Buying a gps unit.

[iceman2]

I am thinking about buying a gps unit but which one? I was thinking about a Magellan Meridian or a Magellan Meridian Marine. Any suggestions on which would be the better unit or maybe something different?

[Mike]

Don't have a lot of experience here, but I just bought a Garmin GPSMap 76. Very happy with it. Probably should of spent the money for the upgraded model with the extra memory though. But, it's supposed to float and be waterproof. Works for me.

Mike

[kroppe]

I just got a Magellan Sport Trak Pro, I love it. It has a decent base map and has quite a bit of available on-board memory, which means you don't need to buy extra memory cards for it.

I simply wanted the unit for coordinates and speed, everything else was a bonus as far as I was concerned. If I was using it for route planning in a land vehicle I would have gone for a higher end unit, but I use mine mainly for fishing and hunting.

[Oct.1]

A few years ago I bought a Lowrance Global Map 100. I’ve been amazed with the accuracy as well as its satellite locating ability in the cedar swamps.
I’ve heard a lot of good things about Garman also.
Check out this site. You may find some helpful information.

http://gpsinformation.net/

[Huntress]

iceman2,

I use to sell GPS units and teach GPS classes at Bass Pro Shops, so I will pass along some information.

I personally prefer Garmin products. I find them very user friendly and they have a lot of software available for more detailed mapping.

There are a few questions you need to ask yourself when choosing a GPS unit: what will the primary use be woods, water or on the road? do you want a plotting unit or a unit with mapping capability? how much memory do you want? do you prefer a WAAS capable unit or not?

Depending on what size of a unit you are interested in I would recommend you look into the GPS map 76S, it has a detailed basemap, 24MB of memory for downloading, 500 waypoints, 50 routes, an electomagnetic compass, waterproof and floats and is WAAS capable. It typically sells for about $449.

If that is a little to pricey you can go for a GPS76. It has a detailed basemap, 8MB of memory, 500 waypoints, 50 routes, WAAS capable, a GPS compass and is waterproof and floats.

The Etrex series also has two units that are smaller but have similar features. The first is the Vista ($349), and the other is the Legend($229). I believe there is a rebate good through July 6th on these units.

The Magellan Meridian or Meridian Marine are both nice units. I like the ability to upgrade your memory. I find the units fairly easy to use, but dislike the limited maps that are available for the units.

Here are two websites that I would recommend checking out.

www.garmin.com
www.magellangps.com

I cannot remember the link to Lowrance. The units I worked with were difficult to use and took a good while to load information.

I honestly could tell you a lot more information, but prefer to keep the posts to a reasonable size so they are easier to read. If you have any questions please let me know, I will be glad to answer them. I would also be willing to meet you at Bass Pro Shops for a demonstration of the units, if you are interested.

Best Regards,

Huntress

[iceman2]

Thanks Huntress

I finally decided on the Magellan Meridian Marine, a friend from work has one like it and he showed me how it works. I found that for what I'm using if for it should work good and I thought it was fairly easy to use. Thanks for your help.