I am going to Treasure Beach and would like to buy GPS unit for a friend to take to sea. I would appreciate any help on what kind to buy or where to buy it.I have searched the marine stores but not sure which is the right one to buy.

Brand names Garmin and Magellan are the leading two manufacturers, the only problem might be specific address, longitude, latitutes and exact position need a litle bit of geography knowledge for the users, will go along way. No use owning a computer and or any gadbet for that matter without knowing how to put it to use

Whaqt sort of $$$ do these go for ?

Quite a few of the deep sea fishermen already have a GPS. There is one point worth noting; the fishermen who do go to sea know the water like the back of their hands. I have had Bernard take me 22km offshore in the dark and stop the boat on top of the bank (reef) we were aiming for and at the same time my GPS beeped and told me "arriving at destination". Beat that!

Another point. These guys don't have charts & therfore can't extract the co-ordinates of a particular sea feature. They rely on experience and land marks to get where they want to.

A final point. GPSs tend to consume batteries and good batteries are hard to get furthermore, the GPs will always be exposed to a very hostile environment and the description "waterproof" has to take on a whole new dimension. So watchout on what you select.

Look at the Garmin website - marine products. For what it is worth I use the models 72 & 74 which are old designs but reliable, waterproof and have good battery life - 16 hours using high quality ni-cads.

The best feature of a GPS for people without charts will allow them to set the coordinates when they reach a location. After that, they can get back to the same place.

Thanks everyone for all the help I will go checking.

I just bought a Garmin 76 for a fisherman in Great Bay. This is an upgrade to the Garmin 72. I was able to get it for around $200. This particular model should brimg them within 8-9 feet of their destinantion.

Risse can you please let me know where you bought this item, I live in Canada. Any help would be great. Is this hand held or mounted?.