Garmin 62s on sale at Cabela's for $199 starting 2/27

[MN Mike]

so my 62s showed up in the mailbox today from the big C.

came with a free sample of allegra, the seasonal allergy drug... ummm, OK. weird.

now i'm gonna go see if i can get lost in the yard and find my way back to the front door. Sinuses are clear!

Funny!

My cousin popped for a GPSMap 62s after I gave him some dump about his Garmin EMap losing reception when you held it too close to your body, that thing must have been a vintage late '90s - early 2000 GPS.

He's got the chip on order too.

Mike

[RiverChuckNorris]

so my 62s showed up in the mailbox today from the big C.

came with a free sample of allegra, the seasonal allergy drug... ummm, OK. weird.

now i'm gonna go see if i can get lost in the yard and find my way back to the front door. Sinuses are clear!

Mine also showed up yesterday (as did my UMWFG chip) with a the free sample of Allegra. I put the Allegra in the 62s data slot and swallowed the SD card with a glass of water. I am about ready to return this thing, it isn't working at all!.....

[McGurk]

I have had the 62s for a few days, and both loaded some 24k maps and used the lakemaster chip. The first 2-3 days it worked pretty well, and I was impressed with the speed it would acquire lock and move around the maps. The screen is pretty readable in most light, but there isn't a brightness setting anymore, just on or off.

The last few days it will jump back and forth from your location to N0.000 W0.000 (the point of origin), and I can't attribute it to any setting(s). Also, when navigating, it will not give you a "distance to destination" very often if at all. I NEED that to navigate and not having it is very frustrating. I think my 62s is either going back or onto the list o' craig, and I'll keep using my Vista CX.

[bobbymalone]

there is a brightness setting. Tap the power button. The unit works a lot like my old 60 series.

Sounds like something weird is going on. I'd call up Garmin CS.

[McGurk]

there is a brightness setting. Tap the power button. The unit works a lot like my old 60 series.

I totally missed that. Thanks, bobby!

[MN Mike]

Mine also showed up yesterday (as did my UMWFG chip) with a the free sample of Allegra. I put the Allegra in the 62s data slot and swallowed the SD card with a glass of water. I am about ready to return this thing, it isn't working at all!.....

LMAO!!! that's a good one....

McGurk,

Are those Garmin 24k maps? I know I downloaded some 3rd party topo maps to my Etrex Vista some years ago, that bugger did some strange things and eventually locked up.

If those are 3rd party maps, I would reset the GPS to factory defaults and then test it again. Thats what Garmin had me do and it fixed everything, I redownloaded those maps and it never bothered again, must have been a corrupt download on my part.

OTHERWISE, if it still acts up, I would send it back to Cabelas and exchange it for a new one, that would be your fastest turn around.

Mike

[McGurk]

MNMike, They are Garmin 24k maps, and I put all of MN and most of WI, SD, and ND on it, but still had about half of the internal memory left. I did a "Master" reset midday yesterday on it, and it is acting more like it should. Frustrating as neither my Legend or Vista have done that in the 10 or so years I have used them , and this happens in the first week. I am planning on using it this weekend and hope that it is resolved and that I won't have to regularly do resets to keep it working.

I thought I'd like having all of the buttons and a better cursor pad (60 and 62 layout), but I actually miss the older etrex side buttons and single joystick layout. I'm sure it is just familiarity, but I have taken some time to play around with the 62s and haven't yet gotten to like the interface yet. Not that it's the 62s's fault. I have also used the 62s and my Vista side by side to see how they compare. There isn't a huge difference that I can find yet with the different antennas, and their accuracy and response seem pretty similar.

[sunniewally]

MN MIKE.......... on using garmin umwg chip are you able to see all the contour line easily? on my 450 most of the lines are such a color they blend in with the water. the white lines are very easy to see.

[MN Mike]

I can see my contours just fine, I've got a GPSMap 60csx and a Oregon 600.

Do you have your Marine settings setup? I remember I use to have a hard time seeing my tracks on my old Etrex Vista until I changed it to Marine Mode.

Here's an adjustment you can make in your 450, there might be more too, I'm not too familiar with that model.

Mike

[broman]

MN MIKE.......... on using garmin umwg chip are you able to see all the contour line easily? on my 450 most of the lines are such a color they blend in with the water. the white lines are very easy to see.

On my Garmin Oregon 200 I changed the lake color to white. Way easier to see the contours with that setting.

[sunniewally]

yep mike thanks works like a charm.

[McGurk]

Well, I returned it. Not that it isn't a good unit (maybe great) but I don't think it is THAT much better than what I am using. I did like the somewhat larger screen and built in memory (My Vista only uses cards), but I think I am going to find a NUVI for the car that will accept my chip. I wanted to do that to begin with but thought I'd give the 62s a shot first.

