Bang 4 da buck

[1Yogi]

I am thinking of getting a gps whats the difference between the hand jobs (pun intended) and the mounted ones? Will the hand held give lake info with structure? Or is the screen too small or lacking in resolution?

[fivebucks]

I don't know about what the hand held ones all can do but the last boat I bought had a mounted GPS on it and I have not used my hand held GPS on soft water since. It's just a matter of convenience, hold a unit in my hand or just look at a mounted one and the job gets done just the same.

[Finlander]

I use a hand held gps and have found that by attatching velcro to the backside, I can bring the gps up front or all the way in the back of the boat.
I do have Ram bracket next to my locator under the windshield and I am thinking about putting Ram brachet mounts in the front and back of the boat!
But velcro works OK for now!
I would prefer a larger gps unit next to my locator, but i'll have to persuade mommy first!

[Mykal]

1Yogi, I have been using a handheld Garmin 12 for the last couple years. I have a mount for it on the dash of my boat. It works for getting you to GPS spots and is portable to take with you on land as well, but lacks the mapping features such as lake coutours and landscapes and the screen is very small.
I just bought a Global Map 4800 for 399 bucks with mapping features of the entire US. Plus you can buy MMC chips that contain detailed maps for certain lakes, or you can purchase mapping software for it in a CD rom. It has a much larger screen than my handheld too.
It really depends on how much you can spend and what you really need the GPS for. If your looking to get from point A to point B, then a handheld will work fine. If you want lake contours, bouys, hazards, points of interest, etc, then go with a GPS mapping unit.

[This message has been edited by Mykal (edited 04-16-2004).]