Anyone own a Garmin 76, or 60 (csx, cx etc)

[Bigfishhunter]

Just wondering if anyone has this handheld unit and how do you like it?

I am debating between this one and the 60. What I like about the 76 is that it is fully waterproof and floats and I do spend a lot of time ice fishing, hunting, and other ativities in and around water.

My problem is that it seems that with the buttons above the screen it might be awkward to operate. I mean I am a cell texter and I can't see any benefit to having the buttons above the screen, that would really slow me down.
So in that regard I like the 60 csx better. Any opinions out there?

[yarcraft91]

I bought a GPSmap 76 when they first hit the market and it is still my "go-to" handheld. It outperforms my much newer Lowrance H2Oc- better satellite reception and more accurate fixes. I just wish it had more memory for maps- only 8MB. I see you can get this model on Amazon for $155 with free shipping.

I also have a Garmin eTrex Legend- not impressed- poorer satellite reception and a small screen almost impossible to read. No experience with the 60's, but I'd want to compare side-by-side with the 76.

[Triton HWA]

I have a 76Csx and it is a great unit, put the mocro card in and load the maps for your area. I also had the etrex and found it to loose sgnal in the heavy canopy of the mountains elk hunting so i went to the 76 adn it will even work inside many buildings, what a great unit. had it 4-5 years and no issues. use usb to plug to laptop and fire up the navigtor software and turn by turn instructions on the fly anywhere. I have saved a weeks worth of track lines and loaded to google earth and made some really cool maps of the fishing and hunting trips. I love it.

[walleyefreak]

I have the 76 Csx also and I love it too. I've never had any trouble with it, and with the micro SD card you can load tons of maps. I currently have all the East Coast and Canada topo maps for the route on our anual trip from Md up to Foleyte Ontario, as well as the Fishing Hotspots data for the PA Lakes, and still have lots of room to spare.

I use it for just about everything. I take it huniting with me, I use it as a backup to my GPSMap 178C Sounder on my boat.

Prior to this I had the older b/w GPSMaps 76 and it was a good unit, but with only 8mb internal memory you were very limited with what you could load.

Unlike Triton I haven't loaded my track data into Google Earth yet, but I think I am going to start to play around with that. Seems like a pretty neat toy.

[gapr]

I have the 76Csx as well. I use it on the water all the time as well as using my garmin sonar/gps i have on the boat. i find it easy to use a nice clear color display, i have the canada topo maps loaded for all the areas i am in. gives a better shoreline image than the base maps. they would be great for hunting but i have retired from the hunting portion and use all my vacation and spare time for fishing. we from western canada suffer from not having the marine maps available to us. the reason i always have my 76Csx with me is that it is very easy to download to my pc and retain my fishing trips and record dates and success.

[worthsr]

I need a new handheld GPS for Canada, specifically Lac Seul. Are there marine maps of Lac Seul available for the 76Csx? I need a GPS that is great for fishing with quality maps and reliable reception. Thanks.

[Bluff]

I have owned the 76csx for over two years and can't say enough good things about it. Besides the graphics, barometer, buit-in compass, etc., it has been great on water in both northern Wisconsin and Ontario where I fish. No electronic maps available where I fish but I do use the Garmin Canadian and US Topo software. It can be a godsend when your on big unfamiliar big water (especially after dark). Great unit - and trust me, real durable and water resistant. Pretty good battery life as well. I understand you can load various lake map programs into the unit via a PC but I have not tried it. Also a great way to share coordinates and track past fishing trips. Works well in hot and very cold weather.

[REW]

Big fish,
If you are going to be using this in a boat very much, consider the purcahse of a larger unit.
You can easily mount any of the gps units with internal antennas on an ie fishing battery box and make it easy to tote in the boat.
Obviously, it is not so friendly for hunting.

But in the boat, and or ice fishing the larger screen is a very big benefit.

You can often find a large screen with the features that you want for less money than a hand held unit.

Take care
REW