All around GPS recommendations.

[Boomyal]

Thinking about buying an all around GPS. I don't know what all the features are all about. It would be nice to take it in the car and boat. I assume that all GPS's will give you your MPH's. It would be good if it used AA batts as well as 12v and that's about all I know other than if it can be avoided, I don't like the idea of forced periodic downloads.

 

[CalicoKid]

Re: All around GPS recommendations.

I don't think you can go wrong with Garmin brand. They have many models and features and work very well. I've had an e-trex Garmin for many years and the LCD is finally giving me trouble. I've used it all over North America in every climate and condition available.

I've never had to download anything to it though it is compatible with PC topo software etc. as are most of the Garmin line. Mine is relatively basic and yet has many features I've never needed. My next will have better base maps with streets etc.

 

[eurolarva]

Re: All around GPS recommendations.

Lowrance H2O goes for $170. Lake chip another $120. I have had mine for 3 months now and totally love it. It comes with a cigarette lighter adaptor and I have gotten over 10 hours with one set of rechargable AA batteries. Basic map package comes with major roads and exits. Lowrance I believe has an emulator you can download to play with on your computer.

 

[JB]

Re: All around GPS recommendations.

I use a Garmin 276C.

In the vehicle: All auto nav features complete with voice directions. +12V or internal battery. Charges internal rechargable battery when on +12v. (The auto nav package is optional)

In the woods (portable): Runs about 8 hours on internal battery.

In the boat: All marine color chartplotter features. +12V or internal battery.

Uses Mapsource, Bluechart CDs and preprogrammed cards. I use US City Select CD and US Rec. Lakes and Hotspots CD and program my own cards.

You can get cheaper units that will do one or two of the above, you can get bigger screens, but you can't get a unit that does all three so well unless it is a Garmin 276C or a Garmin 376C

 

[funpilot]

Re: All around GPS recommendations.

I've got a Garmin etrex Vista C, out of the box, it will do most major highways, and has some good PC to unit software interface. It is handheld, tough and waterproof (although they warn you it will sink like a stone if you drop it in the water, so I always make sure the laynard is attached to something).

It is supposed to take a good mapping software, but Garmin is releasing a new version later this month, so I am simply using the basic which came with it.

As I understand where GPS units are heading, they are working toward smaller screens with better audio (mine doesn't have audio) for hands free, eyes on the road use... you know "turn right on Elm" kind of prompts.

I enjoy saving tracks of where I've driven, on some of our really big lakes, it is fun to mark places I've been and channels I've gone through, just to make it possible to navigate more easily on the same water in the future.

It gets about 12 hours to a set of batteries, and a 12vdc adapter is available. When hooked to a computer via USB it gets its power that way.

good luck,
fp

 

[RubberFrog]

Re: All around GPS recommendations.

...but you can't get a unit that does all three so well unless it is a Garmin 276C or a Garmin 376C

Or a 478. It comes preloaded with the street maps and you can get it configured for coastal charts or inland charts right out of the box.
No downloads or chips required.
I've got the coastal charts version and I don't have to fiddle with chips or downloads. The entire US is covered.

 

[JB]

Re: All around GPS recommendations.

Does it navigate your car and talk to you. Froggy?

Got depth and contour of lakes?

Carry it in your pocket when you go hunting?

 

[Boomyal]

Re: All around GPS recommendations.

Does it navigate your car and talk to you. Froggy?

Got depth and contour of lakes?

Carry it in your pocket when you go hunting?

If yours does that JB, that's what I'm looking for. Does it do boat speed to?

 

[Link]

Re: All around GPS recommendations.

Keep asking questions Boomer.
I'm learning a thing or two here

 

[JB]

Re: All around GPS recommendations.

Amost any GPS will give you speed over ground, Boomer.

For water speed you need a different instrument. Some get it from a pitot device, some from paddle wheels.

Yes, My Garmin 276C will do all of the above. I do need to swap cards ("chips") for some big lakes, but I wouldn't need to do that if I had a larger capacity card. I currently use a 256MB card for most stuff and have 128MB card with all the lakes I fish. A single 512MB card would probably hold everything I ever need.

Mine is about 2 yrs old. There is a 376C out now, but I don't know how it differs from (improves on?) the 276C.

Garmin.com gives you a good rundown on all models.

 

[Boomyal]

Re: All around GPS recommendations.

Amost any GPS will give you speed over ground, Boomer.

For water speed you need a different instrument. Some get it from a pitot device, some from paddle wheels.

why would speed over water be any different from speed over ground? When posters have talked about GPS speed I just thought that the satellite was tracking the rate of motion of the GPS device. Not so?

