More on GPS
 

Do the new handhelds have WAAS capability even though they have internal antennas?
Do they work as well ?

My handheld is the older Magellan w/o WAAS.
But now that the SA is gone will it work as well as a new one with WAAS ?

Maybe may upgrade the handheld if they work as well as a full size CP.

Yes, handhelds have WAAS even with internal ant. and they work well.

WAAS will be a bit more accurate than your old unit, even with SA off as long as the unit can "see" the WAAS satelite. It may not make much of a practical difference, depending on your applicaiton.

waas
 

I have a garmin 76 with waas and it works awsome. They run around $200.00. For 100 more you ca get one with a chartplotter. I bought a map at west marine that had way points on it. Took me an hour or so but I have all the fishing spots i fish programed in.

QD, that is the one I was looking at yesterday, although no plotting, it is only for backup to my mounted plotter.

found it for 176$

I think this is the one I will go with and get rid of my old one.

Van - was that from Anchor Express ?

Yup, I also saw the garmin 72, which has almost all the same features, just missing a couple i dont care about. $ 140...
Its going for about $160-170 in the basic mailed catalogs.

garmin 76
 

You can always try e-bay.

QD:

Tried e-bay, but only found vendors for new equipment. I'm getting better prices online.

Did lots of searching yesterday, found a Lowrance i-finder (marine) for under 180$. The comparable Garmin MAP is 300$.

I'm thinking of spending a bit more because it does have full mapping and a 16mb removable card so with a MMC removable card, I could buy a chart from Navionics, plug it in and have super detail of my area.

Any thoughts on Lowrance?

A couple of reviews read say poor water reisistance, but a large screen with better res. than Garmin or Magellan. Other than that the reviews are 4-5 stars.

Van,
Is there any reason that you're not considering a fixed chartplotter? Even a mid priced CP is much easier to use than some of the best handhelds. If you could swing one of those, you would have a decent backup in your current handheld. Just a thought.

Roger,

Its somewhere in this thread, i do have a fixed CP, a Raymarine 425 with Navionics" Awesome machine.

This is strictly for emergencies to replace my old Magellan handheld.

I think its also a good idea to keep a handheld VHF for emergencies..

I ordered the Lowrance i-finder w/ map. 175$ as compared with the Garmin at 299$.
This I will say, this unit is awesome. It is basically a chartplotter with less chart detail and a small screen (no depth or details like a full CP). I've been driving around in my truck with it on and I am REALLY impressed. Picks up sats quick, updates auto time date etc...Picked up a WAAS signal quick and tells you that your signal is differential.
It has major bouys and land marks in the memory card. Bridges, islands even wrecks. You can use it just like a CP and watch your track as you go.

Looked at my track from my commute in today and it even picked up my cruise through the parking lot. Super accurate and real easy to use. One drawback I read about doing searches is the unit is NOT waterproof, just barely water reisistant. It comes with a Aquabag and it needs it. But its only for emergency use so it will not come out of the cabin very oftern (never I hope).

So I should be a lowrance spokesman eh??
Enough said.