Any GPSMap 76 owners? Please post rants and raves

[Guest BX Tale]

I was looking a a garmin Gpsmap 76 and was wondering if you current owners have any rants and rave? I am upgrading from a venture. Well not exacly upgrading but a B- day gift next month. Need a mapping gps for the GF to help navigate while driving and for her to use to navigate her way around.

[Guest mcb]

I like my GPSMAP 76 so much I wrote a reveiw of it with Jack Yeazel of Jack and Joe's GPS web site http://joe.mehaffey.com/ There's lots of good info here on the GPS in general and if you would like to read our review of the GPSMAP 76 go to: http://www.gpsinformation.net/waas/g76/g-76-map.html One thing I had a nice page of screen shots on the reveiw but that was served off of my server and that was killed by a virus early this week. I hope to have that part of the reveiw back up Monday.

 

Thanks

mcb

[Guest Growley]

I have had my GPSMAP76 for about a month now and after mcb patiently answering some of newbie questions I must say that I am very happy with the unit. I bought the TOPO software for it (thank you Ebay!) which I have also been pleased with. After being corrected on the proper way to hold the "76" (vertical, not horizontal like an eTrex)I have not lost a signal since. A great GPSR! I had an eTrex Legend for almost 10 days and it had to go. Go with the "76".

[Guest napgravy]

I've had my GPSMAP 76 for about a month also. I don't think it is as good at maintaining a signal lock under heavy tree canopy as my old Magellan 315, but I wouldn't go back to the M315 again. The one thing I dislike is the awful backlight for the display - its kind of a dirty yellow. The M315 had a far superior backlight - it was blueish like the Timex Indiglo watches and Palm PDAs.

[Guest Pote]

I got mine Aug. 1 and am pleased w/ it. Rants first... 1)The danged power plug is on the back so it will not lay flat on the dash of the car, boat, desk while uploading and downloading, etc. You have to spend the cash for a mount. They shoulda put it on the side. Oh, and Garmin won't sell ya extra mounting disks so you can use the same holder in the car, boat, plane, RV, office, etc. 2)The operating system has to have a million button presses to do anything. Coming from a GPS II, it takes forever to do anything. Gawd I loved my old "Goto" button... 3) Being an offshore fisherman, there is no GChart/BlueChart available for me on CD yet. Tapping fingers, waiting impatiently...

 

Raves - well, lightyears better than my old II. Locks in fast, got plenty of bells and whistles, batteries last forever if you don't leave it turned on(oops - another rant... it doesn't autopowerdown afer x minutes of having no signal, or x minutes of inactivity in Simulator mode). Light weight, easy to read, and endoresement numero uno... SheWho Must Be Obeyed actually asked to use it and learned how so she could see where She was on airplane rides. If She wants to mess w/ a piece of electronics, it gotta be good!!!

[Guest faithwalker]

aded from the Vista was the screen size, with the map76 I have no problem reading it. I also trust the rocker pad more than the click stick. The back lighting is ok I can read it on the road and after dark with no problem but it may be alittle harder at dawn or dusk. I use the mapsource metroguide and with only 8meg of memory I can only load one region. I understand that with the topo you can get quite a few quads in 8 megs. Battery usage is great, they last for along time. I haven't logged just how long yet, maybe that will be my next test. As you can see I really like my Map76 I believe if that is the unit you choose you will not be sorry. But of coarse the new Magellan units look pretty good to. But thats that old Ford vs Chevy thing.

 

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...Cache Responsible and may all your birds be in view... ...Faithwalker & DaMama...

[Guest Hawkeyes]

Just love it.

a: floats

b: only two AA batteries

C: nav aids

d: map background

e: very, very good antenna

f: external antenna hookup possibility

g: big screen

h: a lot of setting possibilities for different views

i: works well in any position

j: .....

[Guest Uplink]

Just got one of these last week, as an upgrade to the Eagle Explorer I've had for 4 years. The good stuff: It acquires a fix much faster than the Eagle, it reads depth off of the Garmin fishfinder in my boat and saves it to the track log, the navaid database is great (for boating), with WAAS I've had fixes as good as 8 feet, and it only uses 2 AA instead of 4 like the Eagle (and they last longer).

 

The not so good: I haven't figured out how to get OziExplorer to download waypoints off the 76map yet, and after three days it fried some pixels leaving a quarter inch splotch on the screen. Garmin did send me a return authorization though, and they just fixed my fishfinder last month even though it was 2 days out of warranty, so I'm not worried about it.

 

By the way, don't buy the Garmin mounts, get the RAM mounts available at GPScity.com and elsewhere. It's a modular design, and you can go from truck, to boat, to bicycle in seconds. Slickest electronics mounts on the planet. I have the u-bolt mount on the bike, a suction cup base that works on my truck, car, and desk, and a screw-down base on the boat. The cradle and arm travels with the GPS. You really don't want to prop your GPS on the dashboard unless you drive a lot slower than I do.

[Guest wapa2ee]

thinking of getting one can you tell me where is the cheapest online store

i found it for 319.00

[Guest mcb]

Try: http://www.tvnav.com/ Their prices are very good and their service is second to none.

 

mcb

[Guest BX Tale]

Advancedgps.com has it for 315 plus free shipping.

[Guest RobOK]

I ordered one from Page Computer for $300, but when I went back to get a URL for you it says OUT OF STOCK. I can only hope that mine was the last one ordered putting them out of stock. I will try to keep you updated if I have success with them. THe URL is http://www.pagecomputer.com/cgi-bin/prodinfo?sn=25492501204728&pn=GAR00027&cd=01

 

tvnav.com offered it to me for 310 plus s/h. I may go with them if the first place is a bust.

[Guest gstrong1]

Got mine at advancedgps.com & had no problem with their service.Good price & free delivery.Paid $315.00 back in May.

 

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Gary "Gimpy" Strong

Rochester,NY

[Guest mcb]

quote:

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Originally posted by mcb:

I like my GPSMAP 76 so much I wrote a reveiw of it with Jack Yeazel of Jack and Joe's GPS web site http://joe.mehaffey.com/ There's lots of good info here on the GPS in general and if you would like to read our review of the GPSMAP 76 go to: http://www.gpsinformation.net/waas/g76/g-76-map.html One thing I had a nice page of screen shots on the reveiw but that was served off of my server and that was killed by a virus early this week. I hope to have that part of the reveiw back up Monday.

 

Thanks

mcb

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I fixed my web server and the table of screen shots is back up. You can get it from the above link. Click on the picture at the top of the reveiw and then follow the link at the bottom of that second page. You can also see it direct at: http://blithe.cwru.edu/gps/gpsmap76/

 

Thanks

mcb