Boat Builder Central - Builder Forums

Hey everyone,

I am looking into getting a handheld GPS/chartplotter for the FS18 when it is finished. The Garmin GPS units seem to pop up on a lot of those websites that review the "Best for 2020", but then I read some of the reviews on the new Garmins and they are not that stellar. Does anyone have a good recommendation for a handheld GPS/chartplotter.
Thanks in advance!
-Reid

I will never buy another Garmin. Their maps are proprietary and Florida takes 3 different maps (if I remember they were $300 a pop). Go with one that uses Navionics and comes preloaded.

My $0.02...

cape man wrote: ↑Fri Jan 10, 2020 1:45 pm I will never buy another Garmin. Their maps are proprietary and Florida takes 3 different maps (if I remember they were $300 a pop). Go with one that uses Navionics and comes preloaded.

My $0.02...

Thanks Capeman! That was one of the negative reviews that came up a couple of times.

-Reid

Didn’t Garmin buy navionics?

I bought a handheld GPS a few years back that was a $500.00 unit that was half off. Very hard to use and the screen is to small for me to see without glasses. Way to hard to use and I may have used it a few times. I bought it because it was waterproof and had a camera but just to hard to use.

I have had 3 Garmin GPS that I have used in my vehicles. I like to one I have now that I can talk to it and it tells me the directions. My 2nd ex was British so it talks to me in a British accent and when I miss a turn it seems to get upset at me from the tone of the voice. It has lifetime updates and traffic alerts that works very good here in Houston. Let's me know that traffic suck miles ahead if I tell it where I am going other wise it waits till traffic comes to a stand still and lets me know that I am in traffic. Reminds me a lot of my ex!

Jaysen wrote: ↑Fri Jan 10, 2020 5:34 pm Didn’t Garmin buy navionics?

No stupid. They bought active captain.

I actually just saw a commercial for Navionics and it is a Garmin company.

Jaysen wrote: ↑Fri Jan 10, 2020 6:53 pm

Jaysen wrote: ↑Fri Jan 10, 2020 5:34 pm Didn’t Garmin buy navionics?

No stupid. They bought active captain.

Reid wrote: ↑Sat Jan 11, 2020 9:13 am I actually just saw a commercial for Navionics and it is a Garmin company.

Dang it! The wife is right! I’m wrong even AFTER looking into the facts.

Perhaps things have changed, but the price of their maps sent me to Hummingbird when the old Garmin gave out. I was just at Bass Pro today, and all the hand held units in the hunting area were Garmin?

Reid,
Why not just use your IPhone in a waterproof case?

Reid, I agree with AA. Use your iPhone. Put a mount for it on your grab handle or wherever you want to mount it. I have the navionics app and it works great even offshore.

In aviation, Garmin are king!

In my boat I have 4 x Humminbirds!

The cell won't work on Cape Sable to Everglades City if you have Verizon. AT&T has fairly good coverage there, so I switched to Verizon

You guys are probably a bit more up to date on the electronics than me but downside of using your phone is, I believe, battery life, but check me on that. My Garmin runs on a couple of AA's so you can replace them. I don't think that's a common phone feature. Also, my Garmin floats, so, I kinda doubt that's a feature of any phone.

cape man wrote: ↑Wed Jan 15, 2020 7:07 pm The cell won't work on Cape Sable to Everglades City if you have Verizon. AT&T has fairly good coverage there, so I switched to Verizon

The chart plotter app will continue to work with your Android device's gps.

This old dog just learned something new.

Again, to be a bit obvious, a gps unit will not be relying on cell coverage.

Ouch!

terrulian wrote: ↑Sat Jan 18, 2020 8:17 am Again, to be a bit obvious, a gps unit will not be relying on cell coverage.

To be clear on this, cell phones use triangulation of cell, WiFi and low accuracy GPS chips to affix location. Your playing with fire if you get into a low water zone with hard obstacles and have no cell service. Heck, my Garmin watch is much more accurate than my cell (by about 12’) even when I have good coverage. And that’s true of both major OS types.

Its a hardware problem so those that prefer droid have a better chance of finding a high quality GPS chip but you will pay for it.