pdhbo Posted April 9, 2002 Share Posted April 9, 2002 I currently do not own a GPS but am considering purchasing either a Vista, GPSMAP76S or GPSV and have done extensive research on the net on the differences between these. I am a keen hiker, 4X4 enthusiast and fisherman (fly + surf). It seems that my decision comes down to the usefulness of the "fishing hotspots" or "fishing times" functionality in some of the units. Is someone out there a keen fisherman and if so how useful is this "fishy" functionality really? Are there not more important functions that I should rather look for (eg antenna type for dashboard installation in 4X4)? Is the fishing functionality a gimmick or does it really work? Quote Link to comment
+alexm Posted April 9, 2002 Share Posted April 9, 2002 quote:It seems that my decision comes down to the usefulness of the "fishing hotspots" or "fishing times" functionality in some of the units. ... Is the fishing functionality a gimmick or does it really work? If you were to ask this question in a fishing forum, you'd probably start a flame war. I'm somewhat of an avid fisherman, and somewhat of an avid geocacher and GPS user. I've owned 3 Magellan units, the last 2 of which I'm sure have the hunt/fish times. I keep my own set of fishing "hotspots" that I've collected over time, along with a few I've picked up from various places that I've never seen (offshore rigs & reefs and such). My experience on the fishing side is that the sun/moon "prime time" calculations (be it from a GPS, a web page, or a magazine) need to be factored in with quite a few variables before they become useful for planning the perfect trip. Depending on fresh or saltwater fishing, things like tide, water depth, water clarity, salinity, water temperature, barometric pressure, time of year, bait used, etc... I would definitely recommend that you get the GPS you want for tangible reasons (it looks cool, has more map memory, light weight, ruggedness, it's beeter than the one your buddy has, etc...) and leave the fishing times as an added bonus. They're only one of a multitude of factors that decide whether the fish are there and biting or not. That's just my opinion, however. ... alexm Quote Link to comment
+alexm Posted April 9, 2002 Share Posted April 9, 2002 quote:It seems that my decision comes down to the usefulness of the "fishing hotspots" or "fishing times" functionality in some of the units. ... Is the fishing functionality a gimmick or does it really work? If you were to ask this question in a fishing forum, you'd probably start a flame war. I'm somewhat of an avid fisherman, and somewhat of an avid geocacher and GPS user. I've owned 3 Magellan units, the last 2 of which I'm sure have the hunt/fish times. I keep my own set of fishing "hotspots" that I've collected over time, along with a few I've picked up from various places that I've never seen (offshore rigs & reefs and such). My experience on the fishing side is that the sun/moon "prime time" calculations (be it from a GPS, a web page, or a magazine) need to be factored in with quite a few variables before they become useful for planning the perfect trip. Depending on fresh or saltwater fishing, things like tide, water depth, water clarity, salinity, water temperature, barometric pressure, time of year, bait used, etc... I would definitely recommend that you get the GPS you want for tangible reasons (it looks cool, has more map memory, light weight, ruggedness, it's beeter than the one your buddy has, etc...) and leave the fishing times as an added bonus. They're only one of a multitude of factors that decide whether the fish are there and biting or not. That's just my opinion, however. ... alexm Quote Link to comment
OFF RODE Posted April 9, 2002 Share Posted April 9, 2002 The phrase " You shoulda been here yesterday comes to mind. I certainly wouldnt base my GPSr decision on fishing info..as said above to many other variables "You've got to be very careful if you don't know where you're going, because you might not get there." Yogi Berra JeepNAz@aol.com Quote Link to comment
MajBach Posted April 10, 2002 Share Posted April 10, 2002 In my opinion, an almost totally useless function for a GPSr. You're better off with a good calender for fishing times. I had an M315 that had this feature but I never used it. Far more useful was it's sun/moon relative sky positions for determining orientation. I bought my GPSr primarily for marine/aviation applications which is why I chose a Lowrance model (flaming not intended). MajBach You can't have everything. where would you put it? Quote Link to comment
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