Best GPS for the Money

hutch9900 · **Joined:** Tue Mar 22, 2011 7:14 pm **Posts:** 456

Hey everybody! Can anyone suggest a good, cheap GPS for inland lakes? I would like something that we can use at Lake Erie as well as some of the other smaller lakes in Ohio. I would really like to be able to know the shallow areas well before I get too close especially at the very early and very late parts of the boating season around here.

Thanks in advance!

Cap'n Morgan · **Posted:** Mon Nov 14, 2011 2:07 pm

If you have a smartphone. There are FREE Apps that will give you what you need. That's about as cheap as I can think of.

hutch9900 · **Joined:** Tue Mar 22, 2011 7:14 pm **Posts:** 456

I do have a smart phone and we have tried using the road GPS on there. It seems to be very tempermental though. sometimes it works, sometimes it doesnt. I just want something that I can keep on the boat and know that it will work when I need it...........and no, I dont want to use paper charts :wink:

Cap'n Morgan · **Posted:** Mon Nov 14, 2011 2:19 pm

ric · **Posted:** Mon Nov 14, 2011 2:25 pm

I've done some research on this, and if I were to shell out the cash, I'd go with the Garmin GPSMAP 441. It's around $400 shipped. It's also the cheapest Garmin product that works with their new (which I would buy on the great lakes) on demand weather system...
https://buy.garmin.com/shop/shop.do?cID=394&pID=62133

I have one of those DicaPac waterproof cases for my smartphone so it does my weather/map duties without worrying about water. Good for most Florida lakes as you're never out of Cell/Data service. If I were to start cruising the rivers, yeah... Garmin it would be.

Paul I. · **Posted:** Mon Nov 14, 2011 3:08 pm

I like the Garmin units, easy to: use, upgarde frimware, to install and overall foot print.

It all depends what you want out of it!! I have the Garmin 740, love it!! It has NMEA 2k connections. I installed a fuel sensor so now I can see, MPG, fuel used & GPH.

Details of the shore line are very good!! You can even make the channel makers bigger for any range.

LouC · **Posted:** Wed Nov 16, 2011 8:16 pm

I'm still using paper charts, GPS is nice, but I would not depend on it 100%. I am going to finally get a GPS unit for the boat, but I have 2 sets of charts, one I keep at home and one on the boat, the one at home I look at from time to time to remind myself of the local hazards, of which there are quite a few (mostly rocks). The North Shore of LI has mostly deep water but the tides change the water levels 7 feet from high to low tide and there are rocks on some of the shorelines that you can't see at high tide but are just below the surface. I don't think that level of detail would show up well on the typical size GPS unit you would have on a smaller boat, but on paper charts they are plainly obvious.....

Paul I. · **Posted:** Thu Nov 17, 2011 9:11 am

Gamin's level of detail no matter what size screen is very good. In fact it is the same, because it is the same map. The problem with a smaller screen are really three things, or at least for me.

Since the screen is small, the channel markers, numbers, ect. are small. Now your doing 40 knots, the boat is bouncing. Now try to read the screen? And more so if your over 40.

The other problem I had, is that the smaller units have less memory and slower CPUs. So the faster I went, the slower the screen would update itself. This problem maybe improved with the 400 & 500 series, from the garmin I had. But true of the smaller units.

Plus, and it almost goes with out saying. You will see less of what is around you. You will need to zoom out more, in a bigger range, than with a larger screen.

To add, some have fish finder too. Now your splitting the screen.

It's all on, what will work for you!! I boat out of Boston Harbor, I have seen the fog roll in fast & when you lest expect it. I will not leave the slip without my GPS, fish finder, VHF and wife in that order.

Tanker Toad · **Joined:** Fri Sep 17, 2010 12:58 pm **Posts:** 71

I bought a garmin 1450LM (lifetime map update) so I could use it travelling to the lakes around KS, OK, TX and MO. I also bought the Inland Lakes (South central) Mapset from Garmin so I can use it on the water. The cost was half as much as some of the fancier Chartplotters and since I am not traversing big open water it works for me and gives me the situational awareness that I need on some of the "bigger" lakes around here (Ozarks, Tablerock, Grand etc).

See my post here viewtopic.php?f=20&t=8000&start=0

You could buy the Inland Lakes North East or North Central version, depending on how far east or west you travel with your boat, both cover lake Erie.

My two cents

www.iFourWinns.com

Best GPS for the Money

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