After getting caught in the fog out at Sekiu a couple of weeks ago, my desire for a good gps receiver increased tremendously. Does anyone have recommendations for what to buy/what not to buy, what accessories to go for? I've looked around a little recently and the Garmin GPSMAP 76 is looking pretty interesting, though it is a little pricey. Does anyone have one? How has it worked?

I have a Garmin E-Map. I am happy with it so far. Does have decent cartography for a hand held. I just plug it into the sigaret lighter. You do need to keep this one dry as opposed to the one you mentioned in your post. I was out at Neah Bay earlier this summer in the fog, 8ft swells past Cape Flattery. The GPS definitely gives you a comfort level that wouldn't be there otherwise. The GPS also saved my bacon in the San Juans, navigating in the fog.

I have a garmin gps 12. A basic model that you can get all of the accessories for like a car adaptor, a dashboard mount, etc.

The only downside is that there is no hookup for an external antenna or a port for info download to a compter if you are into that sort of thing. No built in maps are available for it, but I always carry maps cause batteries and electronic devices do go dead.

The upside is that it is inexpensive, you can find it for as little as $125.00 on the net, it has plenty of features to handle most situations, and mine does double duty when hunting as well. Uses AA batteries, which my other devices use, so you only have to pack one size.

I dropped mine while deer hunting last year. Didn't realize it until I got home that night. I went back the next morning after a few inches of rain had fallen, and found it sitting in a puddle. I hit the 'on' button, and it fired right up!

It fits my needs, and it was not too hard on the pocket book.

Andy

Recently bought a Garmin 162 w/o antenna. I move it between my boat and my car. If you have a PC with a serial adapter, you can get a wide variety of software that let you do some really useful stuff - 3D mapping of the bottom, track across real (i.e., scanned) nav charts, etc., etc.

It's probably overkill for inland waters, but I'm just attracted to toys. However, I've tried a number of the better known brands as well as read other user's comments about this and other GPS units. They're all pretty good.

Enjoy, you won't regret it.

Take care

Michael