GPS

Cautions

– Last Updated: Nov-17-07 9:59 PM EST –

> Most likely I am going to buy this unit (GPsMAP 76 CSx) for my
> solo trip to Alaska.

Ummm... you might wanna buy two, in that case. I've had Garmin 76-line units fail on me and go back to the factory twice now. If you're out in the wild solo and are depending on yours for survival... well... you get my point.

Also... or maybe first... don't neglect the old low- and mid-tech nav tools; charts, tide and current tables; etc, and the most important of all, the one between your ears.

Oh, another point. The mapping aspect of the Garmin 76-line is only as good as the cartography for the area you are paddling. Will you know how accurate and up-to-date it is for where you'll be?

--David.

I have to agree
Although my wife and I have never had our Map 76’s fail, there are two of us together, so we always have a back up.

We used them on our trip to AK all over the place up there, but I also brought the charts for wherever we were going to be and prior to each trip would sit down and do a lot of plotting - just in case!

I still enjoy plotting and using the charts for navigation. It has always been a lot of fun.



Cheers,

JackL

GPS costs
We purchased the Garmin 76 Csx this summer and were pleased with it. The unit only comes with very basic road maps (major roads) and basic marine services. You need to buy extra charts. The areas that the charts cover are limited. For instance the chart for PEI does not cover all of NS. Southern and Northern Maine are on separate charts. If you paddle in lots of areas that are not contiguous, you may find that you end up spending a fortune on a bunch of different maps and charts for land and sea. Not all of the charts were up to date and we ended up “paddling over some land” here and there. We will end up spending more on charts than on the unit itself.

correction?
I’ve had the GPS76, the GPS76 Map, and the GPS76c. They all had external antenna connections. And they have all worked perfectly, BTW. Still using the 76c.