Re: Best GPS for Kayaking

Posted by Mike Hanks on May 4, 2006

I just bought one recently after doing a lot of research first. I settled on the Garmin GPSMAP 76. It is truly waterproof, it floats, and you can download maps and charts to it. The basemaps could be better, but are functional. They have navaids on them, but shoreline details are missing. It does have tide information on it from the factory, which I have been using a lot. It has a quad-helix antenna, so it gets better reception in vehicles, woods, cloud cover, and fog. There is also a Magellin unit that is of the same quality, but has slightly different features.

I am about to puchase more detaled maps and/or charts for it, but still need to decide which ones to get. It comes with a serial port cable, but my laptop does not have a serial port, so I had to purchase a USB to Serial (RS-232) cable. I have seen these cables online ranging for $4 to $50, so shop around for it if you need it.

It was more than I planned on spending, but I did get a good deal on it from www.gpsdiscounts.com

They currently have it on sale for $244, but it is regularly priced at $399.

I heard from others that have this unit, that they do not keep it in a case, but have it on their deck and regularly roll with it.

Mike

In Response to: Best GPS for Kayaking by Wilke on May 3, 2006

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