Which Hand Held GPS?

[AlexL]

Morning all.

My shiny new boat is arriving shortly, but for various reasons we need to deliver her back from the solent to shotley before we fit all the wizz bangs like the GPS and chartplotter.
I am intending to get a handheld GPS for the journey, but I wondered if anyone has any particular recomendations. I am also a private pilot and it would be useful to have one which would give some help in the plane.
I have thought about going the Pocket PC / GPS route which although not particualarly cheap, is versatile and also gives other benefits with the pocket PC.
Any thoughts / experience on this or other handhelds suitable for both boat and plane?

Thanks

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[sailorman]

mailspeed marine were selling the MLR whatever ( cant remember model) for £87
i bought one its very good with a large "readout" + easy to use
try thier site

<hr width=100% size=1>Nil iligitmo carborundum

 

[aluijten]

You might consider a bluetooth combination. In Holland yo can buy a set called TOM TOM navigatior. It consists of a Pocket PC, a GPS antennea (wired or bluetooth) and road navigation software.
The road software performs remarkably good, so you can use that for your car. In the air and in the boat you could consider either Memory Map or OziExplorer software (both can be bought via the Internet and are not very expensive. Charts for relevant area's can be scanned yourself (time-consuming) or you can buy them comercially.
The whole thing would set you back Eur 500 - 800 excl. charts for flying and boating.

Arno

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[frilaens]

Garmin 276C is great with a good screen, long battery (10 hrs+) and has car and plane navigation stuff with voice prompting. Downside are the Garmin maps.

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[PIGLETSDREAM]

Hi There,

I too use an old MLR, does what it says on the box. I also fly gliders when I have time and I can change to lat and lon on the display. Very simple to use, good instructions, not bad battery time and has external power socket. Think of it as 2 nights at Poole town marina!!

<hr width=100% size=1>Must go, Matron is coming

 

[Colvic Watson]

Reworked Garmin 72's are going for £119 at Piplers (online), got one recently and surprised how big the display is. Also totally waterproof (they say).

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[tome]

If you're going to use it for flying also, you want a large and clear display so would suggest something along the lines of a Garmin 76

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[ships_parrot]

I have an MLR SP24 XC handheld, seems solid enough and does what's asked of it. Mine came with a lead with a plug that plugs into the back of the gps and you can attach whatever plugs you like to the other ( I have a plug for external power and a 9 pin serial on mine) though I don't know if that was a show special. I think they also do a version that does glide slopes or something like that too.
They come in nice fisher-price type primary colours...

Robin.

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[PhilF]

I think all the portables are too small for on route use, including Tom Tom and memory Map which I have as well. At speed they are really hard to see. If you want it just to check positons its fine, but no good for actual navigation IMHO

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[aluijten]

On itself that is very much true, but in combination with some paper charts, it not a real problem.
Alex said it was only temporary...

A.

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[AndyL]

Sorry to tell you this but the MLR's are sold out and they have stopped making them.
I've always been happy with my Garmin 12.

Cheers, Andy

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[dralex]

I love my Garmin GPS 76, and as Tome said, it has a fairly good resoltion display which may well suit flying. I have a fixed GPS below, but hate it- we do all our navigation on the Garmin which I have on the binnacle.

Alex

<hr width=100% size=1>Just enjoy it.

 

[StugeronSteve]

Bought a Garmin 12XL a long time ago, new but re-work, at a very good price. Served us well over the years.

<hr width=100% size=1>Think I'll draw some little rabbits on my head, from a distance they might be mistaken for hairs.

 

[Peppermint]

Re:If

it says Garmin on the thing you'll be fine. Great products, good interface and fantastic aftersales service. They do a huge range of GPS sets with airways databases. Most of the marine sets are now processing fast enough for PPL stuff.

I took my marine set flying about five years ago. It was fine provided we slowed to less than 75 knots airspeed to get a fix. But as I say, the new stuff all seems quick enough.

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[DanTribe]

Re:If

My Garmin 76 worked fine on a flight back from Denmark recently.
I'm sure that even Ryanair do more than 75 knots, don't they?
Dan

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[Peppermint]

Re: Like I said

they're quicker processors now. Mine was a Garmin GPS45. The recorded track had huge great gaps in it.

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[DanTribe]

Re: I hope

that you didn't take umbrage at my reply. I was trying to agree with you that Garmin units are top notch.
In the past some have queried if handhelds will work below deck. Well my Garmin 76 does, it also works in the car and even commercial aeroplanes [422 knots]
It came preprogrammed with navaids worldwide and tidetables for almost everywhere except UK.
I commend this unit to the house.
Dan

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[samuel]

Re: I hope

Thank god no one has recommended a Magellan Meridian.
I bought one at the last london boat show & have had trouble ever since. The suppliers have passed me to the importers & only yesterday they managed to get it working.
I intended to use it with mapsend & that was a joke in itself.
It takes about an houronline to get it registered because the questions they ask are not available to the purchaser in obvious format. Then the CD did not work as there was no licence No. on it That cost me 20 quid to get changed & is a story in itself.
the cables supplied do not fit my computer.
I had to get a USB cable adaptor & this was faulty TWICE. It appears most of them are!!. The GPS went down when I was using it as a basic lat long recorder & had to be returned as it lost all memory. This is aparently quite common.
You cannot see the colour screen above deck so you have to go below to use it.
It is the biggest load of rubbish ever
If you get a GPS stick with Garmin!! Ive had 2 & they work without any hassle

<hr width=100% size=1>Justisla

 

[Solitaire]

Re: I hope

Seconded! I have just got the 76 - (while in the States, and you don't want to know the price/forums/images/icons/laugh.gif) The basic unit is great, OK so you can get the map version and the colour version etc, but that's all marketing hype. The screen is great for a handheld, but as a map/plotter! Don't waste your money.



<hr width=100% size=1>Boating is <A target="_blank" HREF=http://www.powerboattraininguk.co.uk>Serious Fun</A>

 

[Fin]

Bought the Garmin 76 from <A target="_blank" HREF=http://www.sportextreme.com/pw212>here</A> last year and still can't find it cheaper in europe. Went for the 76 over the 72 because of the MOB feature.

Fin

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