hand held GPS with rechargeable battery

[Zippy]

Is there such a thing??

Looking for a hand held GPS with rechargeable battery as a backup to the plotter on the boat....

any ideas? dont want to spend a fortune as hopefully it wont be used that much but cant be doing with finding aa batteries all the time!!!

Cheers

[chewy]

Why don't you just buy rechargable batteries?

[Nos4r2]

Originally Posted by Zippy

Is there such a thing??

Looking for a hand held GPS with rechargeable battery as a backup to the plotter on the boat....

any ideas? dont want to spend a fortune as hopefully it wont be used that much but cant be doing with finding aa batteries all the time!!!

Cheers

Rechargeable AA batteries are probably a better bet.

How about (for a real cheapy) an old Garmin Forerunner 101 or 201? The 101 is ridiculously cheap now. W've got one as an emergency backup. Just make sure you've got a home waypoint stored to show where you're going as there's no maps.
Wearing it on the wrist definitely beats trying to hang on to one while moving.

[Zippy]

cos i know what im like!!

"oh. the batteries in the Wii controller are flat. will just borrow them......."

come to use the GPS and im missing some!!!

[Avocet]

Originally Posted by Zippy

cos i know what im like!!

"oh. the batteries in the Wii controller are flat. will just borrow them......."

come to use the GPS and im missing some!!!

..... then take the ones from the Wii controller!

[willk]

I offer this compromise:

Put Lithium AAs in the GPS. They hold 5-6 times the charge of Alkalines and have a shelf live of about 10 years.

And they're so expensive that you'll never happily fart about on the Wii with them

[Nos4r2]

Originally Posted by willk

I offer this compromise:

Put Lithium AAs in the GPS. They hold 5-6 times the charge of Alkalines and have a shelf live of about 10 years.

And they're so expensive that you'll never happily fart about on the Wii with them

Or buy a forerunner 201 that has an inbuilt battery.

[willk]

Originally Posted by Nos4r2

Wearing it on the wrist definitely beats trying to hang on to one while moving.

Even a big lad like you would be limp wristed by the time you get home. I keep a big strip of Sticky Velcro (both sides) on my backup GPS - it's gonna get stuck to the console come the day. And yes, I have a wee dry rag-in-a-bag (á la Codders) just in case it's raining

[GaryC]

Originally Posted by willk

I offer this compromise:

Put Lithium AAs in the GPS. They hold 5-6 times the charge of Alkalines and have a shelf live of about 10 years.

And they're so expensive that you'll never happily fart about on the Wii with them

Can you do this? I thought Lithium AA batteries were 3.6v rather than 1.5v.

Personally I have a Garmin Etrex as back up and alway re-charge 2 (spare) sets of 2500ma/h batteries before going out on the RIB.

[9D280]

Or, use something like a Garmin 12/72/76 - with the "boat cradle" you can plumb it into the boat's battery, and fill it with AAs. The boat's battery will keep it alive, and it will instantly swap to the internal battery , giving you 8 hrs to get home should the boat power die.

If it's left switched on, you have a "snail trail" to follow home, or upload a selection of emergency waypoints just in case. (I think the 76 wil ltake a basic map?)

This selection also has the advantage that with a patch inside the console, (I use 2 phono plugs) you can also swap the NMEA into the radio to the Wee Garmin, thus keeping your DSC alive. (granted useless if your main battery has died, but Ok if it's a dead plotter you are trying to circumvent).