10 Best Marine Gps Navigators 2024 in the United States

A GPS (=global positioning system) has become an almost indispensable tool when traveling on unfamiliar roads. It uses satellite imaging and maps in order to tell you the optimal way to get to your destination when driving. But when you are sailing in a boat, and there aren't any familiar landmarks in a big body of water, a marine GPS navigation device should be even more important. A marine GPS unit serves as a chart plotter. It tells you your boat's location and course, and visually depicts the depth of the water and contours of the land. It can be a lifesaver when you are out at night, or when there is fog. Many can work as a fish finding device as well, by employing sound waves to make a map of underwater objects and the ocean or lake floor. So, you can see that marine GPS navigators can have a lot of different features. Here is a guide to some of the best marine GPS navigators on the market.

We can group marine GPS units by their size:

• Hand-held units: These have the advantage that you can take them with you on other boats. These are around the size of a cellphone, so the screen is also rather small. Garmin makes a series of such units, and the screen is 2.6” on the diagonal. But the Garmin has the feature that they're readable even in sunlight.

• Portable units: Here, the display is somewhat larger, and there will be a wider range of functions as well. They will employ some sort of bracket, so that they can be mounted on the boat's transom.

• Fixed mount units: These are permanently attached to the boat's transom. This will offer a larger screen (maybe even with touch screen capability)—as much as 7 inches on the diagonal.

Based on all the consumers' reviews we've scanned, these are the top things they mentioned about their new stuff:

• WAAS: You'll see that the Furuno GPS has WAAS. That stands for “Wide Area Augmentation System”. It improves the accuracy and integrity of the GPS system.

• Recharging the batteries: If you are using a portable marine GPS, you'll want to make sure the batteries will last a long time. Some units say that the fully charged batteries will last up to 8 hours of fishing.

• Marking locations: There are GPS units that let you mark down optimal positions where you have had success fishing in the past. They also let you log your path.

• Simple to use: Even though you pay more for more features, sometimes it comes at the additional price that it's too complicated to use! It's best to have a hard copy of a manual, to help you use the GPS unit. For example, the Humminbird Helix 5 Fish Finder with GPS has the manual only on a CD—it's not so easy to access the information that you need.

• Upgrading: There are GPS units that can be upgraded. Humminbird's GPS can be upgraded by attaching to your home PC with an internet connection. They also can accept a micro SD card to expand its memory.

• CHIRP technology: You'll see a number of GPS/fishfinder units using “CHIRP”. It has nothing to do with birds. CHIRP is an acronym for Compressed High-Intensity Radar Pulse. This sends out a range of sound waves, each with a different frequency (pitch). It provides a more accurate mapping of the objects in the water.

• Attaching the transducer: You'll see some devices advertising a transducer: This is a type of electric eye, that converts the sonar sound signal into an image, to help you map the area. If you're using a mounted GPS/fish finder unit, it will take a while to find the right place to mount the transducer. You'll want to take a mounting board and attach it to the transom of your boat with silicon adhesive. The fish finder transducer should then be attached to that mounting board. You might have to change the location and angle of the mounting board several times before you get proper images. It's easier to move the board around and re-glue it, than to have to drill holes to attach the transducer in different places.

• Screen refresh: You'll see GPS units rated in cycles per second, or Hz (Hertz, the unit of frequency). That indicates how often the screen refreshes its information. For example, the Garmin echoMap unit refreshes at 5 Hz.

Garmin—was founded in 1996, and has its headquarters in Kansas City, Kansas. They are makers of GPS navigation equipment and cameras for automobiles, planes, and ships, as well as outdoor and fitness equipment. They also make GPS watches for joggers, compasses, heart rate meters, altimeters and more.

Furuno—is an electronics company that was founded in 1938 in Nagasaki, Japan by Kiyotaka Furuno. They developed the first practical fish finder for commercial use. They later expanding to radar and sonar for vessels, medical equipment, and meteorological instrumentation.

Humminbird-- Is a brand of marine GPS manufactured by Techsonic Industries. Originally when the company started in 1971, they went under the name Fulton Electronics, and changed the name to Techsonic Industries in 1977. Their facilities are located in Eufaula, Alabama. They use a number of technologies to make depth sounders, marine radios and GPS systems for fishermen.