[Bajacrazy]

I know there has been a lot of a discussion on GPS usage and I’ve been considering purchasing one. After veiewing polls earlier on brand preference I’ve decided go with the Garmin. My questions are:
Is the GPS really as accurate as they are made out to be as far as plotting, and or navigating? Can cloud cover and bad weather effect accuracy like it does with cell phone etc? Are they more accurate than Speedo like everyone claims? Maybe the Speedo runs a little on the fast side and maybe the GPS runs on the slow side. I understand that the GPS works from global satellites, but knowing how well my cell phone and a satellites TV works during storm or bad weather has made me wonder. Maybe the winter months are driving me insane with all these stupid questions.
If I do decide to buy one (UNLESS I WIN ONE) I will only really use it for navigation purposes, who care how fast I’m going. Going fast enough to make my eyes start watering so that I can see to go any faster.
Any and all reply’s appreciated.

Thanks

 

[Red Stripe]

are you looking for a portable one or a fixed mount? Do you want background mapping too?

 

[HammerEd]

What the heck is going on here? I clicked on this topic thinking I was going to read a good joke and I find a boat related subject! What is up with that??:gunner: :laugher:

 

[Bajacrazy]

are you looking for a portable one or a fixed mount? Do you want background mapping t

I was looking at both, but leaning toward the portable one so that I could us it when traveling etc. Is one more accurate than the other? Yes, I do want background mapping.

 

[obnoxus]

I have the Garmin GPS III PLus. I picked this one because it is portable, and It has all the main roads programed into it so your not looking at a blank screen while driving. Since the govenment changed its policy a few years back, they became much more accurate. I did a test with mine last year and I was able to drive through our breakwall opening using just the GPS, weather does not seem to effect it.

 

[Raypanic]

I decided on garmin. The only problem is that if you want to use mapping chartografy for road traveling and need a large area downloaded into the database you will nees an extra data card like 64Mb.

I have a Street pilot 3 and a GPS Map 176C for the boat. The difference is the 176C has functions for the boat that the Street pilot 3 does not. The street pilot has voice commands that the 176C does not. If I had my choice of only 1 it would be the 176C Because boating presents a larger chance of danger and injury when you navigate wrong. on land no big deal. My 2c

 

[OldMagicfloat]

I use a Garmin . My recomendations is stay away from Magellan. I had 2 and both took a sh*t in a little over a year. GPS is definately more acurate than a speedo. Depending on what you are going to use it for,I would not worry about map programs for land.


Now:who care how fast I’m going. Going fast enough to make my eyes start watering so that I can see to go any faster. I will forget you said that
:laugher: :laugher:

Since I already have one I will give you mine after I WIN IT.
hammereab, that was the joke part. Don't want to disappoint anyone:laugher: :

 

[HammerEd]

Hey Nut, I feel better now!! :laugher:

 

[Red Stripe]

I just bought a Lowrance Globalmap 100 this spring because I used by friends quite a bit last year. I was easy to use and came with the background map. We now have the Map Create 4 CD rom to load into them as well. Nice unit for less than 200 bucks. My major problem with the Garmins was the background mapping was wrong on Muskegon lake. Thats the lake I use the most and it was way off in spots. Not impressed.

 

[Bajacrazy]

Thanks for all your input on this it gives more to look at. I was considering the Garmin GPS III Plus and now I will look at the Lowrance Global Map 100 & 100 Plus. I like the portability thing but I also like the features on Garmin176C. Decisions, decisions.

Hey on the Garmin site's they have CD of Map Source Software. Is this something additional that you have to buy to get the GPS to work properly or is it more detailed? If it ‘s something that you have to get what version do you guy’s recommend.

Red Stripe, does the lowence have additional programs as well?

 

[OldMagicfloat]

It is not necessary to get tthat program to use the GPS.
Again if your only going to use it on the water,it is not needed. Just like anything else,another toy to play with

 

[Red Stripe]

Well Bajacrazy, I researched buying a GPS pretty hard trying to figure out which one I wanted.
I was looking at the Garmin GPS III plus, the Garmin Street Pilot and the Lowrance GM100. All are great GPS's with the preloaded software. Garmin has Map Source CDroms for there GPS's and Lowrance has Map Create software for theirs. Garmin has a bunch of different CDrom for different applications but Lowrance puts all the information on one CDrom and lets you pick what you want to download (ie. Turn off the rail roads and streams). The Garmins are better geared for Street driving with Highway exit information and stuff that the Lowrance just doesn't have on the GM100 (the Lowrance IFinder gps does though). One of the best features about the Lowrances Map Create software is that you create your own map. You pick exactly the boundries for your detailed maps. You kind of draw boxes around the area that you want detailed and you load it in you GPS. Want a bunch of different areas, just draw boxes around the each area and load them in together. The Garmin's Map Source has already layed out different sections were if you want area and I has 2 different sections running through it you have to load up the whole 2 sections. That takes a lot of memory and the GPSIII doesn't have alot of memory.
So anyway, If you have any other questions, Shoot away

 

[Caincando1]

I like GPS's. They are the poor mans radar.

They put a stop to bar stool racing. I can't even stand to hear people brag about Speedo speeds. They make an even playing field for everyone.

The only downfall is moving water. River or Tides can throw off the speed reading.

But thats only if you care about how fast you are really going compared to what everyone else says they are.

Brian