thinking about buying GPS

[bobkayla]

a friend of mine is selling his handheld gps ,i fish smaller lakes and leaning more on more towards trolling, if i do buy one should it be one that is like the fishfinder style or the handheld one and what are the pros and cons of both thanks guys..

[mikeh]

I use a garmin hand held gps in the boat and a fish finder. I find the screen very hard to read on the gps as it is very small. My next purchase will be a fishfinder/gps combo unit. I think these units are great for trolling / finding structure .

[Garry2Rs]

I also started with a hand-held GPS and a fish finder. I agree that this is not the way to go.

I think that as large a screen as you can afford and colour are important for GPS in a boat. It's not like on the road where you will have a 3D view and a voice calling out the turns etc. Size makes it easier to follow contours and read the details on your navigation maps.

I bought a combo unit in colour with an external GPS dome receiver in 2003.

The GPS receiver has broken down twice in 4 years...My next unit will be the built-in receiver type.

As a side note I just put a cheap GPS in my truck and love it.

Garry2rs

[trapshooter]

I originally had a handheld in the boat as well. If you go this route be sure it is waterproof so you can fish w/ some splash and in the rain. Handhelds are also great tools because you can take them anywhere so if you hunt, hike, camp, etc. you will get a lot of use out of it. Otherwise I much prefer the GPS/Fishfinde combo in the boat. As someone else mentioned, screen size has a lot to do with it and once you have the split screen GPS/Graph you'll never go back. Colour is NICE too!

[Dabluz]

I have been using handheld GPS devices for quite a while now. All the handheld GPS devices now are waterproof. Most can even take a good dumping. Some models even float. I find that the screens on any of the handheld units is large enough so that even on the dash of my vehicle, I can clearly see all the info. It's even possible to buy fishing sonars that allow you to hook up a handheld GPS unit and you can see the info and maps right on the sonar screen. Example; Garmin makes sonars that will take info from a handheld Garmin GPS. Same goes with Lowrance.

 

I would not buy a combo sonar/gps unit because you increase the chance that the unit will break down. It's like buying a t.v. and CD reader in the same unit.

 

With seperate units, you can use the GPS in your vehicle in order to search out where your launch point will be, plus roads, gas stations, city streets, adresses etc. There are lots of places where I go fishing and camping that my buddies could not find without having a GPS in their vehicles. There are lots of free programs on the internet that allow me to send my waypoints and tracks to other people over the internet. All they have to do is download everything to their handheld GPS units.

 

When you get on the water, you continue to use the handheld unit whether or not you use the sonar.

 

Having a GPS enabled sonar....you can only use it on the water. There are many other times and places when a GPS really comes in handy.

 

For somebody who has the budget, having a GPS enabled sonar, a handheld GPS and a GPS in their vehicle would cover everything if they also buy the different software programs that must be bought to make these items fully operational. I don't have the budget for that.