handheld marine gps

[Joe]

Not reallly true. On a derlivery trip, I navigated from 125 miles off the coast of the Yucatan, right into the jetties at Progresso, Yucatan with an Iphone 4. The boatowner did not have the charts for Yucatan in his big chartplotter- he "wasn't GOING there", so all it showed was a blue line for the coast. He hadn't planned to rip a sail up either.


Then the Iphone got us around the corner to Isla Mujeres, where he DID have the chips

I wasn't aware one needed a cell signal to use a standalone gps... but in any event if you have a magnetic compass, a timepiece and a paper chart you can get anywhere.

 

[BayMan]

Doesn't it make sense to you to have a back up navigation tool with a completely different source of information? Lose your cell signal and you lose ALL navigation. In inclement weather this could be.

Iphone navigation apps don't rely on cell service. Neither does iPad that has the cellular chip. Neither does a laptop using a GPS puck. I agree on having a backup and having one with its own power source makes sense. But to me a backup that is a handheld is not nearly as good as a backup that is a full chartplotter.

 

[Winkfish]

I've had the Garmin 76cx for about 3 or 4 years and I love it. You can add maps by virtue of a micro sd card, and others have emailed me routes which I downloaded onto mine. It has gotten me out and back through the maze of Louisiana marsh every time. I also have my paper chart.