Hand-held GPS

[UncleTed]

I talked to some guys in the Saginaw bay forum about some hand held GPS info. Seeing if anyone in here has other input. Guy a Jays showed me the Lowrance ifinder H2Oc and some of the different garmin models they have. I am debating if the lowrance is really worth the money or if a cheaper garmin is all one would need. Let me know what you all think.

[waterfoul]

I have a H2Oc and really like it so far. One gripe I have is how small the displayed numbers are for speed, heading, etc... on the mapping page. If you are running across anything more than glass calm water they are very hard to read. I have a Navionics super chip in mine. Good detail. I also have a Garmin 72 GPS. Non mapping, and in my opinion, now that I have a mapping unit, it is usless for fishing really.

[UncleTed]

you're saying your old garmin is useless now that you have the lowrance with mapping options?

I just don't want to get something cheap and then have it not have the necessary tools or be a POS.

[Lucky Dog]

Hard to beat the Garmins.

[sfw1960]

GET the mapping capability. I have 3 (4 as of Y/D , but sold one - LOL!)
GPSes and I have a Navionics HotMaps USA chip , swore I'd NEVER spend "that kind of money" on a dinky chip... then one day I was in the basement invetorying the $$ I had wrapped up in map books.
You won't be sorry.

;)
Robert

[waterfoul]

you're saying your old garmin is useless now that you have the lowrance with mapping options?

I just don't want to get something cheap and then have it not have the necessary tools or be a POS.

Useless? Not useless I guess... but my Garmin is not nearly the fishing and navigating tool that my H2Oc is. The Garmin is only good for finding a spot you marked because you've already been to it, or have the coordinates ahead of time (either from a chart or a friend). The H2Oc will show me where I am and where I want to go to on a map

I would recomend the Lowrance. Garmin makes a great product... but to get the same kind of features my H20c has you will spend nearly 2x as much for the Garmin 76c.

[Oldgrandman]

I like the Magellan Map330M I have. It is old but still a nice piece of equipment. I @$$ed it up once right after I got it and they replaced it for $35 handling fee. So good service in my opinion. Not cheap at the time but not the most expensive either. I wouldn't overlook them while shopping.
Get the map feature.

[UncleTed]

From the sounds of things, I should not to cheap this one out if i don't have to. I have had two guys try to sell me garmin etrex models. Both would give me a very good deal. I am hearing the lowrance or equal substitute with mapping capabilities is the way to go.

I like the comment about the H2O being useful to navigate as well. I'm sure its not like one you'd put in a truck, but if it is handy that will do or atleast help me reason to spend that kind of $$$.

One more question...Is the mapping capability where you draw your own maps or can load detailed maps? I guess I am not exactly sure all the capabilities that feature entails.

[res]

You can get a mapping unit in about any maker. I have a Lowrance mapping on the boat. It is a large screen model and I love the thing. I have the lake maps pro on mine and it does great with the Lowrance system. I also have a garmin handheld 60csx. I only have a topo map on it since that is what came with my package. I was going to put a lake map pro on that one as well but found out that garmin did not purchase the rights to the full array of lakes that Lowrance did. I am certain there are other chip makers that would work great in a Garmin. The thing to understand is that the lower units may not have the capacity that the higher units have. This is important when you are trying to put maps in your unit. If you have a small capacity, you can only down load small amounts of the map. With larger capacity, you can down load whole states, etc. You might also try dropping in on the GPS forum and asking this question a bit as well. Hitechman and several others can also be a big help to you in your decision. Rick

http://www.michigan-sportsman.com/forum/forumdisplay.php?f=71

[BBBYpsi]

I bought a lowrance ifinder h2o black & white last year for my first boat. I got the chip for north america. It really helped me out on lake erie last year did not get lost & put cordinates for alot of different places on lake erie & took me right to them. I would go with the lowrance ifinder h20

[UncleTed]

Thanks alot for all the info. I think i will take Rick's advice and start another thread in the GPS forum. If anyone has any other input please post it...i would like to hear anything possible. I do appreciate everyone's input on this.

[sfw1960]

Garmin does make a good product , as all the rest are also - bang for the buck - I think Lowrance has it.
;)

Steve will sure fill you in on the Garmins... Plenty of users here....
I guess we'll see what happens in that thread!
:)
R

[Brown duck]

I have a Lowrance (given as a gift) but I would rather have a Garmin - they are way more user-friendly.

[UncleTed]

Brown Duck

Why is garmin more user friendly?

[sfw1960]

I don't know how that is.... Mike owns both & he likes his LOW - '02c
I guess if you learned on one -then maybe , but from what I've seen they are all pretty easy to run compared to ten years ago.
I have a 797c2SI 'Bird , Eagle AccuNav Sport and a Lowrance LMS332c.
I have friends with Garmins and they are ALL easy to run ONCE you learn the menu system.
:)

[MuskyDan]

If you buy the hunting version of the Lowrance Ifinder color you get all of the options the H2O has plus landmarks to. I would get the hunter friendly version if I had it to do over but love my H2Oc. Good luck!

[UncleTed]

is the hunter version worth the extra $$$? What kind of landmarks do you have on it?

[MuskyDan]

topo maps!

[FishDaddy09]

Check out the prices at Tiger GPS .com I got my Lowracnce Expedition C for $245.

[UncleTed]

Funny you mention that...I talked to a kid at Jays about these and then and went on the internet and found Tiger GPS. I could get a H2O c plus for 30 dollars more than a regularly priced H2Oc at Jays. I almost pulled the trigger on that deal but i wanted a little more info first.

[ironmachineus]

I have the Lowrance Expedition C. My father in law has the H20 C. I much prefer the Exped C, particularly the software that you can get with it if you buy the package deal. The detailed maps are great. For some reason, the H20 C doesn't automatically show trails and waypoints on the detailed Barometric maps that you can buy. It also has a few more features. Someone above mentioned hard to read spead numbers - the Exped C has an option where the whole screen can be turned into speedometer mode, or you can have the map off and the coordinates on with much larger heading, speed and coordinate numbers. Either will work fine, but I'm very happy with the exped C. Also, Lowrance customer service is incredible. I did have a small problem with my unit after using it a few weeks, and they send me an entirely new unit right away. They also have good support for any tech questions you have.

[UncleTed]

Does the exped c have the same water options as the H2O? I really like the ability to have depths of lakes.

Also someone above mentioned the hunt c. Does anyone know if both of these models have the same capability as the H2O?

[ironmachineus]

None of the detailed maps are standard. You can load any of the depth maps into either of the units. I don't know about the Hunt C.