( 14 reviews )
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Posted: May 13 2009
The 76 is what I thought it would be. Easy to learn how to use. Connects with my laptop for marine charts. Would buy again
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Posted: Mar 22 2009
This is a replacement for me for my old Garmin Map, bought when the technology was fairly new, but stolen from me. It has a larger map page, great for my old eyes. I had used my old one in the Mojave Desert on cloudy days, followed my "breadcrumb" trail back, and never got lost. Also did a bit of geocaching -- fun! A great adjunct for the State topo map books, and very useful on an RV trip across the USA. Haven't used all the new technology in it, yet, but look forward to it.
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Posted: Nov 23 2008
I bought the GPSMap 76 because of its quad helix antenna. Reviews of other GPS receivers frequently complained that the satellite signal was lost in trees or under heavy cloud cover. I have yet to lose the signal when outdoors. It can even usually get the signal in my wood frame house. I originally just wanted an odometer for hiking but decided to get some mapping capability. I have used the GPSMap 76 for hiking, driving and biking. It's not optimized for any of those uses but is pretty good as an all-around unit. If I need a street navigator on a regular basis I would get a unit that specializes in that function. The GPSMap 76 does not calculate routes but you can use the path tool in Google Earth to draw trails, convert them to GPX files with KML2GPX then download them to the GPS receiver. I have found this invaluable when hiking or offroading in unfamiliar areas. It also traces your path which you can upload to your computer and view exactly where you went in Google Earth. When on a long drive I mount it in front of my speedometer and it becomes a map, electronic speedometer and altimeter. I got the topo maps (pre 2008). Even though these maps are about 30 years old, the streets shown are usually useful for driving. However, when zoomed-out they are very slow to load and too cluttered (the 2008 topo map has very inaccurate street maps). I often use the built-in map for driving but that leave out some major roads. It's a little large and could really use an SD card slot to save trails. Otherwise it's a good GPS receiver.
