Recommendation for decent stand alone GPS for boat.

[Alewive]

I like the Garmin user friendly buttons on the Garmin 12, but how are their Marine units. Lowrance seems to get alot of press here as well. Any suggestions would be greatly appreciated.

[Bad Finger]

If you like the Garmin 12, you would love the Garmin 126. Same "Innards" with a bigger screen and built in antenna. Take a look.

[Tom]

i have the lowrence global map 100, this is my 2nd GPS my first was a Garmin 38 yeah the old dinosaur, i fell in lovw with the lowrence the minute after i turned it on, it took 30 seconds to lock 8 satelites, i was up at lake pymytuning when i first turned it on and man what a thrill i got when it showed the lake and all the roads and state road route #s along with the names, to me it was much easier to use than the garmin, but in garmins defense the 38 model was 1 of the first out there, for now i,ll stick with the lowrence its easy to use and has lots of USEFUL features, and you can also buy and download other maps of other lakes.




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[Alewive]

From what I can gather, the Garmin 126 is WAAS enabled, but the new Lowrance 2400 isn't. I have read some debate here about WAAS not being effective in some midwest areas. Without debating that, if it does work, is it more accurate than standard GPS?

Bad Finger, do you have one of these units?

[Road King]

I would recommend looking at the 162. It is under $400, has mapping, 240X240 resoution, and is a nice mid-range/mid-sized unit to run in your boat and truck. It comes with either an internal or external antenna and will accept Garmins Mapsource or Fishing Hotspots software. It is also WAAS enabled. I personally don't think the cheaper lower resolution non-mapping units are worth the money. Of course if you want to spend a little more, there are several nicer units available. I have not had any experience with Lowrance so can't comment on them. Either way get a mapping GPS unit, they are a great tool and great fun.

[walter]

I have had both Garmin and Lowrance units and in my opinion the Garmin is much more user friendly.

[tom g]

the garmin gpsmap 182 stands alone love it a little pricey but worth it