Handheld GPS - Kayak Fishing Adventures on Big Water’s Edge

fongman · 04-15-2010, 10:49 PM

I have an older model gpsmap 76s; at that time, they were about $300! If you want charts, you can load it with Garmin's mapsource BlueChart Americas. It shows all of the structures and depth contours you would expect. Here's an example of a map near the Coronado Bridge (SD Bay):

Back in the day before gps/ff combo units were available, you could hook the 76 up to some of the Humminbird Matrix FF's. I don't know if they still have that compatibility, but you may want to find one of those Humminbird cables. It will enable you to run your gps off of the FF battery. Leave a couple of AA batteries in the unit for backup in case your main battery dies.

I've been caught a few times on the water when the fog rolled in. That's when it is really nice having GPS! But do yourself a favor and get a backup compass, just in case your GPS dies. REI has a nice one for $10.00 (Brunton 9030). Just leave it in your seat pocket or pfd. You'll probably never need it, but if you do, you'll be glad you had it!

-scallywag- · 04-16-2010, 09:08 AM

never leave home without a compass....."no gps fix" is not the message you want to see paddling around in pea soup, which is the only time I've seen that message on my FF/gps. On that day, johnny ceviche was my paddling partner and he was looking at me like

, obviously getting the same message on his unit. It was even worse because we both stopped to mess with GPS's which just made us more disorientated. Luckily we both had compasses....and we where still arguing about which way was east, we ended up by the marine room when the gps's started working again...good times!

04-15-2010, 10:49 PM	#1
fongman Senior Member Join Date: Mar 2005 Posts: 116	I have an older model gpsmap 76s; at that time, they were about $300! If you want charts, you can load it with Garmin's mapsource BlueChart Americas. It shows all of the structures and depth contours you would expect. Here's an example of a map near the Coronado Bridge (SD Bay): Back in the day before gps/ff combo units were available, you could hook the 76 up to some of the Humminbird Matrix FF's. I don't know if they still have that compatibility, but you may want to find one of those Humminbird cables. It will enable you to run your gps off of the FF battery. Leave a couple of AA batteries in the unit for backup in case your main battery dies. I've been caught a few times on the water when the fog rolled in. That's when it is really nice having GPS! But do yourself a favor and get a backup compass, just in case your GPS dies. REI has a nice one for $10.00 (Brunton 9030). Just leave it in your seat pocket or pfd. You'll probably never need it, but if you do, you'll be glad you had it! Last edited by fongman; 04-16-2010 at 08:54 AM. Reason: clarification

04-16-2010, 09:08 AM	#2
-scallywag- Banned Join Date: Mar 2009 Location: on the road... Posts: 598	never leave home without a compass....."no gps fix" is not the message you want to see paddling around in pea soup, which is the only time I've seen that message on my FF/gps. On that day, johnny ceviche was my paddling partner and he was looking at me like , obviously getting the same message on his unit. It was even worse because we both stopped to mess with GPS's which just made us more disorientated. Luckily we both had compasses....and we where still arguing about which way was east, we ended up by the marine room when the gps's started working again...good times!