Need a cheap GPS

[Fishwater2002]

I’m looking for something that will do GPS & chart plotting or at least offer a trail to get back for our SX230. I don’t fish & spend all if not most of my time on one lake where we own a camp. My speedo & depth finder don’t work so I figure I could kill multiple birds with one stone, there are also times where we’d like to go out at night but without at least a depth sounder I don’t want to chance it. What are some good low buck stand alone units to look at? Not interested in using my phone or a tablet, just want a solid stand alone unit to do what I need.

 

[biffdotorg]

Watch the big sales this spring at the big sports stores and fleet supply stores. The marine shops do well too. The best time to buy is black friday or spring sales and they are on now. In MN, our fishing opener is in May, so it's quiet now until that date approaches.

I have bought from The GPS Store, Inc. GPS Systems, Marine Electronics and Cabelas, Scheels, and Fleet Farm in our region. All have good prices and know their competition.

This is very basic technology in all the units. The quality of maps is what you are actually shopping in your use case. The big thing to tell us is if you are an inland boater or offshore boater? As some brands (garmin for example) ship with inland maps, or offshore maps based on model. Some like Garmin and Lowrance use Navionics, or Humingbird and their lakemaster maps.

Since you are not fishing, those lakemaster maps are more depth charts, where Navionics is better known for navigation. But either is just fine, as it gives you what you are asking for. Any of them will give you depth and speed, and transducer mounting will be a similar process no matter the brand.

Some brands like Garmin, can be purchased heavily discounted if you get a previous generation transducer. I did that when I bought my last two Garmins. I didn't need the latest transducer, as my main goal was lakemaps and livescope. But the transducer I did get with each works really well.

Good luck,

 

[2kwik4u]

I’m looking for something that will do GPS & chart plotting or at least offer a trail to get back for our SX230. I don’t fish & spend all if not most of my time on one lake where we own a camp. My speedo & depth finder don’t work so I figure I could kill multiple birds with one stone, there are also times where we’d like to go out at night but without at least a depth sounder I don’t want to chance it. What are some good low buck stand alone units to look at? Not interested in using my phone or a tablet, just want a solid stand alone unit to do what I need.

I'm an inland boater as well. I never fish. I wanted something cheap and usable for the few times a year we get into the intracoastal in the FL/AL area of the gulf.

I bought a nice mount, and a cheap case for my phone, then a years subscription to Navionics app. Beyond that, I added a USB charging port to the helm to keep the device juiced up. I'm probably under $100 for all the physical pieces/parts, and the Navionics subscription is relatively inexpensive. It's worked well the 3-4 times I've used it.

I wouldn't trust this setup for a trip to Bimini, or any life safety dependent operations, but for the casual boater it's pretty great for the money invested.

 

[Bottom Bracket]

I have an old Samsung sm-T580 tablet. that has gps.

 

[TommyMcK]

My 222xd has it's beautiful GPS/chart system as part of it, but my Monterey's dash is partying like it's 1999. I got a Garmin GPSMAP 86SC. You'd have to specify "cheap", but when I looked at this recently, there were a bunch of options with a bad UI, and a GPS with a bad UI is a waste of money at any price.... At $342 on Amazon, the Garmin was the cheapest that seems useful to me at least

I'm a belts and suspenders kind of guy, and the idea of relying on being in cell phone range doesn't appeal to me so I'm always going to have a GPS...but to be honest, the Wavve app on my iphone blows the Garmin away from a UI point of view, and the free version does everything I need. I always have the Garmin with me, but almost never use it. I boat in SW Florida and on the Chesapeake and am usually within range of cell towers.

Even if you get a GPS, I'd highly recommend checking out Wavve.

 

[CastawayRK]

I know you said no tablet but…I have a Simrad in my boat but have taken to using an iPad as nav screen and the Simrad for sonar/downscan. You will need a charger since full on in sunlight kills the battery. The Simrad app runs fine with the GPS in the iPad so I’m sure it would work with any other app you subscribe to. You can download chart so you don’t need cell service. It will trail where you’ve been so you could find your way home. In my case I like it for fishing since it shows hi-res bottom contours better than the in dash unit.
Cheers

 

[2kwik4u]

My 222xd has it's beautiful GPS/chart system as part of it, but my Monterey's dash is partying like it's 1999. I got a Garmin GPSMAP 86SC. You'd have to specify "cheap", but when I looked at this recently, there were a bunch of options with a bad UI, and a GPS with a bad UI is a waste of money at any price.... At $342 on Amazon, the Garmin was the cheapest that seems useful to me at least

I'm a belts and suspenders kind of guy, and the idea of relying on being in cell phone range doesn't appeal to me so I'm always going to have a GPS...but to be honest, the Wavve app on my iphone blows the Garmin away from a UI point of view, and the free version does everything I need. I always have the Garmin with me, but almost never use it. I boat in SW Florida and on the Chesapeake and am usually within range of cell towers.

