gps?

[jimmmyb]

ok i have herd you guys talk about gps alot in these fourms. my question is are these hand held device's or do they attach to boat.
and how much do they cost, & where do you buy them? thank you.

[77_Tahiti]

The GPS units that are used by people I know are hand held units. Seems like they run a couple hundred bucks or so and Cabelas or Bass Pro Shops will have them. I guess your local Walmart may carry them as well, not sure.
Good luck and a word of caution, dont go bragging that you have one of these units here on this site, it could result in tons of e-mail from a bunch freeloaders wanting to be your friend in hopes of borrowing your GPS unit. http://free.***boat.net/ubb/biggrin.gif

[beached1]

Last time I checked, they were about $100 at Office Depot. the one I use came from there and works really well. It's about the size of a Cell phone. It's a Garmin GPS III.

[Rivertoys_com]

I am actually only a couple of weeks away from purchasing one of them. I did all of my homework and found the Garmin GPSMAP76 handheld to be the best one for me. Garmin has a huge selection and there's very little difference between the models. I selected handheld so I can take with me anywhere, camping, hiking, road trips and boating. There are several models that mound to the boat and you can even get GPS speedometers for the dash. The GPSMAP76 has maps of the waterways and you can d/l any number of maps from Garmin's website or buy them on CD. The device also has several alarms, like an anchor drag alarm. BUT, one of my favorite features of the GPSMAP76 is that it floats! It's completely waterproof to 1 meter. The price is about $350. GPSs in general run anywhere from $100 to $600 and up. Mapping starts at about $250 or $300. Not only do they show where you are at in Longitude, Lat. and Altitude. They give your speed and can track where you've been so you can retrace your steps. Some will also the things like average speed and highest speed reached as well as time to the next point.
Basically, they're cool. But if you think your boat goes 100, maybe you shouldn't get one. http://www.goldenplasma.f2s.com/foru...es/happy11.gif

[kingb36]

A couple manufacturers make a dash mounted speedo that links up to a connection on the back of you hand held gps. power cables for 12 volts are available for some handhelds too. Nordskog makes one of these, not sure about Gaffrig. If you only want it for speed buy the cheapest one that has the port on the back, Garmin gps12 was about $125 and Nordskog speedos less than $100 I think. Hope this helps
b
[This message has been edited by kingb36 (edited July 13, 2001).]

[Rivertoys_com]

Beached, if you found a Garmin GPS III for $100, I hope you bought all that store had. I just double checked on Yahoo Shopping & refurbished and repackaged GPS IIIs are $199. The IIIplus is $290-$360. My best friend has a GPS III, they were higher end when they came out. They may have been that price because I think they've been replaced in the Garmin Line with the IIIplus and maybe the store wanted to clear them out. The III doesn't have a data port and cannot take d/ls of new maps and areas. In my opinion this is not a great choice for boating, although I have used it on my boat.

[jimmmyb]

thanks for the info, i guess i should have asked more detailed questions, i did look
at wall marts web page & they do have them
starting @ $100.00 up to $ 1000.00, do all gps units calculate speed ?
if not which feture do i look for in a gps unit that tells me it calculates speed?
ps. thanks for the info rivertoys.com
no my boat will not do a 100 mph, i would like to know how fast it is, plus when i get lost in the delta, i can find my way back to the launch ramp so i don"t miss din-din lol
thanks again everybody,

[Rivertoys_com]

They calculate speed and location. The Legend model at Wal-Mart has all of the good features. But check West Marine for a selection that is more marine specific. The 'guts' so speak of each is basically the same (and that includes alt, speed, & location) the difference in the features. I had to spend about 45 minutes with the sales rep at West Marine to figure out all of the differences in the Garmin models. The Garmin website has specifics also. http://www.garmin.com

[jimmmyb]

thanks everybody for the help, i just got back from frys electronics store, i bought a
magellan gps 315x the regular price was
$ 179.00 they had it on sale for $99.00
i bought the batteries while i was at frys
now i just need to figure out how to use it.
thanks again every one.

[Rivertoys_com]

Cool, now you just have tell everyone how fast your boat goes! http://www.goldenplasma.f2s.com/foru...es/happy11.gif
[This message has been edited by Rivertoys_com (edited July 13, 2001).]