I've had a handheld GPS since 1990 and have been limping along with my old Garmin GPS 2 and am tired of waiting 20 minutes to get a good fix and I wanted WAAS.

I purchases a Magellan SportTraK Topo at first and liked it but it was very basic which was reflected in the price.

Then I had it sitting on a rock on our beach and a child thought it would make a nice boat, the Magellans may float but take in the water BTW.

So after shopping and shopping I'm trying a Garmin 76CS and ordered the TOPO set.

Does anyone have any other suggestions?

Don't let any children near the new one.

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Enough about me, how are you doing?

It's waterPROOF and it floats, I let the kids play with it my almost 3 year old is even starting to get the hand of it, limited of course but she knows what they do and what their for.

GPS--great tool, especially useful if you already know how to use a compass and a map.

I use low-end (5 meter) and high-end (submeter/subdecimeter) GPS. My favorite low end GPS is anything by Garmin. They're rugged and quick. Also more nearly intuitive than any other I've used. For high-end I use Trimble.

I've only purchased Garmin for my boat.The handheld I have had for about 4 years and works fine, not WAAS enabled but works well.

My fixed mount on the boat is WAAS enabled and is great.

I have the maps loaded for the entire SE US and Bahamas.
Pretty cool stuff if I had more time to use the friggin' thing. Will probably sell it next week.

Can't comment on any other brands.

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Enough about me, how are you doing?

MedMech,

Have you used this in the car? My wife is sick of finding new soccer fields and houses for birthday parties already - so she wants an in-car nav system. This would include address entry and finding roads, points of interest. It seems built in car systems are DVD based which seem to point to the possibility of a huge db of info. Do you have to load a section of the country into yours at a time (from a computer or CD/DVD)? Let me know what you think. BTW - that's cool it floats!

Thanks,
Chuck

Yes I have used it in the car and it works great, you need the "streets" cd for auto routing navigation to work, the unit has 112 megs of memory which is a TON for mapping purposes. Basic State highways and interstates are burned in with rest areas ect you would only need to load side streets ect for the cities you plan on vistiting.

The thing I truly like about the unit is the ease of use and the display is crystal clear in anylight i can operate it doing 50MPH on my ATV.

If its for the wife check out the Palm PDA version for the same price it really takes it to the next level and she'll never miss a birthday

I'm still using a Garmin GPS12. Works well for my needs, however no TOPO and no decimal degrees. My main gripe is that the compass only tracks while moving and under heavy cover I seem to drop a satellite or two.

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Mike Tangas
'73 280SEL 4.5 (9/72)- RIP
Only 8,173 units built from 5/71 thru 11/72

'02 CLK320 Cabriolet - wifey's mid-life crisis

2012 VW Jetta Sportwagon TDI...at least its a diesel

Non illegitemae carborundum.

When you come up to see the new house you can give my new one a full workout on the quad.

I've got that Garmin too. W126's, Garmins, Boatnerd, CBP! Too weird

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Regards

Warren

Currently 1965 220Sb, 2002 FORD Crown Vic Police Interceptor

Had 1965 220SEb, 1967 230S, 280SE 4.5, 300SE (W126), 420SEL

ENTER > = (HP RPN)

Not part of the in-crowd since 1952.

Warren,

You forgot to add family in/from Canada.

The Twilight Zone theme should be playing about now.

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Mike Tangas
'73 280SEL 4.5 (9/72)- RIP
Only 8,173 units built from 5/71 thru 11/72

'02 CLK320 Cabriolet - wifey's mid-life crisis

2012 VW Jetta Sportwagon TDI...at least its a diesel

Non illegitemae carborundum.

Oh Yea! Really weird. Are you my long lost brother or something?

__________________
Regards

Warren

Currently 1965 220Sb, 2002 FORD Crown Vic Police Interceptor

Had 1965 220SEb, 1967 230S, 280SE 4.5, 300SE (W126), 420SEL

ENTER > = (HP RPN)

Not part of the in-crowd since 1952.