Even if you get a GPS, I'd highly recommend checking out Wavve.

Navionics will let you download the maps ahead of time. No need to have cell service. Just need a charged phone with a GPS fix.

I typically update the maps before leaving the house/campsite in the morning on the first day there, and have never had an issue. App fires right up when there isn't a cell signal, and performs well.

I'll check out Wavve as well, always looking for alternatives.

 

[TommyMcK]

Navionics will let you download the maps ahead of time. No need to have cell service. Just need a charged phone with a GPS fix.

I typically update the maps before leaving the house/campsite in the morning on the first day there, and have never had an issue. App fires right up when there isn't a cell signal, and performs well.

I'll check out Wavve as well, always looking for alternatives.

Cool. Generally speaking I haven't had the best luck with phones getting good real-time continuous GPS fixes when they don't also have cell towers to triangulate against....but that depends on a bunch of factors. That's also a function of how the app drives / handles the GPS service on the phone, so Navionics sounds like a good thing to check out.

Wavve has great charts and is every bit as good as anything I've used to show real-time depth, taking tides into account. I haven't investigated if / how to cache the charts ahead of time, though there may be a way.

 

[zipper]

I’m looking for something that will do GPS & chart plotting or at least offer a trail to get back for our SX230. I don’t fish & spend all if not most of my time on one lake where we own a camp. My speedo & depth finder don’t work so I figure I could kill multiple birds with one stone, there are also times where we’d like to go out at night but without at least a depth sounder I don’t want to chance it. What are some good low buck stand alone units to look at? Not interested in using my phone or a tablet, just want a solid stand alone unit to do what I need.

We did not have a chartplotter on our Yamaha. We used Navionics on our cell phones. I did install a Raymarine Axiom 9 RV chartplotter and a RV-200 transducer on our Bene. The chartplotter has Navionics loaded and we upgrade it annually with subscription. Very useful with a boat with a draft of 6'10". On the Whaler, a 39 yo boat, we bought a Lowrance Elite FS9 with transducer for fishing, with Navionics. A good unit for fishing without active imaging. We have a Garmin stryker vivid 5cv, no gps, for fishing we use on the ice and fishing from our Zodiac dinghy with a transducer change. We also have a Garmin inreach gpsmap 86sci I will be using when we move the PDQ 36 from RI to Lake Champlain in late may. No transducer. Will be upgrading the old 7" raymarine chartplotter and transducers on the PDQ 36 to something more comfortable for my old eyes.

 

[drewkaree]

Navionics will let you download the maps ahead of time. No need to have cell service. Just need a charged phone with a GPS fix.

I've only ever had Samsung tablets, and your suggestion is the only method I've ever used. The Samsung's have the GPS built in, and don't require a data plan whatsoever, and everything can be installed over Wi-Fi. For the price, nothing touches it in that size range for less than at least double the price, although that cost differential has gotten even wider over the last 2-3 years, so it's an even better solution. The Samsung Galaxy Tab's can be had at Costco for $169 regularly, so if it's not on sale one month, it'll likely be back on sale the next.

As for heat buildup, I'm certain that a shade or shield can be 3D printed nowadays. That was an issue with the Samsung as well as the iPad, but throwing a towel or shirt over the tablet when at anchor was sufficient to fix the problem for me, and while underway, there must be enough airflow to keep the Samsung cool. Having a proper charger is enough to keep it from dying, but the built-in USB ports from Yamaha are 2.1A on my boat, and they only slow down the rate of battery drain. I think it requires a 3.something amp outlet, but those are super easy to swap out.

 

[Thermobrett]

This is what I had.
Garmin Striker Vivid 7sv, Easy-to-Use 7-inch Color Fishfinder and Sonar Transducer, Vivid Scanning Sonar Color Palettes (010-02553-00) https://www.amazon.com/dp/B08LF1F981/ref=cm_sw_r_cp_apip_YgHhMpiEvwp6b

 

[2kwik4u]

I've only ever had Samsung tablets, and your suggestion is the only method I've ever used. The Samsung's have the GPS built in, and don't require a data plan whatsoever, and everything can be installed over Wi-Fi. For the price, nothing touches it in that size range for less than at least double the price, although that cost differential has gotten even wider over the last 2-3 years, so it's an even better solution. The Samsung Galaxy Tab's can be had at Costco for $169 regularly, so if it's not on sale one month, it'll likely be back on sale the next.

As for heat buildup, I'm certain that a shade or shield can be 3D printed nowadays. That was an issue with the Samsung as well as the iPad, but throwing a towel or shirt over the tablet when at anchor was sufficient to fix the problem for me, and while underway, there must be enough airflow to keep the Samsung cool. Having a proper charger is enough to keep it from dying, but the built-in USB ports from Yamaha are 2.1A on my boat, and they only slow down the rate of battery drain. I think it requires a 3.something amp outlet, but those are super easy to swap out.

