Customer Reviews:
 Excellent product - Many useful features December 28, 2007
Excellent quality / price relation. It has many useful features. Easy to use. The pc cable provided works great ( even with linux - gpsman software - ).
Garmin 76 Handheld GPS July 5, 2007
0 out of 2 found this review helpful
My husband says the GPS works great, and it will serve his purposes. He likes to fish, hunt and ride horseback on trails. I tried to consider other people's reviews to get the best price on a model that would meet his needs.
Perfect Starter GPS and more (GPSMAP76) January 18, 2007
10 out of 10 found this review helpful
I had previously used GPS units, but never knew the intricacies of one until purchasing the GPSMAP76. The base maps that are preloaded on this unit are awsome. It is extremely user friendly. If you are technologically in the dark and are scared about newer electronics such as this, this unit is perfect. The manuals walk you through everything.
I have had a blast planning trips, geocaching (google it), and I can't wait to get on the water with it. I put it to the test when I was in some beautiful back country in the northern portion of lower Michigan. I googled some coordinates of where I wanted to go, and connected the dots on some really awsome 4x4 trails. The accuracy was incredible.
The only downside I can think of is the lack of expandable memory. However, I can't see the need for any additional software. Like I said, the basemaps are full of detail. I can find a McDonalds that is 20 miles up the road off an interstate exit! Also, it is a little bigger than the eTrex series, but that's because it's a "mapping" unit. It still fits easily into my Columbia jacket pocket.
The GPSMAP 76S would have been nice, but I was trying to be very price conscientious. Overall, I'm stunned and I love it.
 Excellent bang for the buck October 30, 2006
27 out of 27 found this review helpful
The Garmin GPSMap 76 is a nicely thought out and solidly built device that works great if you're willing to learn how to use it. It has super-sharp graphics, a fair amount of detail, good satellite reception and accuracy, and nice additional features like tidal and sun rise/set information. Oh, and it's waterproof and it floats. I've had mine a few months and have gotten good use out of it while driving around northern California and city hiking in San Francisco, and i'm just starting to look at geocaching.
This should be obvious to most people but, for the price of this unit, you are not going to get a GPS that puts your seat belt on and gives you turn-by-turn directions in your choice of voices. You have to be a bit of a gadget-head (or, at least, not a gadget-phobe) to figure out how to use all of the 76's features like navigation or the surprisingly detailed trip computer. The menu-driven UI is rather terse and doesn't have built-in documentation. Luckily, the GPSMap 76 allows you to work in simulator mode so you can put it through all of its paces from your living room.
The 8Mb RAM does seem light, but GPS Mapquest format must be very efficient in storing data, because that actually works fine for most localized uses. If you travel around a lot and want to keep two or more locations memory-resident, you might begin to feel the pinch. As others have mentioned, some of the stored topo and location data is rather high-level and you can spend ~$90 for a CD set that will provide more detail. That seems to me to be a reasonable price-performance investment.
The only thing i've found in this unit that i would consider a bug is that the user has to tell it what time zone to use. I would think that it would figure that out based on its location. Minor detail, though. One other thing -- the 76 doesn't come with a carrying case so you're out a little more money buying a pouch for it. Great deal for the money though, and a solid product overall.
needs more detail August 20, 2006
18 out of 19 found this review helpful
You will need to buy Map-source maps ($100+) to make this thing worth the purchase. I needed GPS for boating but the base maps are rudimentary, ie; no inlets, rivers, shoreline detail or lakes. It is although very accurate and easy to use, nice big screen and good reception. If you need GPS now this unit is an excellent value. I payed $199 a month ago and now its $169 but that's my problem.
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