memory in Garmin handheld GPS?

[flyingfish]

I'm in the market for a handheld GPS, and am comparing the Garmin eTrex Vista (24 MB memory), the GPSMAP 76 (8MB memory), and the soon to be introduced GPSMAP 76S (24 MB memory). Asking the user's out there, how much does the memory matter? Do you use it that much, or download enough stuff, where I should consider this important?
I will mainly use it during fishing the Detroit River, Saginaw Bay, and Lake Erie.

[Fishman]

I have a garmin gps map 76 which has 8mb of memory. I loaded the new bluechart cd for the regions of Saginaw bay, lake st.clair, detroit river, and lake erie. It took up 6.7mb of memory. So this leaves some memory for the storing of waypoints ans tracks but not that much. The more memory the better so then you don't have to keep loading and unloading differentt places in there.

[Mike Michalak]

Like any computer, the more memory available, the more efficient the equipment will be. That means faster load times (less "building" maps on the screen), more storage and better overall performance.

[Suzuki]

No matter what you buy there will soon be a better one. I have the Map76 with 8mb and I do not plan on upgrading. I do not us it that much so it not too much of an inconvenience to change the mapset whenever I need to. It will hold approx 2/3 of the state of Minnesota. I have files on the different areas I go and just plop them in prior to going there. Even if I don't upload the detailed maps the standard basemap in the unit is often enough to go on.