Garmin GPSMap 76S Waterproof Hiking GPS

I purchased this product primarily for use in my work. I wanted a unit with an electronic compass, altimeter capabilities, and the ability to measure area. After much research, I found that the 76S provides all of those capabilities at a very reasonable cost. Although other units have more bells and whistles, such as color display and memory cards, they are much more expensive. The 76S provides excellent capabilities for my uses at a mid-range cost. The user manual could be somewhat more user-friendly, but this is a minor problem, since the unit is fairly intuitive to use.

I highly recommend the 76s for anyone who is spending time in the remote, trackless outdoors. I've become lost a few times in southern Utah, perhaps the most difficult backcountry region in the world. I bought the 76s to record routes in case I need to backtrack to extricate myself from the canyon country, and I've been very impressed with how easy this system is to use. I only have two complaints: I have not been able to get near the 16 hours of battery life that Garmin advertises, even with the backlight off; and I can't get an accurate reading inside my truck, which at times has been more than a headache. Inside my truck the compass tends to freewheel and my route readings become useless. I have attempted to get information from Garmin, but they respond with more questions, and haven't been of much help so far. There are rooftop antenas available for other models, but I don't know of one for the 76s, and Garmin has yet to respond to that query. Overall, I'm happy with what is obviously a well-designed and usable receiver, and just wish that I could get some answers to my technical questions. Another note to drivers: the compass works only when the unit is held almost dead level. Try to find a place in your vehicle to mount the unit so that it is simultaneously level and visable from the driver's seat. I haven't found a good spot yet.The unit is very solidly built, durable, and has survived two falls already. Garmin says it's waterproof, but Utah isn't a good test for this feature.I would appreciate any accurate feedback on whether or not a rooftop antena will imrove the compass function...is the compass magnetic, or does it use sattelite data to get oriented? Garmin hasn't answered this question.

I purchased this probably 5 years ago and was surprised to see its still available. This is a great handheld GPS for offshore, however I have still never had the guts to test if it floats or not.

I've used this unit for well over a year now. I do a lot of mountaineering, sea kayaking, and sailing, and the GPS 76S seemed ideal for my needs. I invested $399 in the unit, about a hundred dollars on a the US Topo MapSource CD, and over a hundred dollars on a single set of marine charts. So I've sunk a ton of dollars into the unit. I would have to say I am definitely not satisfied with the unit, mostly because the display is unreadable under most lighting conditions.Some specific comments:- MapSource software, for interfacing with Garming topo and marine data, is extremely primitive- Very difficult to tailor the display to show relevant marine data- Magnetic compass is not usable, first because it is almost impossible to hold it "level" to its standard, second because its directions are always wildly off- Screen is very hard to see due to low contrast, partly because Garmin insists on adding a grey background to the images in the display- Screen is very reflective, in many lighting situations all you can see is your nose and sunglasses!- Screen surface is very soft and very sratchableOverall impression: In demanding outdoor use, with real lighting conditions and the need to get a real answer fast (mountaineering, or looking for a navigation buoy at sunset in high winds) this unit is worthless. I'm really sorry I bought it. I've owned four other Garmin GPS units, as well as a Lowrance, and this is the least usable in my experience.

I bought this unit to do some Geocaching with my daughter. When I opened the box, I was surprised by how large this unit was. I didn't pay attention to the size specifications listed on the purchase page. The graphics used to advertise made this unit appear to be about the size of the smaller eTrex Navigator units and their ilk. If you don't mind carrying around something about the size of a Fluke digital multimeter, this would suit your purposes. As for ease-of, the interface for the computer is 9-pin serial which is incovenient. The internal software doesn't allow you to save or show much text for Geocaching. (Some receivers allow you to put in comments and hints.) This unit is very solid, does what it does very well, but lacks a few things that would make it an excellent system for Geocaching. On the positive side, the screen is large and easy to read. The internal altimeter gives you vertical profile capabilities.

For years I used a Garmin 48 GPS on my boat, but, as it happens it was stolen and I needed to replace it. While the 48 did not have soundings or coast lines it did have all aids to navigation with full descriptions. You could tell which blinking light was which. Place the cursor on the mark and it would tell you it was a FL R 10s (flashing red every 10 seconds). And this data was part of the base unit. Beware the "basemap" that comes with all Garmin units has almost no aids to navigation at all. And the "Blue Charts", while providing so much data as too make using a 20 mile view almost useless, DOES NOT CONTAIN LIGHT DESCIPTIONS AT ALL. A channel marker is only "2" or "3". So, buyer beware, the new Garmin products have less practical navigation value than the older units have.

Makes locating your position an easy job. Finding waypoints and making lines of travel is a no brainer.

Bought it used but works like new.