Purchasing a Handhelp GPS

[Kirsch]

Most cell phones with the exception of few including the new Droids use cellular triangulation. They aren't serious GPS units for what the outdoorsman need but they do in a pinch and have taken a chunk out of the GPS market and is one of the main reason prices have dropped like they have.

MNBASSFISHER - eTrex series typically can support lake chips as long as they are the HCX models. If not as mentioned earlier, it depends on memory size and it would entail loading from a PC. Many of the eTrex only had 8 MB of internal memory so if it isn't a HCX, I would use it for basic things and look to get a better GPS for other purposes. The HCX models all except a memory card. The downfall of the eTrex series is their screen size. Nice for backpacking but not if you wish to see a large screen.

Overall, Garmin antennas and overall functionality and mapping options are a better choice for more people. However Lowrance has made a living off selling GPS units to fisherman especially and for fishing they can be hard to beat. The Endura series has had many issues but are slowly getting better. The Endura units do not read previous maps of any kind. There still are only a few maps compatible with the Endura series and on those cards, there are 2 sets of maps. 1 set of maps for the legacy Lowrance GPS units including the HDS units and 1 set of maps for the Endura series.

[Far-I]

Radio shack should have a serial port/ usb adapter cord.

I have an etrex for the ice still, and download my mapping software directly to the GPS before going out. Very handy. I really like being able to do my research and looking at data on the laptop as well.

[Ed Carlson]

Quote:

I looked at the Big "C"'s HSOforum, they are in the bargain cave for $299. I browsed for a quick minute and found them at the lowest of $277. There are refurbished ones out there within my price range (found some for $190) but refurbished stuff scares me. I'm going to keep an eye on that unit though, it looks nice!!

I am not afraid of reconditioned units as long as they still have the full factory warranty behind them, just as a new unit would. You would wish to ask before purchasing them. If it was reconditioned by Garmin, as most would be, it is as good as new. Most reconditioned units were some type of software hang caused by the user, and it just needed to be reinstalled by Garmin. If the warranty is void, do not buy it.

[Kyhl]

Pretty sure it works off of wi-fi triangulation?

+1. I'm not sure but experience tells me it's using the cell towers.

We used an Iphone on AT&T up to LOW last weekend and it worked good until we lost coverage.

No signal within 1 mile of LOW so it was worthless even on shore.

[bigbad401]

I am not afraid of reconditioned units as long as they still have the full factory warranty behind them, just as a new unit would. You would wish to ask before purchasing them. If it was reconditioned by Garmin, as most would be, it is as good as new. Most reconditioned units were some type of software hang caused by the user, and it just needed to be reinstalled by Garmin. If the warranty is void, do not buy it.

I have bought a lot of electronics that are factory refurbished. I don't have an issue doing that. Just make sure that the factory of the manufacture did the refurbishing.

[Sgt_NellieUSMC]

i just bought the Lowrance Endura: Out and Back yesterday with the lakemaster chip for 2011. i had a few minutes to monkey around with it and it seems extremely easy to use. a nice touch screen and large buttons to push if you were to be wearing gloves on the ice. The reason i went with this model was because i only plan on using it for fishing and pointing waypoints. this unit was anywhere from $100-$200+ of the garmin units. I think i got a great deal for what i intend to use it for.

[castmaster]

Anybody have any experience with the Garmin Nuvi 5000? Specs look pretty much the same as teh 500, but with a bigger screen. Also uses the regular sd cards instead of micro sd cards, is that an issue when using the lakemaster chips or the MNTrax chip?

[MN BassFisher]

Is that the black and white screen model? If so, you should have about 24 mb of internal storage in that unit, so what you can do is get the Lakemaster CD ( Garmin Lakemaster CD ) with the lakes you wish to get coverage on and import that data from the computer to your GPS via the serial cable it came with and I believe you will need to get your hands on the Mapsource software which can be downloaded from Garmins site for free if you know how to do it.

I have 2 of those black and white model Vistas and they are good units. I haven't uploaded any Lakemaster data to them, just topo data and those files were relativly small so I could put many areas in the Vista if I wanted to.

If I'm wrong on the upload process from Lakemaster via Mapsource, hopefully someone will correct me on that.

Mike

PS. If you don't have a serial port on your computer, you will need to get your hands on a Serial / USB adapter, should be able to get one for about $15 - $25 online.

