Best GPS for the Lake

zawillif · 11-17-2006, 11:13 AM

Hey everyone. Been visiting awhile--first post. For Christmas my family wants to buy my father a GPS for navigation use around the lake. He is not a young buck anymore and has been having trouble navigating, especially at night. Has anyone used any decent GPS's on the lake? Thanks for the input.

Dave R · 11-17-2006, 01:37 PM

Welcome!

Navman and Standard Horizon both make reasonably priced, C-Map technology, GPS chart plotters. I have tried both and think they are both good. The SH is best if you need a "landscape" screen, the Navman is better if you need a "portrait" screen. Your helm space will help you decide... Oh, Navman has a built in antenna option that can substantially reduce installation time and effort. Either way, you'll want a Bizer C-map chart to put in the plotter. Worth every cent and more, especially at night, IMO.

BlackCatIslander · 11-17-2006, 04:01 PM

When I stored my boat for the season at Shep Brown's, they indicated that the price for a Standard Horizon and the chip installed by them would be close to $1000. If you install it yourself, you are probably talking about $850.

zawillif · 11-17-2006, 04:58 PM

Thanks for the info. It has helped. I'm looking at spending <$500 for something simple and easy to use. I'm was thinking about a Garmin handheld until I saw that Bizer hasn't fully developed a map for it yet. Is there another brand that is the equivilant of a Garmin color handheld but has C-Map loading capability?

codeman671 · 11-17-2006, 05:19 PM

Quote:

Originally Posted by BlackCatIslander

When I stored my boat for the season at Shep Brown's, they indicated that the price for a Standard Horizon and the chip installed by them would be close to $1000. If you install it yourself, you are probably talking about $850.

Depending on the size that you are looking for in the SH I think that you can be closer to $5-600 with a self-install. They are no big deal to install yourself, only a few wires. I got my SH CP-155C for somewhere in the $400-500 range originally from West marine after price shopping online and getting them to match it. The chip can be bought for $125'ish. My CP-175C was in the $700 range in my other boat. I like the screen size of the 175 but in my Monterey the dash space was minimal so the 155C was the only choice.

Navman has not been building these for that long whereas SH has. My uncle sells electronics for West Marine and after his marine experience of 30+ years I trust his opinion that SH would be the way to go. He does sell both brands so there is no brand bias due to one brand not being a line they carry.

I do not see any good handhelds out there presently, especially that take the C-map cartography. Raymarine cancelled their RC handheld, I had one and it sucked. It was not C-map, it was a Blue chart. The data quality was not as good and the unit was a P.O.S. !

Good luck!

Mee-n-Mac · 11-17-2006, 07:45 PM

You might want to read this thread. Perhaps you can buy Bizer's chart in e-format and convert it yourself to load into a Garmin plotting GPS but there's no guarantee it'll work.

Some other, older GPS threads FYI ...
http://www.winnipesaukee.com/forums/...ighlight=bizer

http://www.winnipesaukee.com/forums/...ighlight=bizer

http://www.winnipesaukee.com/forums/...ighlight=bizer

http://www.winnipesaukee.com/forums/...ighlight=bizer

http://www.winnipesaukee.com/forums/...ighlight=bizer

http://www.winnipesaukee.com/forums/...ighlight=bizer

Silver Duck · 11-17-2006, 08:25 PM

In your price range, I'd reccommend the Standard Horizon CP180I. It has a 5" color screen, and takes the C-Map Bizer chip. It is equipped with an internal antenna, and can even be hooked up using a cigarette lighter plug (one of my dockmates did this, with good success!)

One of the popular on-line marine dealers currently has it for $395.00; with chip, that's just in the range you mentioned. (I don't want to post a link to another site, but PM me if you like and I'll give you the info

).

Silver Duck

zawillif · 11-21-2006, 05:13 PM

Thanks all for the input. It has helped. For the record I did do a search using "GPS" and it didn't generate any of those threads, so I'm not sure what happend there. Thanks again!

