helix and patch. However, in your car you will notice that the 76, with its quad-helix antenna, will maintain a better lock resulting in better accuracy. Not always a huge deal. Also walking through trees and next to cliffs the the legend's patch antenna may lose lock often. The more receptive antenna is bigger, and thus the bigger size of the GPS. One is not better than the other, it depends on your need, (or want.)

The 76 series from Garmin also float and contain tide and other boating related information. The floating option appealed to me, as I have dropped many a thing into the blue.

I hope this helps, PM me if you want more specific information and I can help you out or show you a demo.
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[2fishon]

I'll second the Garmin GPSmap 76. I've had this model for several years now and I love it. I don't have the color version, which I think would be nice. I have most of the Utah topo maps on it all the time. I like the feature that allows me to sync it with my laptop and it gives me current position on my laptop screen. I like the topo program on my laptop better than Garmins, but they do communicate.
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[RILEYFISH]

Ditto, I have the same one and really like it
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[Fishhound]

[black][size 3]Here's another vote for the Garmin GPSmap 76C. I've had it for several years now and have also loaded most of the Topo maps of Utah on it. It has given me some great service on land and water.[/size][/black]
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[lurechucker]

A few helpful threads from BFT:

[url "http://www.bigfishtackle.com/cgi-bin/gforum/gforum.cgi?post=151455"]GPS 101[/url]

[url "http://www.bigfishtackle.com/cgi-bin/gforum/gforum.cgi?post=252851"]GPS First-time buyer[/url]

[url "http://www.bigfishtackle.com/cgi-bin/gforum/gforum.cgi?post=92006"]GPS First-time buyer #2[/url]

[url "http://www.bigfishtackle.com/cgi-bin/gforum/gforum.cgi?post=99585"]GPS First-time buyer #3[/url]

[url "http://www.bigfishtackle.com/cgi-bin/gforum/gforum.cgi?post=201189"]GPS for Fishing[/url]

[url "http://www.bigfishtackle.com/cgi-bin/gforum/gforum.cgi?post=311038"]Which to Buy?[/url]


There are many more archived as well.
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[SKEETER2]

Thanks for all the info, all have to check out the 76. I think thats the only one I hav'ent really looked at yet.
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[Mortimer]

I have a brand new Etrex Legend still in the box never opened that I need to sell if your interested let me know
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