Choosing a GPS help.
 

Anyone have any advice on what gps units are good and economical?

I have an old lowrance lcx-15mt. It isn't fancy, not color, doesn't monitor my engine or mpg's but it just always works.... Maybe not much help but it's all I have for ya.
I'm sure some folks with deeper pockets will post up on the newer stuff soon.

I have always use Garmin and they have been great!! I have a 4210 now with radar and fish finder, but they are $$$$

http://wellcraftv20.com/community/sh...ighlight=radar

Also I have a good working Standard Horizon Color GPS CP 180 That I used for a year before I bought the new one. I need it for the sea ox when my old one died, I can sell for $150 has att, bracket, owners manual and cover if interested

http://www.standardhorizon.com/index...3&isArchived=0

Northstar 951X is the hot ticket, you will not find one better, just so happens, I have one for sale :zip: If you are interested, send me a PM.I tell all my customers to get a Garmin, the 441 and 541 are both nice units, they are color and come with built in charts. I was in West marine yesterday and happended to look at one, i couldn't believe the price, they have gone up quite a bit since hte last time I looked at one. Lowrance is a hit or miss, my friends that install depth finders/gps' for a living tell me all the problems they have with them, but the fishing boards are all about them

PS, I also have an older Ray marine rc320 for sale cheap

Lotta peeps using an ipad for navigation and I can see why...I put a navionics app on my new iphone and it's fookin' GREAT!!...has all the detail and MORE of the chart functions that my chart plotter has in the boat...arrow follows the course over water, displays speed over ground and the contrast, picture quality is world class...and when not in boat, can be used for laptop computer...so it's a two-fer that's hard to beat...comes in black or marine white and there is a boat mount you can get for it...fo shizzle!!...:clap:

only downside is that (I THINK) you lose gps when you leave cell service
I know my iphone does but maybe the ipad is different

I've been very happy with a small Lowrance M68c color fishfinder/plotter. Compact and more features than any human can ever use. Mounted on helm dash. Internal antenna works fine and I use "shoot thru hull" transducer. Paid $399 for it years ago.

I don't see it in West Marine catalog this year but "Elite-4" model looks like a replacement. $370 You can get a greyscale version for $250.

Whatever you get, I suggest you get something designed to be mounted in a boat.

LOL talk about overkill. I have a Raymarine Radar w/CP and GPS built in, Plus I have a Garmin that I love... Old, funky, but still works beautifully... and lastly, I have an iPhone. But when all is said and done, make sure you have a good compass with you also.

A freind of mine has an older pacemaker that has an enclosed cabin, it cruises at about 9 knots, he has a program for his laptop that uses an external gps antenna that plugs into his laptop that runs the equivalent of the navionics platinum with all teh detail and google earth images, he only paid about $350 for the whole set up(not counting the laptop), if you have a slow boat with an enclosed cabin thats not going to get bounced around a lot, this is the way to go

MJ...sent you a PM......Kracker Jack, if you are interested you can have first crack at it.

I have been using the Garmin out of my wifes car lately...suction cup sticks right to the windsheild...you just have to be sure to put it in "off road" mode.

yeah.............. uh...... I have a new one of those now..... I was using mine on dad's bass boat testing the new motor...... I bumped it with my hand and it popped off the mount and went in the drink... I tried to grab it and actually touched it in the water and then it, along with 8 years of saved addresses, was gone :sad:

see my prevoius post...."designed to be mounted in a boat"

I just downloaded Navionics USA ON MY HTC EVO!!! Just to have it, what a kick a$$ download!!!! To bad cell service sucks 20 miles off the beach. My cell download is almost as on the albemarlegood as the gps on the albemarle!

You guys are sayin' the iphone's chart downloads won't work out of cell service...RATS!!...1st I've heard that, but I don't understand it...it's GPS generated data overlayed data from the Nav...where does the cell signal come into play??...:head:...not disputing it, just don't understand it...

I don't understand it either and I'm NOT absolutely certain, but my iphone has a gps speedometer app and it won't work without cell service.

from what i ve read so far small devices wont work out of cell service because we depend on cellservice to provide location on the device but other larger devices have built in gps recievers so REEL you might get"REEL" lucky and your ipad tablet may have a reciver built in!!!

As long as we are on the subject of the wonders of smart phones has anyone used the traffic layer on google maps??.....if you are using google maps for navigation you can turn on a traffic layer.....i always thought it was based upon current reports or what have you which i assumed would be terribley inaccurate.....On our last trip to NC during the summer we turned it on and could see every slow down on I-95 as we traveled ....It was UNBIELAVABLY accurate.....I did a search on how it was done and apparently everyone on the highway at the time using google maps is sending their location and speed back to google....they take that information to show graphically where the slow downs are..... it didnt help you go any faster but it was nice to know things were going to speed up around the next bend.

I sent a pm to Mj for that unit I wanted to research a little more before I commited to buying it Im waiting to hear back from him. That standard horizon seems like a nice unit.


I use my google nav. on my EVO all the time. and yes it is amazing how accurate they are. My footprints app. shows what room im in in a building!!!

My 2 girls got Toshiba Thrive tablets for Christmas, I refuse to get phone service on them. When they are in a wifi area, the GPS will show where you are on a google map, when out of wifi the GPS still works, but it just shows you as a dot on a blank screen.

Maybe you have to buy/download maps to the tablet?

I've got the Garmin 540s which has been replaced by the 541s. It's a good basic unit that has easy navigate through the pages and screens. I think they retail for @ $700-$750 with a transom mount transducer. I did just see a demo at the Grand Strand Boat Show on the Lowrance HD models with the structure scan and it was pretty amazing but it was a bit pricey. I think Lowrance, Northstar and another brand are all under one company.

I don't know about northstar but lowrance and eagle are the same company, LEI.

