Garmin Nuvi for Ice fishing?

[KG243]

I have heard these are great for fishing, but I have not heard of a good model, any help.

[PerchJerker]

I think the best way to say it is that they are great for traveling in a vehicle, and they will work for fishing (meaning you can put in a Garmin LakeMaster card to see contour maps).

I don't think any of the Nuvis allow you to set and save waypoints (I might be wrong about that). And they have internal rechargeable batteries, which can be an issue if you want to use it for more than a hours and don't have a way to plug it in to recharge.

Nuvis are great GPS units but if your primary use will be hunting or fishing then there are better ways to go, other Garmin models or Lowrance models.

[broman]

I had a discussion with someone about using these on another site. He said that some of them have a pedestrian or off-road mode that allows you to save waypoints. As PerchJerker mentioned, having the battery die while out and about without being able to charge it would suck. Plus, most (not all) are not waterproof or even water resistant.

[gunmunky]

My wife has a Nuvi 660 and it's very easy to set way-points.

[52#FLATHEAD]

I have the Nuvi 200 & it has offroad settings for hunting & fishing. Just give the location a name & save it in the favorites. As for battery life, bring some extras w/ you in case it does die. They all use batteries. It's only on long enough to find the exact location or to mark a location. It may not be waterproof but as for all of my not-waterproof electronics, I try to keep them out of the water & snow. Or just buy a waterproof model that you can get lake maps for.

[Riich]

And they have internal rechargeable batteries, which can be an issue if you want to use it for more than a hours and don't have a way to plug it in to recharge.

My experience with two nuvi units was a battery life of less than 3 hours.

[MN Mike]

NUVI 500 or 550

Both are capable of ' off road ' use, save waypoints very easily as you would with any other GPS.

Batteries in these units are replacable unlike some of the other Nuvis so you can change them if they die on you out on the lake.

Both units are waterproof.

I have personally run the 500 and it works great for a on the water gps.

Mike

[Kirsch]

If you take a Nuvi in the field or on the water, get a waterproof case or you will be sorry. I love Nuvis but only the 500 series is waterproof as MN Mike mentioned. I wouldn't get the 200 personally as there are lots of issues with this Nuvi and the options are very limited. Virtually any other one will be fine.

Don't forget to check out the Outdoor Store here on FM as the are now carrying the only all-around GPS sportsman map for Lowrance and Garmin. Hunting lands, Fishing lakes, roads, trails, campgrounds and much more all on a card to put into these types of GPS units.

[fishtrap3]

I have had the 200 series for a year now with no problems.. knock on wood, use it every day on the job. Would also like to know if the chips would work in it?

[splakeshaker]

Does the navaionics chip work in the garmin Nuvi?

[deadeye]

I got a nuvi 500 as well and it does pretty good. I have yet to pick up a lakemaster chip for it but Im going to for truck on ice travel. Im concerned about how the touch screen will do with the cold but i guess there is only one way to find out.

I have noticed that its not spot on accurate like my h20c is, but it should do ok. It has gotten me close enough to what I was looking for though.

[Ed Carlson]

Does the navaionics chip work in the garmin Nuvi?

Nav chips do not work in a Garmin unit of any type, only NDTRAX, MNTRAX, MTTRAX chips, Garmin, and LakeMaster formats work in a Garmin Nuvi.

[Kirsch]

Garmin Nuvis work great with MNTRAX and any of the TRAX series. There are lots of 200 series Nuvis. The actual model #200, has a known issue where it can't load more than one map layer at a time. I had to write a custom map for this Nuvi and the 650 as well. So, I can provide you MNTRAX for a Nuvi 200 but it must be ordered directly from Kirsch's Outdoor Products or if you order it here from the OutdoorPro Store, you have to mention this it is for a Nuvi200.