I did look at the 378. Pretty impressive but I don't recall that they said anything about speed. s'pose I could call and ask.

 

[funpilot]

Re: All around GPS recommendations.

IMHO Boomer,

Water speed is different from Ground speed only if the water is moving. Even in an Airplane, a GPS measures ground speed, because the satellites are referenced to the Earth, not to the weather (i.e. head winds, tail winds). I guess what I'm saying is, on a Lake, GPS is measuring your speed over water. On a River, perhaps not.

fp

 

[JB]

Re: All around GPS recommendations.

Looked up the 378 and 478. Yup, they will do everything my 276C will do, plus a lot more. Cost a lot more, too. Different format for Maps, though (G2?), and you get it formatted for one thing. Some other things still require chips that the regular Mapsource can't read or duplicate.

The 276C does need Mapsource for programming blank data cards and I suppose it is possible to want to load more than the 512MB card can hold. I can't imagine a case where I would want more than 512MB, though.

Famous last words. I now find essential stuff that I once thought I would never need.:$ I can always carry along extra cards, provided I don't grab an empty case instead of the one with the needed card in it. :$ See upcoming post in SHT.

 

[RubberFrog]

Re: All around GPS recommendations.

Does it navigate your car and talk to you. Froggy?

Got depth and contour of lakes?

Carry it in your pocket when you go hunting?

Looks like you answered your own question. Sucks when us young pups know something you dont, doesn't it?

The 378/478 come formatted for inland or coastal charts. If you want both, then you need to use a chip for the second set of charts.

 

[PierBridge]

Re: All around GPS recommendations.

Are you telling me when i'm fishing on the river my GPS speed is not correct?

So tell me how and why because I'm not buying it, my GPS has no idea where it is.

i'm assuming you talking about those spinning wheels on the transom of the boat which are not accurite ar all and of course has nothing to do with GPS.

Please clarify.

 

[RubberFrog]

Re: All around GPS recommendations.

Are you telling me when i'm fishing on the river my GPS speed is not correct?

Yep

Let's say you're going up river. The river is flowing at ten knots. GPS says you are doing 20 knots. The boat would have to go 30 knots to counter act the flow of the river.

Now turn the boat around. You're going down river. The GPS says 20 knots. The boat only needs to go 10 knots.

Think of all this in relation to a flat lake with no current. GPS speedos almost never match the one on the boat when in a current.

Whenever I want to show off my boat to my non-boating buddies I take them on a down river run when the current is going out. They are so excited to be doing 55 knots down the Potomac! I never tell....

 

[rottenray6402]

Re: All around GPS recommendations.

RF, doesn't the GPS measure the speed in relation to the satalites that it is beaming from? If so wouldn't it be if you had a 10MPH current and you were going upstream and gave your boat just enough gas to sit motionless the GPS should read 0 because you aren't actually moving but your boat speed would read 10 MPH because that is how fast the water is flowing under the boat? Am I looking at this wriong because I am no GPS expert? 8)

 

[JB]

Re: All around GPS recommendations.

You have it, Ray.

I am not comfortable with the term, "boat speed", though. I like water speed better. It compares to the difference mentioned above of the difference between ground speed and air speed.

Your paddle wheel or pitot speedometer measures your speed through water, even if the water is moving at the same time.

GPS always measures absolute speed through space. Call it true speed because it will also measure vertical speed if you are climbing or descending over a fixed spot on the earth.

 

[waterinthefuel]

Re: All around GPS recommendations.

We run into the same confusion with airplane speedometers. They work on a pitot-static system. In a 20knot headwind a 90knot airplane shows only 70 on the GPS, but 90 on the airspeed indicator. Turn it around and it shows 110 on the GPS, and still just 90 on the airspeed indicator. Any object that is traveling through a fluid (and yes, air is a fluid) is subject to said fluid, and fluid moves, that's the definition of a fluid.

A good way to get a real good idea on what the true speed of the boat is is to figure out the current direction (real easy on rivers, not quite so on lakes, but on large lakes the current is nill anyway) and take a reading going upstream, then downstream and divide by 2. That should be plus or minus just a couple of percents that you would get in dead still water, given the same exact boat configuration and running conditions.

 

[levittownnick]

Re: All around GPS recommendations.

To beat a dead horse to death, picture running on a very long treadmill. The treadmill could represent the water under the boat or the air current in which the plane is flying. If your running with the direction of the treadmill, your speed past a fixed point will be the speed of the treadmill + your running speed, if your running in the opposite direction, your speed past a fixed point will be the speed of the treadmill less your running speed (it could be a positive or negative number).