Mine's an IPHONE w/a Navionics download...we were WAY up the Tugaloo River yesterday and that's about as hillbilly country as it sounds!!...lol!!...it was showin' the chart and icon following the river along w/lat/long changes as running just like I was uptown or something...showing SOG matching the boat's GPS exactly the whole time...I'll let ya know if I find out different, but I no think this thing requires cell sig for GPS function...will find out fo sho next time offshore...:sun:

Very cool, I've found out with my research a lot of people have mixed reviews ( everybody is a critic these days). I think its an awesome app. And proved to be a valuble tool just in the couple days that have down loaded it. On the negative side it is a battery murderer! And does take up some storage on the phone. I'm gonna put through a good test the next time I'm on the water. Can't beat it for 10 bucks!!!!

try putting it in airplane mode or pulling the sim out

well the facts are in!!!! After having a 6 page long thread on The Hull Truth about the Navionics USA app, I have found out that yes it will work out of wifi and cell range. here are a few comments from some electronic geeks over there.

#1 The iPad 3G or iPhone 4/4S GPS receiver does not need a cell or WiFi service/subscription/connection to function. Apps such as iNavX and Navionics store the charts locally on the iDevice so they only need to be downloaded once.




#2 The HTC Evo has an internal GPS. I use it quite frequently while flying where there is no cell phone or wi-fi signal. The phone specs ( http://www.htc.com/us/products/evo-sprint#tech-specs) show it has GPS and aGPS. aGPS stands for Assisted GPS which means it can use a cell or wi-fi signal to lock faster on satellites.fshmn,



#3 I have an iPhone 4 with the Navionics app. The chart plotter works in the North East canyons 90-100 miles offshore.

I can't tell you how it works, just that it does.





Originally Posted by fshmn http://www.thehulltruth.com/cb/buttons/viewpost.gif
just so I "throughly" understand....

If I download the Navionics App to my Iphone 4S, then I will have a working marine gps even when I'm 20+ miles offshore?

Yes

Does the Navionics App connect to the Iphone internal GPS receiver? Yes
Again, assuming from your statement that the Iphone has a GPS receiver. Yes
Or will I have to integrate the Navionics maps into the Iphone GPS App? ?? Plug n play, download the app, use the app on a wifi connection to download section(s) of the chart(s) you require...

If so, $10 is a cheap backup GPS on my boat. - Yes!

Oh so NOW I see how it is... I'm just not cool enough with my old 3g

Yup!!...:sun:

I likin' this iphone thingy...as far as burning the battery, that's why I installed the 12 volt plug-in w/in easy car-charger reach of where the phone will be velcroed to the dash...

February 24, 2012

Dear BoatU.S. Member:

Last summer boaters sent a clear message to the Federal Communications Commission – “Don’t Mess with GPS!" As you may remember, a private company, LightSquared, received preliminary FCC approval to offer a new cellular broadband service. Tests showed this service could significantly interfere with GPS signals.

Thanks to over 18,000 boaters who submitted comments, along with many other GPS users, the FCC required additional testing in the fall. (Thank you all for your help!) Last week, these tests revealed that the LightSquared’s network would interfere with GPS and that there are no practical fixes. As a result, the FCC has proposed to withdraw LightSquared's approval.(http://www.gps.gov/news/2012/02/lightsquared/)

The FCC has a new comment period (open to March 1) asking for the public’s opinion. Even if you wrote last summer, please take a few minutes now and write the FCC asking them to protect the GPS signal by saying “No” to LightSquared’s current proposal. Given this company’s tenacity over the last year, we want to make sure that boaters’ needs are remembered as the FCC makes their final decision.

Important points to make:

How do you use GPS in your life – on the water, on land, or in the air?
What would happen to your business/personal life if GPS became unavailable or unreliable?
Wireless broadband service is important, but it should not come at the expense of GPS.
All the studies show that LightSquared’s proposed network would cause interference and that there are no remedies.
Tell FCC that you rely on them to protect the integrity of the GPS signal and that you support their recommendation to stop LightSquared’s current proposal

You can submit comments directly to the FCC through their online comment form. (We regret we can’t streamline this process for you, but it is important enough we’re still asking for your help.) Here’s how:

Click on this link for the FCC’s Electronic Comments Filing System (ECFS): http://apps.fcc.gov/ecfs/hotdocket/list
Select “Proceeding Number 11-109.” It should be near the top of the list.
In the designated boxes, enter your name and mailing address.
In the box that says “Type in or paste your brief comments,” do so. Click “Continue”.
A review page will load listing all of the information entered. If correct, click “Confirm.”
If you have any trouble, you may contact the FCC ECFS Helpdesk at 202-418-0193 or email at [email protected]

Thank you for taking action to protect the integrity of the GPS system.

Thanks for posting that MJ.

I made a comment.

The navionics app. Saved the day today!!!!!!! Went wreck fishing on the Gulf Hustler wreck today she's a 80 ft trawler in 71 ft of water that sit exactly 21 miles out of rudee inlet. My buddies numbers on his gps wasn't working out and I had left my handheld at home. We marked the bottom for about 30 minutes and I then talked him into understanding that his numbers were a joke. So I then broke out my cell phone and turned the app. on. It put us right on the wreck the wreck icon on my navionics chart had been updated in the past 2 months. It saved the trip and put us literally right on top of it. We caught limit sea bass and spade fish!!!

Pretty cool, huh??...:party:

Glad it worked out for ya!!..:nice:

The graghics are downloaded to the phone's hard drive...dooesn't come in on a signal...it's installed in the phone when you install the app, then the GPS functions overlay those graphics...tuff to find a place on the planet you can't get a good GPS signal...same would be true w/an ipad as well...

I am still old school with a basic flip phone. no Iphone here.