Yeah, it's the black and white Vista. I read online it has 24mb of storage. I also found out neither my laptop nor desktop have that serial port so I looked for converters and I found them for as cheap as $10 so I'll have to purchase one of those!

[MN BassFisher]

I am not afraid of reconditioned units as long as they still have the full factory warranty behind them, just as a new unit would. You would wish to ask before purchasing them. If it was reconditioned by Garmin, as most would be, it is as good as new. Most reconditioned units were some type of software hang caused by the user, and it just needed to be reinstalled by Garmin. If the warranty is void, do not buy it.

Good to know, I never really knew what a refurbished unit was so I just shied away from them but I'll have to start taking a closer look at those units then! Thanks!

[croixflats]

Anybody have any experience with the Garmin Nuvi 5000? Specs look pretty much the same as teh 500, but with a bigger screen. Also uses the regular sd cards instead of micro sd cards, is that an issue when using the lakemaster chips or the MNTrax chip?

Not familiar with the 5000 as far as the sd card card goes the micro SD should come with an SD card adapter so no issues there. The micro just plugs into the adapter and becomes a regular SD card.

[MN Mike]

One thing on that Vista, by default the Lakes are shaded dark grey, it gets VERY hard to see your tracks if you like to see that. There is a setting in the GPS itself where you can set the lakes to be not shaded, this helps a ton to see your tracks and I would imagine lake contours if you get some mapping info in there.

I don't have my Vista in front of me at the moment but if you have the owners manual you should be able to find that setting, otherwise I'll try to find it this evening if possible.

Mike

[MN Mike]

Ok MN Bass Fisher here's a setting you should check. Page your Vista to the MAP page, in the upper right corner, use your joystick and select the box on the inside and press down on the joystick, then go to MAP SETUP. On the next page, move over to the left, there is a Icon there that looks like a grid, select that by highlighting it with your joystick and pressing down, at the bottom of that screen you will see DISPLAY MODE, set that to Water.

Mike

[Ed Carlson]

Quote:

+1. I'm not sure but experience tells me it's using the cell towers.

We used an Iphone on AT&T up to LOW last weekend and it worked good until we lost coverage.

No signal within 1 mile of LOW so it was worthless even on shore.

That is my biggest issue with these droid phone mapping aps and shared resource gps formats.

Loading an Application does not magically install a GPS receiver in your phone, just the application to share GPS info via the tower system by mean of triangulation mostly.

If you loose your tower, your S*O*L..no phone...no gps...no clue...instant F*U*B*A*R.

This situation is far less likely to occurs with a actual GPS receiver unit. As satellites may fade but you still get fairly reliable calculations even under low satellite coverage. You are not left completely in the dark.

[Kirsch]

Croixflats, the Nuvi 5000 is much different than the Nuvi 500. The reason a lot of sportsmen like the 500 is it is the main Garmin Nuvi which is a crossover style GPS. It has automotive and handheld features. It is waterproof, has a trail/track feature, 4x better better battery plus it is replaceable, and it includes land topo of the US. It isn't the best automotive and not the best handheld but overall it is good.

The 5000 is a discontinued Truck and RV GPS. So unless this is what you will use it for, then you may want to look elsewhere. The 500 if you want a duel GPS. If you just want an automotive, then I like the 255W, 265W, 1350 or the 5" 1450. These are very good values for the money.

[DTro]

That is my biggest issue with these droid phone mapping aps and shared resource gps formats.

Loading an Application does not magically install a GPS receiver in your phone, just the application to share GPS info via the tower system by mean of triangulation mostly.

If you loose your tower, your S*O*L..no phone...no gps...no clue...instant F*U*B*A*R.

This situation is far less likely to occurs with a actual GPS receiver unit. As satellites may fade but you still get fairly reliable calculations even under low satellite coverage. You are not left completely in the dark.

Sorry you are wrong Ed, most of today's smartphones have receivers in them. My phone (DroidX) has a tolerance of +/- 6ft and does not need any sort of tower to work.

Q. Can I navigate with the Android phones if there is no internet connectivity?

A. An internet connection is only needed to download Navionics Mobile to your Android phones. Once downloaded, the map resides on the Android phones allowing you to view Navionics Mobile Maps with the smartphone's internal GPS.

