Who uses them, what do you use and why? I was thinking about getting one for hunting, fishing, and vehicle nav. It should be computer compatable , store many waypoints, and I like the maps.

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I've been using a Lorance Global Map and it's been good, although I can't say the same for they power cords:mad: . I got it on Ebay and saved about $150, including the mapping software and computer interface cable. It's very easy to use, the only drawback is the small screen, but if your looking at a portable, I think your going to find they all are lacking for screen size. I'd recommend that unit, but when I researched buying, Garmin seemed to be a highly recommended unit as well.

I thought about getting one for my buggy and one for when I'm walking the beach. But the accuracy isn't good enough to get back to the exact same spot all the time. The margin of error is IMO too much for realistic use on the beach.

Jaiem - what about differential GPS - more money but even that price has gone down. The differential essentially adds a secone receiver and takes the 2 positional fixes and averages them out. Accuracy increased to just a few meters...

I have a simple handheld Garmin for my boat. Yes , one with a map would be nice and if I were regularly venturing offshore , I'd probably get one. For Navigating the Bay in case of fog , the $150 hand held is more than enough.

I can see a use for the handhelds for fishing too. particularly in places with long stretches of featureless beach. Say you find a hole somewhere along a 10 mile stretch of beach. Its nice to just be able to drive withing say 50 yards of the spot using the GPS. Then , you have to find the exact spot but that should be easy enough if you are close.

Another use for it (Fishing in the Third Millenium) is to get on the puter and look at Arial or Satellite Photos. Lets say you see a spot that has a rocky point along a featureless beach. You know there will be fish there at some stage of the tide. You get the Lat and Long off the Map (say a spot in EastHam , MA) You then hop in the car in Cumberland , RI and start driving there. Instead of wondering oif you are on the right stret or whatever (as we do when hunting spots the old way) you just keep zeroing in on the spot with the GPS. Eventually the GPS will get you close enough to see this remote rocky point and bang , you found a new fishing spot using Sat photos and GPS electronics.

Anyway , if used intelligently with other sources fo information , I think a hand held GPS could be useflto a surfcaster. On a boat , for $150 , you got to be crazy to go out without one.

Saltheart, you're 100% right about plugging in coords. into the GPS then driving. My only problem is I start screwing around with the GPS in the car which ends up with me doing massive inadvertant lane changes. I get way to wrapped up with the thing while driving. I make the cell phone look like a joke. But hell, anything to get to a spot.;)


CSK

John - It's my understanding that even with a DGPS receiver (and I don't think you can get a portable hand-held DGPS add-on unit) there's still a margin of error. Maybe not a lot but when you're on the beach on a dark night 20-30 feet can make all the difference in finding the rock or cut or bar etc you want to fish.

Some years ago the LIF ran an article about LORAN in buggies. But I never saw anyone really use it so I don't think it catches on.

If you are going to be driving for miles and miles on an open otherwise featureless sandy beach, then I thinkg a GPS can help get you close to the stop you want. But you'll have to go visual from that point so it's mainly a daytime tool.

Actually - I ran out of time on my last post, but there is a new system called WAAS "Wide Area Augmentation System" that in addition to the sat signals, adds ground stations to give the same level or better than, the accuracy of DGPS - cheaper too. I was looking a couple weeks back and found this stuff on Garmin's site - here's a link... http://www.garmin.com/aboutGPS/waas.html

If a portable unit really is accurate to under 3 meters (under 10 feet) without needing an extra receiver then yes, it could be useful.

Question: How widely available is WAAS? Any "dead spots"?

South of the equator, Eroupe... Supposedly pretty good coverage along the US coasts... Turns out it's pricey though - around 500 smackers :eek:

I've been out in pea soup fog all season and my portable has been dead nuts on each and every time. Unless you are looking for lost treasure, a needle in a haystack, or the perverbial pot of gold on the other side of the rainbow, I would think standard GPS would be just fine. When I hit a waypoint to navigate to a ledge, run on plane to withing several hundred feet, come off plane to idle in and low and behold a ledge appearing out of the fog, I'm pretty damn happy with it. Anyone that's fished with me, will tell you, running around these waters can be hazardess to ones health, so you have to have confidence to do it....or loose a lower unit or two:) .

GS - some things in the surfwalker's bag o' tricks can require big time accuracy - finding a narrow bar for example, a particular hole or submerged structure. Sometimes it's just a little harder on foot... Now seeing what some of the prices are, the current inexpensive handhelds are the way to go...

I like the Garmin GPS III plus, but I can't spare 400 right now. The Lowrance Global map, and the Garmin eMap both look like good units. I may choose one of these. If it gets me to within 20 or 30 yards, its easier than trial and error all day. I want it more for getting to my tree stands from differant routes depending on the wind , and in the dark, as well as fishing. Thanks for the input.

I was wondering, can WAAS and DGPS be combined?

IOW, can you add a DGPS receiver to a WAAS GPS? Or are the two services mutual exclusive? (i.e. one or the other but not both combined)

As far as I can see, two seperate, unrelated technolgies. DGPS polls 2 recievers and votes the difference and WAAS has shore based recievers that track the minor time drifts (or differences - not sure 100%) of the satelites -vs- what you pick up on your GPS unit... Would running all 3 get you down to less than 3 meters probably, but short of military apps (and they have their own seperate systems) what would need that accuracy less than 3 meters (and would we want others too - hehehehe)

I had a magellan back a while ago. Not too accurate and not top of the line. I was going to use it for boating but that never turned out so I sold it.

GPS has come a long way. From what I hear, Military clearances have been lifted on GPS and it's been getting pretty accurate, like, within 10 feet I think it is. I was shooting the bull with a man I helped dock up a 30 foot trawler and he was saying he can tell where he is within a matter of feet. I've never used this brand but Garmin seems to be the top name in GPS systems right now.

Your best bet would be to take a little trip down to West Marine or a boatshop that you're comfortable with and have them explain a system. Some of these buggers are quite intricate with them being able to hook up to Chartplotters, Laptops, Loran systems and god knows what else.