# Camping and boating in ENP, question about GPS



## daniel4616 (Mar 26, 2012)

I do a lot of fishing down in Flamingo and freshwater evergades aswell. I never had a GPS, and I have always stuck to spots I know fairly well. I want to start venturing out to the unknown. I also do a lot of camping at primitive sites you drive up to. Hiking is next and I have already started to gather gear.

Anyways, I had a question about handheld GPS units. I hope this is an appropriate forum section for this since I am looking for units people use and trust for these areas specifically.

Can someone give me some ideas on which units might be worth looking at? I know nothing about GPS units, and a lot of the searches seems to be for hiking in mountains etc. I assume they are all viable options. I would like a color screen, doesnt have to be big. I would perhaps like the marine depth charts included. Other than that, I dont need anything else. Simple and effective, and if you can suggest the cheapest effective one possible, money is not a deal breaker- but who doesnt want to save money.

Any suggestions?

Thanks


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## mikeregas (Mar 15, 2013)

I have the GPSMap 62st, I bought it for hiking and with the ability to use it as a marine unit. It serves all of the functions, you can download detailed topographic maps as well as the Birdseye satellite detail you can add for the area you are going to be. 

The bonus with the Garmin units is they are stupid simple to use. The drawback is sometimes the maps will show you driving on land, but it is usually right next to the water so I just take it with a grain of salt. I have never used the other brands so hopefully someone will chime in on those. 

Link to several handhelds on Amazon: http://www.amazon.com/s/ref=amb_lin...pf_rd_t=101&pf_rd_p=1746344922&pf_rd_i=172526


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## jldriver (Feb 11, 2013)

I've had a Garmin handheld for years...it's an Oregon 400T. I've used it for fishing, hunting and mountain biking and I've been very satisfied. It's a fairly straight-forward touch-screen design and while it's a pretty small screen, it's easy to read and very simple to use.

Recently however I've begun to leave the Garmin in the tackle bag as a backup (the lithium batteries can get expensive...and the rechargeable ones don't last long enough for me) and just use the Navionics App (http://www.navionics.com/en/mobile-pc-app) on my phone for fishing. It's not exactly what you're asking about, and probably not ideal for long camping trips in ENP, but it might be worth considering if you already have a smartphone and you're comfortable taking it on the water?

Otherwise I'd suggest shopping for a Garmin and being prepared to invest in some lithium batteries on a regular basis (or maybe you'll have better luck with the rechargeable ones than I do).


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## tailchaser16 (Sep 23, 2008)

Garmin GPSMAP 640 or GPSMAP 620 would be my vote.

Handheld, color and maps


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## MariettaMike (Jun 14, 2012)

get an AT&T iPhone with the GPS Kit app and a Mophie. Cache the Google sate lie map for the area you're going to.


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