Handheld Gps

[J S]

Hi there i would like your advice on what hand held gps you thing would be suitable for navigation on a 3.5m sib. I would like to be able to plot a course and follow it on the gps.

Comments advice appreciated.

James

[Nos4r2]

Check the battery life before you buy-I bought one a couple of years back and it used a set of batteries every 4 hours

[codprawn]

Depends what sort of detail you want. The mapping on most hand held GPS units is not up to much. Great for going to waypoints etc or finding your way back to a point though.

You could always buy a PDA with built in GPS - then you can use it in the car with TomTom or buy charts for it or even convert paper charts. Even surf the net.

http://cgi.ebay.co.uk/MIO-P550-WIFI-...QQcmdZViewItem

Very versatile and you can get an otterbox or even a waterproof bag for it.

[J S]

I think i would prefer a dedicated one as a pda ( i have one ) might be a bit fiddly to use when going along. Does anybody have an idea of what makes / models are the best.

Thanks

James

[Andy Moore]

Originally Posted by J S

Hi there i would like your advice on what hand held gps you thing would be suitable for navigation on a 3.5m sib. I would like to be able to plot a course and follow it on the gps.

I would recommend that you stick to something from the Garmin range. Maybe an eTrek. Well made and intuitive to use.

IMO, of course.

[Andy Moore]

Originally Posted by Andy Moore

Maybe an eTrek.

Scrub that. An eTrek may not be waterproof.

[Andy Moore]

Originally Posted by Andy Moore

Maybe an eTrek.

Scrub that. An eTrek may not be waterproof.

The general advice about Garmin gear applies though.

Look here...

[Tomas]

I recommend a Garmin 60Cx with Blue Charts mapping. You can get an adapter for a 12V plug, it is waterproof, does auto routing if you have City Nav and the marine charts are pretty darn good with bathymetric depth lines, marks and all. There is a 60CSx that also has a fluxgate compass and altitude computation but I don't recommend it. The 60 Cx is bulletproof! It is a hand held and you can also get marine mount and auto mounts for it. It's antenna and chip set are a new deal and are very very good at obtaining and holding a fix in adverse conditions such as tree or cloud cover.

[Stoo]

http://www.lowrance.com/Outdoor/Products/iFINDERH2O.asp

I use one of these as a backup to my fixed mount Lowrance LCX-25C. A big part of the appeal was that both units accept Navionics charts and that I could pre-load a zillion waypoints on the handheld and then transfer them over to the fixed unit.

The handheld does eat batteries as was pointed out, and you might consider a unit that you can "plug in" to a power supply. The iFinder will do that, so I can plug it in to a cigarette lighter-type outlet, and also use in in my truck...

Both units are waterproof.

[Lostboy]

I have the good old Garmin 72 handheld with a permanent feed from the rib so battery life isn't an issue. It has all the solent racing marks and waypoints in so I have a pretty good idea of where I am despite not being a plotter. I use a handheld as I then transfer it to the yacht when racing and it gets used ahead of the plotters as it can be held on the rail and viewed rather than keep disappearing down below or trying to get behind the plotter mounted on the binnacle.

I haven't gone down the handheld plotter route yet but with the 76cs being discontinued and there being a lot of offers on I am considering that. The fact that it's the same size, shape and fittings as the 72 and mean that I wouldn't have to change anything on the rib appeals immensely! The only negative is the very small screen size relative to a 276 or larger.