Hand held gps with lakemap

[MNice]

My h2o fried this week, looking for a new hand held to use in the boat and ice fishing. Any good models I should look at?

Thanks

[firefish_12]

I have an h2o color I'd part with

[ClownColor]

Garmin is your best bet as they have alot of options with software and downloads. I prefer one with a chip but the downloadable ones aren't the worste thing. Dakota's are fairly priced with alot of great features. I have the 10 as they have smoking hot deals on them but the 20 would probably be a better purchase if you want to spend a few more dollars.

[MNice]

Does anybody use an iphone with the navionics app as a lone gps?

[dfv87]

I tried to use my phone (android) with navonics last year and it worked but I preferred my H2O but I am a creature of habit...

[BobT]

I have a Garmin GPSMap78sc with downloaded maps instead the chip option. I like it because I can use the Basecamp software to view my maps on my home PC, mark waypoints, draw tracks, and backup all my GPS data. I can also create custom maps using Google Earth among other features.

I have the following maps installed on my GPS and am capable of activating any or all of them as I choose and I haven't used half the available memory yet but it does have a card slot if I need to expand the memory.

* Upper Midwest Fishing Info lake contour maps covering MN, ND, SD, IA, and WI. This is basically the latest version of Lakemaster.

* Minnesota Topo maps. Free from GPS File Depot.

* US Topo maps. No longer available from Garmin but still has good information. MN Topo is more detailed so I usually use it instead.

* US Roads and Recreation maps. No longer available from Garmin but still provides good information. Don't actually use it much since my wife bought me a Garmin Nuvi with lifetime map updates.

* Ibycus Canada Topo maps. Free from GPS File Depot. I installed enough to cover part of Northern Ontario from I-Falls to the Lac Seul and surrounding areas.

One feature I really like about it is that it is waterproof and it floats. Bought it last winter after dropping my previous handheld down the hole under the ice. Managed to retrieve it but it was only rated waterproof down to about 10 feet, not 25 feet deep and since it didn't float.....