stand alone GPS units

[Kurt]

Has anyone used the Garmin 162 or what are some thoughts on a different unit. I am open for any suggestions.

[JohnP]

Hey Kurt, I purchased a Garmin 162 about a month ago. I don't have it mounted on the boat yet, but I've been playing with it in the house. Its got the external antenna, so I just string it out the window and go. So far I'm pretty impessed with it. I bought it at Boat US, for $400. and I was really impressed with the young fellow that demo'd it for me. If I knew as much about gps's as he did I be ok. Anyway, very user friendly, but a lot of really neat options. The video you can buy with it is $20, Its ok I guess, it gives a brief overview and thats about it.
Good luck and I hope this helps a little.

JohnP

[ifish4eyes]

I have the one with the internal ant. I was happy with the unit until YK2. Then thing went burzerk. I'm getting ready to send it in for repair. But what I heard they will do a good job fixing the unit. Personally I would go one step further and get the DGPS capability to get the most from the disabling of the selctive scrambling.

[biggs]

>Has anyone used the Garmin 162
>or what are some thoughts
>on a different unit. I
>am open for any suggestions.
>
purchased a magellan 315 last yr,its a hand held model.also bought the mount and plug in adapter for it.fished 17 tournaments and took it to northern qubec fishing. wouldn't be without one now.in the dark,fog,or on big water cuts navigation time by 1/3 to1/2.saves on fuel cost it will pay for itself.
good luck

[Lundy]

Kurt i use a lowrance global nav 310 and i'm very satisfied with
it.
You can check it out on thier website at www.lowrance.com
Good Luck with your choice.

[Calif Bill]

Santa delivered a 162 to me for Christmas. Played with it in the yard, have not mounted on the boat yet, may go visit the boat this weekend. I fish the Calif Delta and the maps look good for this area. I bought from www.tvnav.com for $355 + $13 express shipping, no tax.
Bill

[RD]

I have had a 162 for several months and use it in my boat and truck extensively. I think it is a great unit. I have loads of fun with it. Anxious to try their new Canada mapping software.

[Mike Michalak]

Just wait until you guys see the new MapSource Fishing Hot Spots software Garmin's coming out with! The "official" announcement comes out tomorrow.

They're planning to have it available by March and will have about a dozen regions across the country. They're beginning with some select lakes, but it takes time and they say there will be more coming soon. We should be getting our advance testing copy this week and I'll be sure to let you all know! It's set right now for both the 162 & 168.

Mike Michalak
President
Fishing Hot Spots, Inc.

[drizz]

I used the 162 for the last half of last year and love it. You'll want to get one of the Garmin CDs to go with it. I got the Roads and Recreation CD. I've been very impressed by the accuracy of the mapping even on some of the Mississippi's small back water channels. Some of the detail is a little outdated or missing regarding some of the smaller landings and such but it's pretty minor. A non-mapping unit is OK if you program enough stuff into it before hand but I had an experience where fog rolled in on me while fishing familiar waters where I never expected to need a GPS. The mapping allowed me to move around and still know where i was on the water. Before anybody beats me up about GPS not being radar, I didn't say I could run full throttle because of the GPS, just that I could move in a particular direction very accurately at a safe speed. I'm waiting for those HotSpots maps now.