I bought a Lenovo Tab P10 for the 5yr old for Christmas last year. I loaded up Navionics one night, and used it on the boat. No overheating issues, even in direct sun for the day. I think it was like $160 or something. Has lots of Mil spec dust and vibration certifications as well.

If I was buying new today; that Lenovo tablet and a RAM mount with a tablet sized "X-Grip" holder would be my go to solution.

 

[SantaFeTrailer]

I found a Lowrance Hook2 5" for short money on Great Lakes Skipper a few years ago. They had a bunch that were slated to be OEM installs but were surplus. You could check and see what they have now.

 

[Fishwater2002]

The Navionics & a tablet sound great but I still want a depth finder onboard so I’d have to add something to get live depth readings.

 

[drewkaree]

I bought a Lenovo Tab P10 for the 5yr old for Christmas last year. I loaded up Navionics one night, and used it on the boat. No overheating issues, even in direct sun for the day. I think it was like $160 or something. Has lots of Mil spec dust and vibration certifications as well.

If I was buying new today; that Lenovo tablet and a RAM mount with a tablet sized "X-Grip" holder would be my go to solution.

I'm not finding anything around that price, Amazon has it showing $330. Was that a Costco/Sam's Club buy?

I'm looking to retire my existing tablet to Kindle use instead of buying a Kindle, and upgrading the tablet, both for speed and moving to USB-C to not require multiple types of charging cables.

The Navionics & a tablet sound great but I still want a depth finder onboard so I’d have to add something to get live depth readings.

I'm not trying to badger you or belabor the point, only trying to address points made. If you don't fish, and you know the draft of your boat (across all Yamaha's, it's been 18"), it's been reported over many on here that 3' is sufficient to set the alarm levels on their boat, and Navionics has warnings as well, not to mention that they've got highly accurate depth charts to keep me out of trouble.

Live depth is useful to know that something is there, but seems like it's often going to register too late to be useful. For instance, when I grounded my boat on a rock pile that was "installed" by some jackasses over the winter, the working depth finder on my boat still had me registering as being fine in 3' of water, while the front portion of my boat was grounded and not moving. No working depth finder exists that would have saved me, only my slow speed helped allow me to get in the water and float it backwards and off the pile with some effort. Had I been going at speed, it's possible I'd have never gotten hung up at all, but a depth finder would have only registered after the fact, if I had gotten hung up.

My situation is similar to yours; I spend 70% of my time on one lake and the river, with the other 30% not nearly as well known, but I've trusted and followed Navionics for several years with zero issues that could have been prevented. The other thing, and this can be verified around the forum, is that the term "working depth finder" is something that Yamaha has issues with nailing down. OFTEN the OEM unit craps out, where the GPS feed for my tablet hasn't thus far. The mouth of my creek leading out to the lake is anywhere between 3 feet to a foot and a half, depending on recent rainfall, and the OEM often craps out right after getting onto the lake. I trust Navionics more than the OEM depth finder, and if I'm ever in doubt, I've got an oar for sounding.

If you've got a gauge for depth, it could be removed and updated with something like this for your needs: https://www.amazon.com/dp/B000JEOEE...g=UTF8&linkCode=ml1&tag=seamancustomb-20&th=1

If you've the space for that gauge on the panel, it's a relatively easy task to drill the hole and install, or it could be installed in an auxillary holder and placed somewhere at the helm.

Anyway, whatever your preferences, here's hoping you find something that doesn't beat your wallet senseless.

 

[2kwik4u]

I'm not finding anything around that price, Amazon has it showing $330. Was that a Costco/Sam's Club buy?

I'm looking to retire my existing tablet to Kindle use instead of buying a Kindle, and upgrading the tablet, both for speed and moving to USB-C to not require multiple types of charging cables.

Definitely has a USB-C charger. We've standardized the house on them as well. Helped reign in the cable madness a lot.

Did some searching. Looks like I bought it on sale straight from Lenovo. This was late '22 for a Christmas gift for the little one.



With that said. Here's the nearly the same thing. I didn't compare specs between the P11 Plus we have and the P11 below. Same price, and looks to be same size.

Amazon.com <--$189.


*edit* found a quick online comparitor tool thing......https://versus.com/en/lenovo-tab-p11-2nd-gen-vs-lenovo-tab-p11-plus?filter[]=brands%3DLenovo

 

[biffdotorg]

I found a Lowrance Hook2 5" for short money on Great Lakes Skipper a few years ago. They had a bunch that were slated to be OEM installs but were surplus. You could check and see what they have now.

Exactly. Bass pro is clearing them out for $269 right now. They even had a clearance on the Hook2 9" for $199, but I did not see stock anywhere.

If a person has a need for depth, then a tablet is not the right choice, when these units are so darn cheap and still has good mapping. Hardwire it in and no cables on the dash to fuss with. And maps can be updated with an SD card.

In the marine electronics world, you can spend $200 on a transducer alone.