cheap GPS?

[Frank]

I have been doing a lot of research on gps units and I'm getting nowhere.  I would like a good gps unit for Michigan, and possibly Florida.  What is the cheapest one that is good?  i don't really care about a fishfinder, I have that already.  There are a lot of brands out there, but I'm not really sure how they compare to one another.  Would a handheld work?  I do need waypoints.  Right now I'm thinking the humminbird 788 or the Lowrance hds5.  I don't really want to spend that much though.  Any advice would be helpful.

Thank You,
Frank

[Cy]

You can use a hand held GPS.  I used a Garmin GPSMAP 76 for a long time before I bought my first sonar unit with GPS.  However both of the units you listed here would be a great choice too.  There are also some cheaper options out there if you look for black and white.  Like the Humminbird 728 or some of the 500 series units.  You can also shop for used units on bassboatcentral.com or ebay.

Cy

[thedude]

if you don't need maps, many humminbird units will interface with your standard hand held GPS to do standard chart plotting/waypoints.

[Redbone]

I have a lowrance H2O black and white hand held that I use.  It was just over a hundred bucks.  I would recomend the $100 inland lake chip though. I bought it for ice fishing. But I am thinking about purchaseing the mount for $36 and mount up front by my trolling motor for summer.  Not a bad deal.. but I still have 200 bucks into the thing.  Depends on what your going to use it for.

[fiker]

I have the I finder h20 color version equiped with the Lakemaster pro. 
This unit has served my needs very well.   Basically because my boat is slow & small, and I fish out of the back of other people's boats also.

The screen on the unit is small.  Not really designed for going fast on big water and bumping around.  For this, I would buy the biggest screen I could get.

[Waterfoul]

If you don't need a fish finder... go with a Garmin unit.  THE best GPS you can get.  I've used them all and Garmin is hands down the BEST GPS on the market.  All the others are good units don't get me wrong... but Garmin is better.  Garmin is GPS first, fish finder second (in fact... I don't care for their fish finders at all).  Humminbird and Lowrance are awsome fish finders... but their GPS units are just not as easy to use as a Garmin unit.

Call your local West Marine and ask if they have a Garmin 440s in stock of if they can get you one.  This is last years model and they are selling them at a close out price.  This unit doesn't come with a transducer (it can be added later if you want).  It comes complete with pre-loaded Blue Chart G2 charts for all the US coast waters, which includes the Great Lakes and all it's connected waters as well as all the coastal waters of Florida (keys, bahamas, inland water way, etc...).  No chips necessary unless you want it for inland lakes (chip is $99).

[fasttrack]

"Salesman of the Year Award" is on order Mike!

Seriously though, Frank, Mike knows all about these and should be great advise for ya - good luck!

[Frank]

thanks for the ideas.  ill check them all out this week sometime.  probably buy one very soon unless someone has one at the swap meet.  im scared to fish saint clair with out gps.  ill be to busy fishing and then not know how to get home in the dark.  ive done it on little lakes.

[bob o]

just installed a gramin 440s on the basscat it looks good so far