Best SIMPLE Non-Speaking GPS For Mexico

MM49 wrote:
Have him get a Garmin 76csx. use the blue chart marine maps on chip and the Loaded Mexico mainland mapbase. The unit is water proof, IP7 and it floats.

Have model 60, predecessor of 76csx. The only difference is that it doesn't float. And doesn't have a slot for memory card, though its built-in memory is plenty enough for Blue Chart map.

Oh boy, this thing is impossible to kill. Bought it used, must be 10 or 12 years old now. Last year tried it on Mexico highway with nothing but factory-loaded free base-map (marine chart is obviously of little use on the highway). Garmin 60 has "follow the road" mode, so it beeps when the turn is coming. Big-screen car navigators, Iphones and other devices relying on wireless internet didn't even exist 10 years ago. Entered coordinates of the campsite, and it beeped 500ft before the intersection as it should.

Have him get a Garmin 76csx. use the blue chart marine maps on chip and the Loaded Mexico mainland mapbase. The unit is water proof, IP7 and it floats. The vibration spec is also high though I don't know what it is. The unit is a full featured mapping GPS.
MM49

Garmin, no doubt. Handheld units are immersion class 7 i.e. you can drop it in water. No need in ziplock bag. Many of them are still push-button, not touch-screen. I'm not even sure if their hand-held waterproof units have any with touch-screen. Still have one from my kayaking, don't remember how many years, very rugged.

https://buy.garmin.com/en-US/US/on-the-water/handhelds-wrist-worn/cOnTheWater-cHandhelds-p1.html

Change US icon to Mex on top, it will show local dealers, but it's cheaper in the US of course.

Thank you all!

West Marine store in Chula Vista.

630 Bay BLVD
Chula Vista Ca
91910

1-619-422-1904

Just before the "J" street marina is located in what used to be Rohr.

navegator

The early GPS devices didn't have mapping capabilities, just the Lat. and Long. and direction of travel. You needed a chart to see where you were.

I doubt that there are any GPS units now that just show the coordinates.

If you get him a hand held unit make sure he can charge it while on the boat of get several extra batteries--they only last a few hours.

A larger marine unit would be the best bet, one that runs from the boat battery. you should be able to get charts for Mexico.

If he is just running a Panga with an outboard a hand held would do, even a hiking or automotive one would show the shore line. As others have said, check a marine store or the Garmin site.

Here are some websites where more info might be found.....

http://www.thegpsstore.com/Top-Choice-Products-C96.aspx

http://www.westmarine.com/handheld-gps

http://www.marine-electronics-reviews.com/handheld-marine-gps-review.html

http://www.amazon.com/b/ref=dp_brw_link?ie=UTF8&node=551462

http://www.thehulltruth.com/marine-electronics-forum/486041-best-handheld-marine-gps.html#b

http://www.ebay.com/gds/10-Things-to-Consider-Before-Buying-a-Marine-GPS-Unit-/10000000177628922/g.html

http://forums.gpsreview.net/discussion/27310/marine-handheld

http://www.marineinsight.com/misc/marine-navigation/5-best-handheld-portable-marine-gps-devices



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....you could also download all the World's DNCs (declassified patches) from the NGA; Mexico is comprised of DNCDX014 & DNCDX013

DNC civil public domain use disclaimer: DNC is being made available to the public for GIS use only. (GIS is geographical information systems)

...he'll need a very high-resolution shoreline vector layer, too (at MSL) and port approaches, not the crappy generalized shoreline layers found in terrestrial GPS units.

I would have suggest that he use OpenCPN (a free GPLv2 chartplotter AND GPS navigation software), however, free NOAA RNC geo-referenced digital images of the charts and ENCs vector files of chart features (in S-57 format) are only available for the entire Gulf of Mexico to just north of Belize City, and not the Mexican West Coast any further south of Vicente Guerrero (Baja Norte)...eg. using OpenCPN, he could plot his own navigation (at home on-shore), and output via the Route Manager, waypoints, routes, tracks and layers to GPX format. GPX files that any cheap water-resistant GPS could ingest for water navigation (connecting the GPS to his laptop via USB or serial cable).

Found an example of charts . .

http://my.garmin.com/mapCoverage/coverage.faces?currency=USD&country=en_US&searchString=HUS021R . . .

They appear to cover more area than they used to but are not cheap.

Garmin also has some handheld units for very basic use but I doubt I could see the screen. Do some research and then look in stores to see what they actually look like.

http://www.garmin.com/us/support/#/{f25d2860-030a-11dc-e9ab-000000000000}/Handhelds and Wrist Worn/{5904dcc0-df77-11e3-c98c-000000000000}

The only dealer I find on the west coast of Mexico . . .

Ferreteria Zaragoza S.A. De C.V.
BLVD. FCO. MEDINA ASCENCIO #2926
PUERTO VALLARTA JALISCO 48335
322 226-3232
http://www.zaragozamarine.com.mx/

The Garmin website could be a place to roam.

https://buy.garmin.com/en-US/US/browse.ep?cID=205951&filters=cOnTheWater+c519&sorter=price-asc

We had a couple boats with a couple GPS/fishfinder/depthfinders about 10 years ago but are not up on the current products. We only had Garmins.

Why a fishfinder too? You can see the bottom and also fish - this helps to make sure you don't run aground and other things. Depends on what the boat will be used for. We were divers and used the GPS and fishfinder to find specific places to dive - we could see contours that showed reefs or rocks way down below.

A GPS must have maps. On water you need charts of the specific area the boat will be used. We bought SD cards of our area to get the charts. Some GPS will have charts built in but depends on where the boat will be used.

A chart will show depths and a depthfinder will show depth where you are to help determine if you are on course.

To find your way out to a location and back to the harbor it is good to have tracking - draws a line on the chart.

Waypoints are used on water to chart a course. Charts are used to identify underwater objects as well as those above. If there are buoys you chart from point to point along the route.

We used ours around islands in the Caribbean for about 6 years - we had lots of underwater obstacles to avoid and they were on the charts. We had to chart the route to avoid the rocks and reefs - which could mean several waypoints. We eventually had a list of dive sites saved in the computer as waypoints so we could find a specific spot again.

There is a lot to it. I have no idea why the on water ones cost more than the road map ones considering we can buy a GPS with every road and street in all of North America with a 7" screen for around $200 while half decent on water GPS start around $500.