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Old 09 July 2009, 08:02   #1
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handheld gps

Hello
I was wondering what is the best handheld to get? i see alot of the garmin ones look like on land navigation. i guess they work at sea too. but is there a specific one that is best for the sea?
cheers

Cam
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Old 09 July 2009, 15:54   #2
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Depends on how much you want to spend, to a large degree.

I would say a mapping unit (one that displays a basemap, preferably an upgradeable basemap) would be nice.

Color helps you see the screen easily, assuming it's a sunlight readable display.

Larger displays are easier to read at a glance when bouncing around trying to miss obstacles or larger waves.

If all you need is something to get you to a waypoint, just about any of them will do.

jky
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Old 09 July 2009, 19:29   #3
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If you want a mapping one, go for one of the colour ones.

Originally I had the GPSmap 76 black and white, which was good, but then went over to the colour version and it was loads clearer display.

I like garmin, you can do cool stuff like this with your tracks:
http://trail.motionbased.com/trail/player/8448363

I would be tempted by the new Oregan range, they look good for land and water.
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Old 10 July 2009, 12:01   #4
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Agreed, the colour displays are without doubt worth it on a handheld device. I chose the Garmin 60Csx rather than the 76 series just because I found the ergonomics preferable (personal thing). Its a bit smaller (though screen is the same) and I like the buttons at the bottom. Same functionality when you use bluecharts. But it doesn't float! Pretty tough though as mine has had a lot of abuse

I haven't tried the latest touch screen / dial versions of the Garmin yet. Bigger screen would be good but I'm less sure about jabbing a small touch screen on a moving boat.

Although I have a fixed GPS plotter (Navtec) on the rib and pc based (Deckman) race systems on the yacht I navigate on, I still tend to use the handheld. On the rib, I use to collect tracks and as a backup. On the yacht, it's usually the primary on-deck tool when racing. The pc system only getting used for overall 'big-picture' planning.

When using a handheld, I'd recommend doing all your waypoint and route planning on the Garmin Mapsource software on the PC beforehand and downloading it. For this reason, I also buy the cd version of bluecharts and download onto the card on the device - I don't think the sd card versions of the charting is quite as flexible.

The thing to remember with a handheld is that you need to have the 'big picture' visualised in your head as it won't all fit onto the screen (at a reasonable / useful) resolution. Hence, the pre-planning helps here! If you can do this then they are amazingly powerful and versatile.

I'm going to have to try out that track playing stuff too...

Quote:
Originally Posted by BrAinZ View Post
If you want a mapping one, go for one of the colour ones.

Originally I had the GPSmap 76 black and white, which was good, but then went over to the colour version and it was loads clearer display.

I like garmin, you can do cool stuff like this with your tracks:
http://trail.motionbased.com/trail/player/8448363

I would be tempted by the new Oregan range, they look good for land and water.
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