Who makes the best GPS units these days??

Post by **Laker_Taker** » Sat Mar 05, 2005 10:03 am

In the market for a GPS. Largely want it to be able to find those small remote lakes but also want barometric, altimeter information. I think the big 3 are Garmin, Magellan and now Lowrance seems to be coming onto the market. Am I overlooking any? What opinions do you have on the different models on the market? I think its just as important to consider the software and maps available for the unit as the actual unit itself. They all seem to focus on the US first then concentrate on making Canadian maps. Whose seem to cover Canada the best? And do any have actual depth contours of Canadian lakes or do they just show the shorelines only? Any help would be most welcomed!

Post by **Wall-I-Guy** » Sat Mar 05, 2005 10:07 am

You may want to take a look at one of the threads here about the side scanning sonar. Looks like awesome technology!

I believe Yankee and Eye Tracker both have threads going on it. It's by Humminbird.

Be curious to see what info you come up with

Post by **topraider** » Sat Mar 05, 2005 11:25 am

Maps- I just bought the Navionics "East Great lakes" chip for $290, tax included. It has the depth contours for all the Navigable waters around here - examples:

Ottawa river
Rideau River
Lake Ontario
All the lakes on the rideau system
St. Lawrence river
Lakes Erie & Huron
Rice lake
trent-Severn system

It does not show "stranded lakes" like mississippi, White, Quebec lakes etc. It doesn't even show the outlines of them on the map. I will be acquiring another chip to show topographic features for that.

I also bought a Lawrance Handheld H20 GPS unit. The chip fits right in is plug and play. There is a background map that comes with the unit, but its crude, especially in canada.

It does not have a built in barometer. Also, the compass doesn't work unless you move. I plan to move, so no problem.

Post by **Seaweed** » Mon Mar 07, 2005 3:19 pm

If you can afford it ... you want Lowrance

Important note: Make sure you can install all the local maps you need. I have noticed that Garmin maps are readily available for Canadian waters and are affordable but do they work with other makes of GPS? I know that not everyone is happy with Garmin products but .... hey sometimes you have to make sacrifices for the mapping software you need for up here.

Shop carefully. I have recently bought up an older GPS/Fishfinder exactly for that reason it has the outlines of all of out lakes that I will be fishing ... no contour info but the outlines and that will allow me to drop in my own information for those lakes and find what I am looking for easily. I paid less that five hundred for mine also.

Most new Lowerance units go for over two thousand dollars with mapping software.

Post by **Grappler** » Mon Mar 07, 2005 8:00 pm

I purchased the Garmin gpsmap 60c last year for a hand held and so far love it!! I currently have the metro guide Canada V4 and find it very detailed as far as land structure goes. I've yet to purchase Topo which is suppose to cover the offroad and lakes better.

A couple of small points 1) I think I would buy the GPSMAP 60cs if I done it again, only because it has a compass that works without you moving and a barometric altimeter as well. 2) I probably wouldn't buy the Metro Guide Canada anymore, they now have a new version, I think it's called Metro Guide North America which cover both Canada & USA with turn by turn. It's suppose to have the exact mapping in Canada as the Metro Guide Canada with the addition of United States. However it costs twice as much.....always a catch!!

Post by **Spence Scout** » Mon Mar 07, 2005 8:41 pm

Lowrance has several good units like the H2O or the Hunt or even the iFinder Pro. These units need freedom maps. These are chips that you put in your unit.. They give you the option of differnt rgions to choose from.. Such as Southern Ontarion, Norhtern Ontario, Sud Quebec etc. Theres no downloading from PC. However there is a Mapcreate Topo Canada accessory pack available.

Garmin have nice units as well. They have many colour units with the electronic compass like the fellow mentioned above.. Theyre maps are CD's which you purchase separate. U can get TOPO Canada, Metroguides, Blue Charts, etc. This youll need to download to computer then install in your GPS unit.

If it were up to me I'd go with a Lowrance unit... becuase I dont want to have to downlaod from PC. Id rather just inser tthe freedom map into the unit.. All units come with basic basemap. but nothing very detailed.

Post by **scuro** » Mon Mar 07, 2005 8:50 pm

From what I understand depth charts are only available for waters that are frequently boated . No company offers depth charts beyond that. Wouldn't it be nice to get depth charts for all of Ontario?

I went for the Lowarance ifinder pro with a detailed land contour map of Ontario from the top Nipogon down. It has all the streams and water sources and you can generally guess what is happening depth wise in the water by looking at the contours on the land. That will be your only option for most of the lakes in Ontario anyways.

The chip and ifinder cost $400 with tax. That was last spring and it might be cheaper now. As said before, it is plug and play and this is great solution for people who fear using, dislike, or don't have windows applications. I have no complaints about the unit and I can find addresses on it also.

Post by **riverbass** » Mon Mar 07, 2005 10:17 pm

MagellanÂ® eXploristâ„¢ 600 WAAS GPS
Powerful barometer, altimeter, and 3-axis electronic compass for the best in performance navigation at a price that's very tough to beat.

Post by **Laker_Taker** » Tue Mar 08, 2005 12:37 am

I hear Magellan has the worst mapping software of the 3 big names in GPS. Anyone agree or disagree?

Post by **eye-tracker** » Tue Mar 08, 2005 8:12 am

Mapping GPS
For weekend anglers and handhelds I would give the nod to Lowrance/Eagle , Garmin and Humminbird. They have good licence deals in place for map data with third party vendors.

The high end GPS Plotter/Radar products from Raymarine, Furuno, Garmin and Simrad are in a leauge of their own.

-et

Post by **big stick** » Wed Mar 09, 2005 6:28 am

I can't wait for you to get this much needed gps unit. You will then be able to relocate all those fish producing locations that I always take you to.

Post by **Laker_Taker** » Thu Mar 10, 2005 5:56 am

Thanks for all the advice guys, I'm a bit of a blank slate about it. I'm really leaning towards a Lowrance and might even wait the month or so for the MP3/GPS combo units come out. Well there are some already but there's a better one coming out. One that has MP3 with barometer and altimeter. Not that I'd use the MP3 too much, but when that action slows down its nice to have a couple of tunes to tap your feet to! Funny Bigstick, when are you going to bring me to one of your secret holes anyways?