garmin gps

[sawingknots]

i have a garmin gps76 that i've had for several yrs,i'm going to buy another one for a backup,i have gobs of paper charts but still lack some for some areas so i'm thinking of buying a handheld gps chart unit,does anyone have any recomendations?there seems to be a wide array,do any have preprogramed charts or do i need to also buy a chip,which do you use?thanks

[Undadar]

I just went thru this research project and found it to be very time consuming. I ended up purchasing a Garmin 441s which includes US coastal charts. You do have to be very careful and read the fine print. Some of the models within a "family" have different options and it can become very confusing. For example the Garmin 431 is essentially the same unit as the 441 but the 431 has US inland charts.

I have very little actual time with the 441 on the water (and only near Ft. Myers, FL) but so far the chart data has been accurate.

JdFinley.com | Sailing, development, and life with JD

[mitchbrown]

I bought a Megellan handheld. Megellan also sells a program for the PC called Map Send Blue Nav which has all the charts for the US, which you upload to the gps. I can do routes and waypoints on the PC and upload them to the GPS. Its also nice to be able to save routs and waypoints on the PC for later use.

Mitch

[Tweegs]

We’re using an old Garmin II and a program called Seaclear on a laptop.
Seaclear is a free program that uses raster charts from NOAA, also free.
Another free program called G7towin, can upload and download routes and waypoints to/from the GPS.

Paper charts on board just in case.

Don’t know if that is what you were looking for, but it does provide a cheap “Plan B” if all or part the other gear decides to crap out.

[sawingknots]

thanks,i think i'll go with the garmin 441s,my pc is so slow i could probably complete my trip before anything would load,in my home area we have worse technology than most 3rd world counties uhuhuh