best CHEAP freshwater gps?

[bowfisher8967]

I want to buy a gps that will give me a decent visual detail of the shore or waterline for lakes and inland waterways. Nothin fancy just enough to keep me from runnin aground at night, or to find my way back to the ramp. Will the garmin etrex do this? any other brands/models/ideas?

[cr2k]

I think most of them can display marine nav charts. Just pick the one that seems most intuitive to you and check for that.

[smokeonthewater]

I have had an etrex for years and yes it CAN but for $100 or so more you can get a dash mounted unit that doesn't need 2 sets of batteries every trip with 5 times the screen... WELL worth a bit more.

[5150abf]

Figure out what you want then poke around on Ebay and you should be able to find a nice one cheap, I used an old school magellan hand held for years and it did me fine.

Smoke has a good point, at least get the cig lighter power plug for it so you don't have to change batteries because that always seemed to happen at bad times.

Any gps you can get but leaves a "bread crumb trail" so when you want to go back the the launch you just follow the line and you are good, you don't really need the charts.

I was out at night fishing and got fogged in and used it to find my way back to the launch and I was on a river wiht ots of turns, it was way scary but I ran just above idle and was fine, now I have a Garmin 4 something color gps plotter, lots ore features but still the smae concept, you just follow your trail home, stay on the line and you are fine.

[series60]

I want to buy a gps that will give me a decent visual detail of the shore or waterline for lakes and inland waterways. Nothin fancy just enough to keep me from runnin aground at night, or to find my way back to the ramp. Will the garmin etrex do this? any other brands/models/ideas?

My boat came with a Garmin GPSmap76 marine version. I also have a newer Garmin GPSmap76CSx. Both are hand held units which generally are more versatile imho. Using them side by side both hard wired to the boat I have found the newer one is far more user friendly and easier to view the screen (color). When I'm on my quad in the Idaho mountains the batteries have lasted much longer than the gas! I always carry two extra batteries but it has never been an issue.

Check out Guide to Buying a GPS Device.

The 76CSx is USB capable which works very well with GoogleMaps. Great way to add waypoints with ease plus compatible with GoogleEarth to show your tracks.

[Thom1879]

If you have an iphone or ipod touch you can just get the Navionics app for $10. I use my old 3G just for the boat and have it mounted to the dash. All you have to do is download the maps on wifi and you're good to go.

[southkogs]

Do a search on the forum here - it's been discussed several times. I have a Garmin 265 that I use for my car ... you can also get marine maps for it.