11-17-2006, 11:13 AM	#1
zawillif Junior Member Join Date: May 2006 Posts: 9 Thanks: 0 Thanked 0 Times in 0 Posts	Best GPS for the Lake Hey everyone. Been visiting awhile--first post. For Christmas my family wants to buy my father a GPS for navigation use around the lake. He is not a young buck anymore and has been having trouble navigating, especially at night. Has anyone used any decent GPS's on the lake? Thanks for the input.

11-17-2006, 07:45 PM	#6
Mee-n-Mac Senior Member Join Date: Sep 2003 Posts: 1,943 Thanks: 23 Thanked 111 Times in 51 Posts	Garmin & Bizer chart You might want to read this thread. Perhaps you can buy Bizer's chart in e-format and convert it yourself to load into a Garmin plotting GPS but there's no guarantee it'll work. Some other, older GPS threads FYI ... http://www.winnipesaukee.com/forums/...ighlight=bizer http://www.winnipesaukee.com/forums/...ighlight=bizer http://www.winnipesaukee.com/forums/...ighlight=bizer http://www.winnipesaukee.com/forums/...ighlight=bizer http://www.winnipesaukee.com/forums/...ighlight=bizer http://www.winnipesaukee.com/forums/...ighlight=bizer __________________ Mee'n'Mac "Never attribute to malice that which can be explained by simple stupidity or ignorance. The latter are a lot more common than the former." - RAH

11-17-2006, 01:37 PM	#2
Dave R Senior Member Join Date: Jul 2004 Posts: 2,984 Thanks: 246 Thanked 743 Times in 443 Posts	Welcome! Navman and Standard Horizon both make reasonably priced, C-Map technology, GPS chart plotters. I have tried both and think they are both good. The SH is best if you need a "landscape" screen, the Navman is better if you need a "portrait" screen. Your helm space will help you decide... Oh, Navman has a built in antenna option that can substantially reduce installation time and effort. Either way, you'll want a Bizer C-map chart to put in the plotter. Worth every cent and more, especially at night, IMO.

11-17-2006, 04:01 PM	#3
BlackCatIslander Senior Member Join Date: Sep 2005 Posts: 201 Thanks: 52 Thanked 17 Times in 11 Posts	When I stored my boat for the season at Shep Brown's, they indicated that the price for a Standard Horizon and the chip installed by them would be close to $1000. If you install it yourself, you are probably talking about $850.

11-17-2006, 04:58 PM	#4
zawillif Junior Member Join Date: May 2006 Posts: 9 Thanks: 0 Thanked 0 Times in 0 Posts	Thanks for the info. It has helped. I'm looking at spending <$500 for something simple and easy to use. I'm was thinking about a Garmin handheld until I saw that Bizer hasn't fully developed a map for it yet. Is there another brand that is the equivilant of a Garmin color handheld but has C-Map loading capability?

11-17-2006, 08:25 PM	#7
Silver Duck Senior Member Join Date: Apr 2004 Location: Billerica, MA Posts: 364 Thanks: 40 Thanked 4 Times in 3 Posts	In your price range, I'd reccommend the Standard Horizon CP180I. It has a 5" color screen, and takes the C-Map Bizer chip. It is equipped with an internal antenna, and can even be hooked up using a cigarette lighter plug (one of my dockmates did this, with good success!) One of the popular on-line marine dealers currently has it for $395.00; with chip, that's just in the range you mentioned. (I don't want to post a link to another site, but PM me if you like and I'll give you the info ). Silver Duck

11-21-2006, 05:13 PM	#8
zawillif Junior Member Join Date: May 2006 Posts: 9 Thanks: 0 Thanked 0 Times in 0 Posts	Thanks all for the input. It has helped. For the record I did do a search using "GPS" and it didn't generate any of those threads, so I'm not sure what happend there. Thanks again!