Can't help much but make sure whatever you get is waterproof, not just water resistant.
I have a good Lowrance FF on my kayak but would like to add a gps. I've been looking at some of the hand held that are also a GMRS/FRS radio. Have any of you had any experience with one of these, or would I be better off with just a hand held gps? I mainly want it for mph trolling. Garmin makes several models called Rino's. I know these radios say they are good for 10 and 20 miles and your lucky to get 1 mile range, but it's nice when me and my buddies are fishing together in our kayaks. What are useful features to look for in the hand helds?
Can't help much but make sure whatever you get is waterproof, not just water resistant.
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Rinos eat batteries, at least the ones that I have used.
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Southern Sickle Jigs Pro Staff
the Garman new color HD are great. I fish Corp of Eng. brush piles from there cord. and it works reel good.
Bfish, did the rinos you used perform well and do they all read tenths of mph for use in trolling?
I have been using a Garmin Legend CX for over 5 years now and love it! Have about 35 waypoints set on it. Fast & easy to use, but I'm not sure if it's waterproof or not(?). That would have to be a paramount consideration in your case!
"A voyage in search of knowledge need never abandon the spirit of adventure."
Did not use the gps feature, just used them to talk while floating a river for smallmouth. The radio feature just barely worked when we were 200-300 yds apart. It did not work when someone went around a bend in the river. Tried multiple times but the rechargable batteries would lose power after having the radios on for 4-5 hours. We didn't even chat much, maybe 4 or 5 quick conversations.
Battery life is the biggest problem with handhelds. Make sure, if you can, get a cigarette lighter charger.
I aint here to tell you anything. You want to know what Im doing....pm me and meet me on the lake.
I bought a garmin handheld gps 8 years ago and still use it. It has no great detail but I bought it to lay a track to find my way back to the ramp and it does that and more. It is a refurb, never had a problem with it. I use it to tell me when I've drifted off of a brush pile and where to double back thru when you passed something of interest. The part about the batteries id true, so look up a hardwire to the TM battery or maybe a couple of sets of rechargeable. The paperwork said mine got 12 hrs per set of batt's and they weren't far off. I was always carrying a set or two of extra's, and that was a pain. I don't regret buying it for a second. I bought the ram mount for it and have mine mounted next to the FF in the front.
Creativity is just intelligence fooling around