What GPS to buy?

[808state]

Hello all! I will be moving to Florida soon, and sailing is tops on my leisure list. I was wondering what kind of GPS should I buy for cruising the Keys, Gulf, and Bahamas. I''ve had some experience with basic GPS units on land. There seems to be so many choices for marine applications that it just boggles my mind. I guess I''m looking for opinions on what works for some of you. Thanks.

[MaryBeth]

Though I only have exp. thru selling it, at the moment, not sailing with it, the little Magellan Map330M seems like a great unit. Customers of mine use it for street use (car and motorcycle and ATV) and for water use, around here in E. TN and in the Keys, where there are many more details on basic database. One did say that there was one marker in the Keys that they had to make a waypoint for, but that other than that, the unit had everything just right. Costs around 270.00, including a CD for more street detail. Of course, it also gives you the excellent nav pages to steer back to a waypoint. Though I know everyone''s going to Garmin, please check out this really affordable unit. Magellangps.com.

Best wishes,
MaryBeth

[dscottl]

I just purchased a Magellan 315, it works great. I chose not to go with a map version because I found the display to small to be practical, for me anyway. With the 315 you can interface it with a laptop and charting software, which is more expensive baut very easy to read and manipulate. The 315 on its own has all the features you really need to sail with lots of routes and waypoint storage and a huge display.

Good luck in Your search. I did look at Garmin and found thhe price to be a little bit high.

[928frenzy]

I recently bought a Garmin 76S. It''s a handheld unit that is water resistant, floats (for a while), and holds 25MB of memory. It is WAAS capable and accepts the Garmin Bluewater Chart software. (BTW, I''ve downloaded the entire Chesapeake data into the unit and still have 5MB to spare.)

Also, it has a built in barometer, compass, and tide info for many selectable waypoints. Since I have Garmin Road and Topo software, the 76S was the optimum selection (for me). The fact that I got it new on ebay for about $350 made the decision even easier. ;^)

~ Happy sails to you ~ _/) ~

[mikehoyt]

I too have the Magellan 315. For the price it is a fabulous unit.

Only concern is that the buttons are not lighted which makes outside use at night a bit frustrating.

Functionally there is nothing this unit does not do that I would care to have. There are in fact several features it does have that I do not even use.