Marine/Mountain GPS

[Disastrous]

Does anyone know much about handheld GPS units?

I’m looking for a handheld unit that to maximise value will cover my two main sports:

1). Backcountry ski touring
2). Coastal paddleboarding/sailing


Ideally something small and lightweight that is waterproof and able to mount on a variety of board/boat mounts.

I’m not expecting a full on chart plotter but something that has marine and mountain use would be brilliant.

Is there such a thing??

[Some Guy]

Garmin Etrex. Chose version to suit wallet/functions.

[Disastrous]

Some Guy said:

Garmin Etrex. Chose version to suit wallet/functions.

Just looking at the Etrex mini page and it doesn’t seem to show anything about marine use...can you get sea charts for it?

[Some Guy]

How far out to sea are you going? The normal topo mapping will cover coastline and rivers.

[Disastrous]

Some Guy said:

How far out to sea are you going? The normal topo mapping will cover coastline and rivers.

Just coastal day sailing but would the normal mapping cover marine navigation? As in depths/hazards etc?

Sorry, I’m no kind of GPS expert at all so all quite new to me!

[hobbiniho1]

what exactly are you wanting tis device to do? is it just for an emergency situation, not exactly what you are after but i can recommend the navionics app for sailing although you would need to use a smartphone, what do you currently use when sailing?

[Disastrous]

hobbiniho1 said:

what exactly are you wanting tis device to do? is it just for an emergency situation, not exactly what you are after but i can recommend the navionics app for sailing although you would need to use a smartphone, what do you currently use when sailing?

I use charts! Old skool

My boat is pretty small and very rarely out of Loch Lomond or sight of land so not too worried about the sailing side of it really...

The main uses (in order of importance) I would say would be:

1). Backcountry/Mountain Navigation
2). SUP navigation/tracking
3). Sailing navigation as a bonus


What I'd like is something that I could mount to my board/boat/canoe that would give me at a glance view of speed over water/distance covered plus basic navigation (as in, navigational hazards marked and basic course plotting).

I get that a chart plotter would do this at sea, and I get that a handheld GPS would do this in the hills, but not sure if there's something that will cover both?

[Some Guy]

The garmin Montana will take topo map cards and marine chart cards as well. Bit more expensive though, but also waterproof.

[Disastrous]

Some Guy said:

The garmin Montana will take topo map cards and marine chart cards as well. Bit more expensive though, but also waterproof.

Thank you! I shall start my research with them

[ATG]

Ruggedised mobile phone with a monster battery might be worth considering?

[Ayahuasca]

Garmin 64s

I use one for jungle / mountain trekking and boating.

Pretty rugged and easy to use.

[Disastrous]

Ayahuasca said:

Garmin 64s

I use one for jungle / mountain trekking and boating.

Pretty rugged and easy to use.

That looks great! Digging through Garmin’s site, it comes with ‘UK Topo’ maps and a global base map - I’m assuming they’re pretty basic and I’d want to download specifics?

I’d also assume the Bluechart G3 would see me right for hopping around the inner Hebrides on a SUP and I might want the OS maps for any ski touring?

ATG - I definitely *could* use a mobile and currently track my routes this way. My main issue with relying on them is if something happens to it (mount fails etc) and both my primary navigation and backup phone go overboard in one go...The other thing that bugs me is apple occasionally making the thing obsolete with a single update. At least a dedicated device will still work.

Thanks all!

Thanks all, much appreciated!

[ATG]

Redundancy is a very good point, particularly on water. Dedicated devices often have better ergonomics too. For hill walking I've recently been pleasantly surprised how effective an android watch and ruggedised phone combo is. I bought a phone a few weeks ago with this specifically in mind. Phone and watch were both cheap, both have GPS receivers, and the phone has a 10000mAh battery so can easily run for several days with heavy use. It's got a spare function button, so only one prod is needed to get the map up. The watch is activated by turning your wrist to point at your face, and that's sufficient to get it to show heading, next waypoint or even a postage stamp OS 1:25k map image (usually completely useless, but how cool is that?!!?). And I can shatter the mood on a summit by playing ZZ Top or Space Invaders.

[Ayahuasca]

Disastrous said:

Ayahuasca said:

Garmin 64s

I use one for jungle / mountain trekking and boating.

Pretty rugged and easy to use.

That looks great! Digging through Garmin’s site, it comes with ‘UK Topo’ maps and a global base map - I’m assuming they’re pretty basic and I’d want to download specifics?

I’d also assume the Bluechart G3 would see me right for hopping around the inner Hebrides on a SUP and I might want the OS maps for any ski touring?

ATG - I definitely *could* use a mobile and currently track my routes this way. My main issue with relying on them is if something happens to it (mount fails etc) and both my primary navigation and backup phone go overboard in one go...The other thing that bugs me is apple occasionally making the thing obsolete with a single update. At least a dedicated device will still work.

Thanks all!

Thanks all, much appreciated!

‘Topo’ maps probably means OS maps. You can load up other maps if you need them. I don’t bother, just use paper maps and the GPS to give me bearings, waypoints and distances.

No way would I rely on a phone. Also where I go there is usually no phone coverage. The Garmin picks up satellites quite easily even through relatively thick forest cover.

There are two versions, the main difference is the more expensive one has a better compass that still works when stood still.

But I would always take a couple of Silva compasses too.