You might want to post this at rec.backcountry, too. Since I'm not in the
market for a GPS, I'm not well versed in them, but last week, there were
quite a few discussions at the other NG. It's populated by hikers and they
seem to have a lot to say about the map capabilities of various units.

"Ignoramus13873" wrote in message
...
My old trusty Magellan 320 gps can no longer acquire any satellites.

So I am looking for a new GPS. I want to buy something that has both
marine features (navaids, bearings, MOB etc etc) as well as car
navigation features (preferably downloadable maps), laptop connection
capability etc. And I want it to be under $300. Is that realistic and
if so, what are my alternatives?

thanks

i

Since you already have a Magellan I'd stick with Magellan. May be a
SporTrak Pro Marine, or the Meridian Color GPS Mariner. You probably have
already paid for the maps. Stick with what works for you. Just my thoughts.

Jack

"Ignoramus13873" wrote in message
...
My old trusty Magellan 320 gps can no longer acquire any satellites.

So I am looking for a new GPS. I want to buy something that has both
marine features (navaids, bearings, MOB etc etc) as well as car
navigation features (preferably downloadable maps), laptop connection
capability etc. And I want it to be under $300. Is that realistic and
if so, what are my alternatives?

thanks

i

On 20 Oct 2003 13:43:04 GMT, Ignoramus13873
wrote:

My old trusty Magellan 320 gps can no longer acquire any satellites.

So I am looking for a new GPS. I want to buy something that has both
marine features (navaids, bearings, MOB etc etc) as well as car
navigation features (preferably downloadable maps), laptop connection
capability etc. And I want it to be under $300. Is that realistic and
if so, what are my alternatives?

I just bought a Garmin eTrex Legend for $150. It comes preloaded with
navaids, you can download maps, etc. It does NOT have an MOB button
though. You can simulate it by holding down the click stick for a
second to insert a regular waypoint (001) and then goto that waypoint.
That takes 3 or 4 seconds as opposed to the fairly immediate action of a
MOB button.

It replaced my broken Garmin GPS 45XL. I just used the Legend for a
trip last week and it worked pretty good. I even made my own map for
the trip with by loading scanned charts into oziexplorer and using
mapedit to draw some of the features I was interested in over the chart.
I was surprised just how good the things I mapped turned out to be when
I got there for real. However, I still miss some of the features of the
45XL and would still be using that if it didn't go south on me.

In short, the eTrex Legend is pretty good all around mapping GPS that is
useful for boating, especially with the preloaded navaid database. It
definitely has the most features for the money that I could find.
However, if it's just for boating, I'd recommend something else.

Steve

I use a Garmin GPSmap76S. Its great for boat and auto (and
hunting...hiking...)
I recommend it highly. mine is about 2 yrs old. I'm sure they've
come down in price. check ebay!
-mark

("Jack Rye" .# wrote in message news:e6Wkb.30517$Rd4.29725@fed1read07...
Since you already have a Magellan I'd stick with Magellan. May be a
SporTrak Pro Marine, or the Meridian Color GPS Mariner. You probably have
already paid for the maps. Stick with what works for you. Just my thoughts.

Jack

"Ignoramus13873" wrote in message
...
My old trusty Magellan 320 gps can no longer acquire any satellites.

So I am looking for a new GPS. I want to buy something that has both
marine features (navaids, bearings, MOB etc etc) as well as car
navigation features (preferably downloadable maps), laptop connection
capability etc. And I want it to be under $300. Is that realistic and
if so, what are my alternatives?

thanks

i