Hand Help GPS

[RDL]

I am looking at buying a hand held gps unit, primarily to be used as a backup to the the main chartplotter on board. After some research on the web there are lots to choose from and range in price from £100 - £350. The Magellan Marine range looks good with their ability to download BlueNav charts onto the unit, but is this over kill. On the other end of the scale Garmin GPS72.

What thoughts and experiences do you have on the good bad and the ugly. Can you offer any personal recommendations. Many thanks.

Rob

<hr width=100% size=1>

 

[StuDryden]

i have a magellan gps320 handheld and it is brilliant - much better than our fixed furuno 380 unit - have considered taking that one out its that good and it is only around £120 incl data lead / 12v socket & 12v hard wire

 

[Magnum]

Just bought a Megellan Sportrak for exactly the same reason as you. Smaller than the Garmin 72 and works an absolute treat on land. Not tried it on water yet but it is fully waterproof. You can pick one up with cradle and PC/12V lead for £139. Checkout out the specification <A target="_blank" HREF=http://www.magellangps.com/en/products/product.asp?PRODID=154>here</A>.

<hr width=100% size=1>

 

[Althorne]

Have a Magellan Meridian Marine colour which although above your price range really is the biz. As I only have a 10 year old Magellan B+W fixed GPS I find it a worth while proposition to have the full charts and facilities on the hand held to make up my own chips to cover the area's I want, just swap them for the one you want as you go. Would recommend them.

<hr width=100% size=1>

 

[whisper]

There have been a number of posts on this subject recently. Suggest you do a search on "handheld GPS" on all forums.

<hr width=100% size=1>

 

[Greg2]

PBO and MBM did tests on lots of models last year - Magellan Meridian Marine came out tops as I recall. Search on this site might find the articles (you can order back copies)

<hr width=100% size=1>

 

[Medskipper]

Hi,

I have four gps machines on board, they are all Garmin. The reason I have four is because I have just upgraded machines over a ten year or so period. My oldest Garmin being at least 11 years old, and still working perfectly well!

The point I want to make is that although my oldest is 11 years and my newest is just one year (Garmin 176c) they all basically operate with the same/simular program. So I am extremely familier with the way they all work! This I feel is very important because I am very unlikely to forget certain buttons to push or make mistakes when enroute.

I made this mistake once with two different Decca systems on board and I never really felt that I knew either of them all that well! kept forgetting which machine did what!

So my advice to you is different from others here, I would suggest that you purchase the same make as your main GPS and you will probably find that it works in much the same way.

Good luck Barry


<hr width=100% size=1>I just want to retire with my boat to the Med!

 

[Nat]

Bought A garmin geko 101 for a backup to my 182c very cheap. simple to use & effective
Maplins on special offer £89.00
............Nat

<hr width=100% size=1>2655