Q. Do I need to have cellular coverage to use the GPS function?

A. With the Android phones , location technology is built into the device. Your approximate location is determined using available information from cellular network data, local Wi-Fi networks (if you have Wi-Fi turned on), and GPS (GPS not available in all locations). Once you have downloaded Navionics Mobile applications to your Android phone, they are resident on your device and are a reliable tool to access charts even when not in cell range.

[MN BassFisher]

Ok MN Bass Fisher here's a setting you should check. Page your Vista to the MAP page, in the upper right corner, use your joystick and select the box on the inside and press down on the joystick, then go to MAP SETUP. On the next page, move over to the left, there is a Icon there that looks like a grid, select that by highlighting it with your joystick and pressing down, at the bottom of that screen you will see DISPLAY MODE, set that to Water.

Mike

Okay Mike, I went ahead and played around with that. I see what your saying about not being able to see your tracks on the grey, so thanks for the tip!!

[guyonacouch]

Will the Garmin 60Csx run the most updated lakemaps even though it's a discontinued model? I found one online for $199 and am thinking I might just go to a local store to get the newest chip. The Garmin doesn't use an older style chip does it? Thanks.

[MN BassFisher]

Yeah, it appears you can download them from the Garmin HSOforum. You can look under the products page and find if your unit is on there, which it appears to be.

LakeMaster Minnesota Products page

[MN Mike]

Actually, the GPSMAP 60csx is still a current model, there were a couple of the 60's that were discontinued but not the CSx.

I run a Lakemaster Woods / Rainy on my 60csx and it's just fine, I just purchased that within the last year.

When you get your Lakemaster chip, you will get the MicroSD card AND a SD adapter so your covered either way, the 60csx will take the microSD card, it's located under the batteries when you remove them from the device.

When you get your GARMIN Lakemaster chip, download Garmin's BASECAMP software, you can view your Lakemaster chip data via Garmin Basecamp software on your computer, you'll need to plug your Lakemaster MicroSD chip into the computer someway and this is where your SD adapter might come in handy.

Mike

[MN BassFisher]

So I was able to get my hands on Garmin's U.S. Inland Lakes version 3. It seems decent. It has some contours for a few of the smaller lakes I fish around here. Now I have to buy a 9 pin to usb adapter and install them on my GPS. That should be a learning process as well!

[MN Mike]

Installing the adpater isn't too bad..... usually

One thing that hopefully will make this easier is that the software is able to automatically find you GPS device via the com port, if it does, that will be great and things will be a snap!

If it can't find the device and the com port, let us know and I'll show you how to find the com port it is on.

Mike

[MN BassFisher]

Installing the adpater isn't too bad..... usually

One thing that hopefully will make this easier is that the software is able to automatically find you GPS device via the com port, if it does, that will be great and things will be a snap!

If it can't find the device and the com port, let us know and I'll show you how to find the com port it is on.

Mike

Sounds good! I just was playing around with the software and I figured out how to go about transfering the map data to my GPS (once my adapter gets here). I just placed an order for the adapter on Amazon for $10. So if I can get this eTrex Vista, and U.S. Inland Lakes software for the price of the adapter, I made out pretty well! I know it's not the best GPS, I would love to have a color screen and other features, but for free its not looking like too bad of a setup thus far!

[MN Mike]

Considering that Etrex Vista sold new for $320 in 2002 ( thats when I bought mine ), I think your doing just fine!

I used my Vistas pretty heavy ( both winter and summer ) up until last spring when I bought that 60CSx.

To me, mapping is secondary, we fish lake of the Woods all the time and if you don't have a GPS to get you back to where you want to be, you can miss your spot by a mile or more.

Mike

[Kirsch]

dtro, Ed is right that most phones use cellular triangulation but you are also correct that Droids use internal GPS.

[DTro]

dtro, Ed is right that most phones use cellular triangulation but you are also correct that Droids use internal GPS.

The Navionics APP is for phones using the Android (and IPhone) software. I'm talking about this APP specifically. I'm pretty sure that if your phone is approved to use the app, then by default it probably has a GPS receiver built in.

There is a big reason that TomTom is now designing Apps and Garmin is designing phones, their sales of stand alone units has plummeted as a direct result of smartphones.

I still think a handheld is a better and more durable option, especially if you have afford to have both, but for a lot of people who already own a smartphone, it can be used VERY effectively for fishing and hunting, at a litte to no extra cost and with new apps always coming the future is bright.

Sorry, don't want to hijack this thread about handhelds, but I don't want misinformation being given out either.