Garmin 62S vs 78S

[Lund79]

Does anyone have any experience with either of these 2 units? They appear to be the same unit except for 2 things: 1. buttons on top of screen vs bottom of screen and 2. The 78S floats.

I am looking for multi-purpose on the water and in the woods. This will be my first hand-held GPS. I want to mark treestands, trails, rubs, etc as well as using it on the water with the MNTRAX chip to help me fish the contours. I haven't purchased the MNTRAX chip yet but know I want this overa Lowrance or Navionics chip for fishing.

Any input would be helpfull. Thanks!

[Kirsch]

I haven't personally used the 78s but can tell you the 62S is a great GPS. The 62S is the replacement for the 60CSX and the 78S for the 76CSx. When comparing those two prior units, I personally preferred the 60 because of the form of the unit and the antenna on the 60. The newer units inherit a lot of the same things from the previous models. Due to this, I always would lean towards the 62 vs the 78 but I am sure they are both great GPS units.

[Lund79]

Thanks Kirsch for the input! I had actually purchased the 78S but was debating between both units. After I brought it home I was thinking I wanted the external antenna instead as well as the buttons on the bottom of the unit. I returned the 78S and got the 62S. I will be using it in a few weeks so I am excited about trying it out.

I will be waiting to get the MNTRAX until the 2011 version is released so I don't have to upgrade in March (I believe you mentioned that is the timeframe for the updates).

[kevfish1]

Hey kirsch, I bought the mn trax trails chip from you this year and it worked great. you seam to know alot about gps units and I have a question for you or others.

I currently have a lowrance H20c with a lakemaster lake chip. Works great for fishing and finding the spot on the spot. But for hunting it has trouble finding satelites in the woods.

I just bought a garmen E-trex with one of your trails chips. worked great deer hunting this fall.

My question is? If I wanted to own just one gps unit that had the great lake detail for fishing and a good reciever for locking into satelites while in the deep woods. What gps unit would yoou recomend??????

the lakemaster chip is an sd card and the trail chip is a micro sd card. kinda want just one gps instead of the 2

[Lund79]

Kevfish1- I was thinking the same thing with the satellite locking on when in the woods. I would say that is the main reason I went with the external antenna (62S) and returned the 78S.

[Kirsch]

Garmin eTrex are good, but their screen size is very small. Besides that, they are great units. The biggest issue with most Lowrance GPS units is they don't have as good of satellite lock as many of the Garmin GPS units. LakeMaster makes great lake chips especially if you happen to fish the lakes they have 1 foot contours for. They work on Lowrance and there is a version for Garmin as well.

My favorite GPS units currently are the 62S and Oregon 450 right now. For the money they are tough to beat. The 60CSx if you find a under $200 deal is still a good one too. Oregon has touch screen and the 62s is buttons so it is whatever you prefer. The 62S is a bit more readable in bright sunlight but the 450 improved this issue a lot. If it came right down to satellite lock being the biggest deal, I would go with the 62s.

What I do is I run a Garmin handheld in the field and use an automotive Garmin Nuvi for my truck and I am covered for most anything.

[kevfish1]

how does that 62s compare to the h20 as far as screen size

[kevfish1]

I just looked them up online and the screen size is similar to my h2o. Now to go to just one unit I could use the mntrax micro card I already have?? And I would then need to purchase a micro card with the lakemaster???? Thus i could get rid of my etrex and the h20 with the regular size lakemaster???

[Tom7227]

I think you need Garmin cards with Garmin units and so you may not be able to interchange them.

[Kirsch]

MNTRAX comes with a micro SD card and an SD adapter. I am not a LakeMaster expert but I believe they have gone to the same type of microSD/SD adapter, so with one GPS you could swap MNTRAX and LakeMaster cards as needed. MNTRAX for hunting, hiking, biking, etc and for fishing for 1000 lakes, and LakeMaster for the lake or lakes you need which they may have 1 foot contours.