[RiverChuckNorris]

Gave her the maiden voyage this weekend on LOTW. Overall, I was pretty pleased with the unit. I give the hardware/unit an A while I give the user interface/software a B-.

There are some functional items (such as moving the cursor around a map and then making a waypoint where the cursor is, not where you are) that aren't all that logical). That being said, beats the hell out of the navionics and is better than my old H2O. Depth readings were accurate and I am VERY impressed with battery life.

[MN Mike]

The NUVI's display the maps very well BUT there's 2 things I don't care for.

The only one that had the arrow to point you to your destination were the NUVI 500 and 550, they would count you down by the foot like the handhelds do. All of the rest of the NUVI's give you a pointer that gives you general directions and only count down 5 or 10 feet at a time ( maybe 20 I can't remember for sure ), probably not a huge deal but it's frustrating.

On the newer models like the 40 or 50, if you wanted to clear your tracks, you had to wipe the whole GPS, everything was gone unless you backed it up. Thats been a while ago, maybe they changed it but I know it was one of the gripes on the newer models that were release a few short years ago.

They are built to be plugged in all the time so the battery life isn't too good either, if you have them mounted on a ATV / UTV, sled or vehicle with a 12v accessory plug, then that's not an issue.

I've got a couple of NUVIs and I've used my UMWFG in them, they work alright but if you want to get spot on, I recommend a Handheld.

Mike

[McGurk]

Thanks for the Nuvi insight, Mike. I was aware of some of those limitations, and I planned to continue to use my handheld to pick up the slack. I figure it will be nice for pre-planning and for motorized transport to get me close and the handheld will take over from there. I was hoping the 62's screen would be large enough for glimpses at moving speed so I can keep my eyes on the ice, but it wasn't significantly larger than my Vista (disappointing). I'm not done looking yet, and I hope that there is a magic device out there, along the lines of the 500/550.

[bobbymalone]

Gave her the maiden voyage this weekend on LOTW. Overall, I was pretty pleased with the unit. I give the hardware/unit an A while I give the user interface/software a B-.

There are some functional items (such as moving the cursor around a map and then making a waypoint where the cursor is, not where you are) that aren't all that logical). That being said, beats the hell out of the navionics and is better than my old H2O. Depth readings were accurate and I am VERY impressed with battery life.

I think you'll get used to the interface/software.

It's very similar to the 60 series, which I am accustomed to so the transition/learning curve is minimal.

[fridron]

Anybody know if they are ever going to come out with another unit like the 500? Bought it and a LM chip and had it stolen before I could even use it, stupid me forgot it was in the consol and didn't lock the truck. I had just downloaded some hunting spots in Wi too.

[MN Mike]

I doubt they will make a crossover like that again since they have added navigation like qualities of a NUVI to a lot of the handhelds.

You would think it wouldn't take much to add that simple page to a NUVI Screen but they won't do it, I'm sure there's a reason for it.

Mike

[aanderud]

I posted a link to the Garmin link to buy said chip about 3/4 down page one of this thread. It's $99 there and you can either buy the SD card and they'll ship for free or you can download it.

Also as mentioned prior in this thread, it's available elsewhere, apparently at the big river site for $75.

I just bought one of these chips, brand new / never opened, from eb@y for $40.99 with free shipping. Should be here by mid-week. Pretty reasonable if you ask me. Sure it's a couple years old already but then again my old lakemaster and navionics chips for my old lowrance handheld are older yet and they were pretty good.

[th64]

Will they read any lake master chip?

[th64]

Is this unit better than a H2o and this separate chip I need to buy better than my mn lake master

or at least the same? (I know that chip covers more lakes-same contours and accuracy?)

[icefishing999]

The Garmin 62s is way better than the old h2o. It is incredibly fast when you turn it on. It only takes a few seconds to find its position. The chip has the same contours and the accuracy is spot on. I think lakemaster made a chip for garmin a while back but I'm not sure if you can still get it anywhere. This combo of gps and chip is worth the $300 any day.

[MN Mike]

Will they read any lake master chip?

You have to have a Garmin branded Lakemaster chip, if your chip came from a H2O, it won't work, that was built for Lowrance.

Plus, the Garmin only accepts MicroSD cards.

If you end up buying the Upper Midwest Fishing Guide, you'll get everything you had with your old chip and possibly more.

Mike

[th64]

The 62s is now not on sale but the st will be on sale tomorrow for 269.00.

[aanderud]

Is this unit better than a H2o and this separate chip I need to buy better than my mn lake master

or at least the same? (I know that chip covers more lakes-same contours and accuracy?)

The H20 was a decent unit in its day (other than the fact that it was barely water resistant, let alone water proof as they implied). This one has a much faster processor, more memory, color screen, faster scrolling around, paperless geocaching, and an electronic compass on it so you know what direction you're facing without moving. Those are the basic advantages I could see with the limited amount of use I've had so far.