I'm thinking about buying a handheld GPS system and I'm interested to see if anyone has any suggestions.

I don't want to spend too much money, but I'd like it to have a color screen and the capability to add lake and bay maps if possible.

How much is too much?

I've got a Garmin Legend that seems to work well. Mine is the old black and white but you can get color now for around $100. Garmin has software you can buy to download more detailed lake data like contours and such. Check the Garmin web site for the lakes you are interested in. Some of the lakes have more detail than the others. I think the software is about $100 as well. If you got a good buddy you may be able to talk him into letting you add his waypoints.

Mike

Class of 1994 Gig'em

I have the Lowrance XOG in my car and then use it in the boat I paid $150.00 for it at Christmas and have been impressed with it. it works great on the road and just as good in the boat.

300 is my upper limit

I have a hand held Garmin I will let go for 75.

if $300 is the limit, skip to the best you can buy in that range... Garmin 60csx. You will find no one has anything bad to say about that one and you can add all the maps your heart desires.

Lowrance H2O.

I had the Lowrance H2OC with the Navionics chip in it, pretty nice unit. Look around, there have been some for sale on here.

Garmin is the best in my eyes. I have had a Garmin hand held GPS for 9 years now and it is still going on strong. Love the features on it also. The hand held did me so well i even went and bought me a Garmin GPS for my truck also.

Yeah, I have been leaning towards the garmins now that I've had one in my truck for a while. It has been really easy to use and has all of the features that I would expect. I have also taken quite an interest in the H2O. There are just so many options.

Be sure and check if the unit is waterproof. The H2O's are, but many of the Auto type GPS units are not. Might also want to watch and be sure the unit is compatible with the Navionics and/or Lowrance Hotmaps chips.

+1

I picked up one of these late last year as well - it takes Navionics map chips & has an easy to read touch screen. Does well on the lake or on roads and has a large built-in memory of locations (restaurants, gas stations, motels, etc) for when you're hauling the boat to the coast. The only drawback is that its not really waterproof, so it's primary use is in the redheads car (even has a handy dashboard mount!). It's a very nice backup to my Lowrance GPS/sonar unit.

How do the map systems compare between the garmin and lowrance handhelds? I know that the lowrance models (looking at the h2o) allow for the usage of various maps while the garmin models restrict you to the garmin maps alone. What are the differences between them?

Nice thing about the Lowrance units is you can download the FREE Enhanced Lake Maps from Lowrance web site. They aren't Navionics detail but they are Free.

Check the Trading board, someone has a XOG for sale there.