Mounted GPS

[Bobcat45]

First things first. I've been reading this site for almost a year now and I'll have to admit. I'm addicted to it! The info is first rate. If you have a question somebody somewhere knows the answer. And you ussually get more than one good answer. Alot of very knowlegable people. But I finally have a question I have'nt seen. Looking to buy a GPS unit for my boat but not a hand held. I want a bigger screen. Here's what I'm looking at Garmin 162, Garmin 176, or Lorwance Map 3200. I've seen the spec on the units but am wondering about reliability and user friendlyness. It seems like alot of people get Garmin for the handhelds but does that carry over to the bigger units. Any info would be appreciated.

[minnesota mac]

bobcat I have a 176. It has been a good unit have't had any problems with it have had it about 2 years it was't on the market very long when I got it. The reason I got it was to have a large screen and to be portable. One thing to stay away from is the 176c I have been told this by a few that you can't see it in the sunlight what good that is I don't know. But they might of fixed that problem I don't know

[Bobcat45]

Thanks for the reply MN mac. I take it that if your happy with the 176 that you don't have any problems loosing signals with the internal atena. As far as the C model I wasn't going to spend the extra $$ for it.

[RK]

Hiya Bobcat
I've got a Global Map 3200, and I'm pretty happy with it. It gets extensive use on Lake of the Woods and Mille Lacs, and it's more than done the job. Nice big screen, and pretty easy to figure out the basics of operating it. Like most marine electronics these days, most users will only use or ever learn 20% of what the unit is capable of, but everyone uses a different 20%, and this unit is pretty versatile with a lot of useful features. If you combine it with HotMaps or Navionics chips, and some PC software, it can be a pretty awesome tool. I'm happy with mine.

Cheers,
RK