Will / Can a garmin etrex h work on water

[mann]

Lads my heads just been done in by a chap from Halfords who said the etrex H will not get me home in a fog or darkness... but i have read that it will,

have any of you got or tried one of these pathfinders if so will you please let me know how you got on,

I dont intend to go out more than 5 miles from shore so if you know of anything that will get me home in darkness or whatever crops up please fill me in,

I dont need top of the range gear just a little something to have in the boat,

in anticipation of your kind help i thank you's

[JOHN1]

theres no reason why it wont work it does not know if your on water or land.
just make sure you put in waypoints at your harbour and any headlands or obtacles you know about and you will be fine. i used to use a garmin 72 great little unit i still have it as a back up to the chart plotter.


Thanks to its bright yellow case, eTrex H is easy to find in your boat or backpack. And, eTrex H is IPX7 waterproof, so it can take an accidental splash or dunk in the water and still continue to perform.

[simplywabs]

I have the same one. I agree with the earlier post. eTrex H will work land or sea. Make sure you mark your waypoints. The best way to be sure that you can use it is for you to try and be familiar with it. Use it on land, try to trace back where you came from, change your speed and see how accurate you can come back. Use coordinates and use the walking map diagram.

That will surely work but what is important is for you to know its full capability. Sea is the best place for GPS to track sattelites so accuracy won't be your problem. Extra batteries would help.

[mann]

Thanks for the info gents,

you’ve just convinced me to go get it and yes I will do as you say… that is to get to know how it works on land before trying it at sea,

Great advice gents thanks again.

[donal domeney]

If you going to invest in a hand held unit go for the Garmin "GPS60" It comes with a usb cable and a basic version of "Trip and Waypoint Manager". With it you can save and edit waypoints on your computer.

Quick guide to it here: http://www.amazon.co.uk/Garmin-010-0032 ... 261&sr=8-1

[JimC]

As the lads have said any GPS will get you home. If there is not a basemap or ideally a chart installed you will have to save your own waypoints. This can be done as you go out or off something like google earth beforehand.
I have a 176c unit. Just the unit without mounting. https://buy.garmin.com/shop/shop.do?pID=144#featureTab
give me a pm if interested.

[mann]

Thanks for your input Donal,

Had a look and decided that you know what’s what so went with your choice of hand held’s as I really knew / know nothing about them until a chap I was chatting with advised me to get some sort of pathfinder in case I got caught out there in a fog,

I did in fact get caught out just off Kilkee and ended up going in a circle… funny at the time but when I sat back and thought about what could have happened it woke me up to say the least,

Cheers,

Hi Jim,

Didnt see your post till now so went and ordered the Gps that Donal told me about i'm sure this will do me for now... had a look at your link and yes it looks the biz and i will keep it in mind if or when i need to step up a little,

Thanks again gents for your help with this,

Regards

Mike

[mann]

Hi lads,

Just to let you know I got the GPS 60 two days ago and have had it out in the fields and as ye advised I put the way points in as I walked up and down embankments and I was amazed at how accurate this little gadget is… it showed 9 satellites that gave a good signal strength so I knew it shouldn’t be far out,

So as I tracked back I moved about 4 feet off the track and I could see the arrow / me had also moved off and it pointed away to let me know I was off course,

While this will be nothing new to you all… it f****n amazed me

It can do a lot more then I expected of it “ it can do it but I cant figure it out just yet “ when I ordered it I also ordered a little book called “ GPS the easy way “ as I knew little or nothing about GPS systems and I must say that I read this book before even looking at the user manual that came in the box,

You could say I had to buy a book to explain a book… I found the book to be worth the money as it explained a lot of stuff that you wont find in the manual,

I could go on about my new gadget "come life saver" but if you knew me you would know I’m a man of few words so I will leave it at that,

Came back to say thanks again for all your help in putting me on the right track,

Cheers lads,

Mike.

[JOHN1]

good man mann at least you will have peace of mind when your on the water good luck with your new toy