portable gps chart plotter

[isaac]

Not owning now (or soon) but just sailing on other boats, I am considering purcahsing a hand held GPS chartplotter.

Looked a the new Raymarine. Looks great, but pretty bad review.

Considering the Garmin 76C I think it is.

Anyone have a recommendation?

[winthrop fisher]

hi.
i would look at the 56c by lowrance, lowrance has allot to choose from and they are faster then garmin.
i have had both garmin and lowrance and still use them.
beside there is allot of new ones coming out and you can find them cheaper thru the stores (boater world).
winthrop

Not owning now (or soon) but just sailing on other boats, I am considering purcahsing a hand held GPS chartplotter.

Looked a the new Raymarine. Looks great, but pretty bad review.

Considering the Garmin 76C I think it is.

Anyone have a recommendation?

[bottomscraper]

We have had a Garmin Map76 for two years and it has worked well. We only have the internal low detail "charts" but that was close enough since we use it with paper charts.

We recently purchased a Garmin 192C fixed mount that includes built in detailed charts for all of the coastal US! This was a birthday present for Melissa (and she really did like it). I have no idea how much they will be charging for chart updates.

<speculation>
I think we will see handheld models with built-in detailed charts in the near future.
</speculation>

[George Shaunfield]

I purchased a Garmin GPSMAP 76 and Blue Chart two years ago. It was a very good unit and the charts were great. The 76C with color would make the display easier to read. Last summer I sold mine to a friend and bought a Garmin 172C to get color and a larger display. All Garmin units function in the same consistent way.

I have no experience with other brands except examining them at West Marine before making my purchases. I liked the Garmin units best.

George

[Pete]

I choose the Garmin GPSMap 276c. I added blue charts chip and have liked what I got. The format is large enough to see, but not so large as to become a major focus at the helm. It also does road routing, as its designed to be used in Automotive or Marine mode. Shop around on the net, I found unit for hundreds less than store prices.

I do hear that newer units are about to be released... so price on this unit may drop.

Pete