Kevin Van Dam Forums

I hope this is the right place for this topic? Is anyone using a hand held gps (tracker) my boat doesnt
have gps in the fish finder and I dont think it can be added it is a Lowrance 512. Sometimes when we
go to Lake Douglas we fish of the night and I have trouble getting back to the dock. It would be nice
to have a new fish finder with gps but right now its not in the budget, I thought maybe you could use
a hand held. Is anyone else doing this or is it a bad idea?

I use a hand held unit. It’s the Lowrance H20. It will get you really close to a spot, and you can figure where your at from there. You can also download spots from say navionics to your unit before you hit the lake.

I’m glad you ask the question about hand held GPS units.  I’ve been thinking about picking one up.  The only way I would invest money into one is if I could use it for both open water, and ice fishing.  Does anyone use a hand held unit for ice fishing? Will I be able to pin point spots on the ice with a Lawrance H20?

Lowrance iFinder H2O is a good unit you will want to get a chip though the base mapping isn’t all that great!! Iv never used mine for ice fishing I dont see why you couldn’t.

my brother in law uses a handheld on his boat….works really well for general navigating

How much does these cost? I really dont care if i can mark spots or not Im interested in being able to back track myself. Thanks for the replies Jeff

^Cabelas lists the Lowrance ifinder H20 for $170.

http://www.cabelas.com/cabelas/en/templates/links/link.jsp?id=0028183017032a&type=product&cmCat=SEARCH_all&returnPage=search-results1.jsp&No=0&Ntk=Products&QueryText=hand+held+gps+&sort=all&N=0&Nty=1&hasJS=true&_dyncharset=ISO-8859-1&_DARGS=/cabelas/en/common/search/search-box.jsp.form23

I have used the handheld gps in the past for the boat, ice fishing and hunting and they work great the only down side is the small screen. I now have a lowrance 332c unit that I use for open water and for ice fishing. Lowrance has an accessory part # PPP-16I to turn there head unit into an ice fishing unit and it works great. My wife calles it the hillbilly tv when were ice fishing. BTW you can pick up an older lowrance gps unit for fairly cheap on ebay for about the same price as a new good handheld unit. The PPP-16I will run about $160 but may be cheaper durring the summer.
Hope this helps
jim

Hey guys thanks for the responses sorry I havent got back, I work for the dept. of highways here in WV and all this snow has kept me out working 12 hours a day 7 days a week.
I did find a fish finder with gps for $199 with free shipping it was a eagle cuda 350.

Sounds like you got a nice unit.  I noticed in your original post that you said you wanted it for using at night. Just be VERY careful…..if after dark and in total darkness go only slightly faster than idle. Really.  GPS units can fail…in fact they do often.  Don’t risk your life doing this. Trust me when I say….It’s definitely not for “flying on instruments” !!  GPS is meant for directional orientation only. It’s not meant as a safe passage for night or foggy travel.

Enjoy that new unit.