Garmin GPSMAP 78S Marine GPS Navigator and World Wide Chartplotter (010-00864-01)

I've had some experience with the older GPS 76 and found it very hard to see in bright sunlight out on the water.So, I was a bit nervous in ordering the GPS 78sc without being able to kick the tires. It arrived yesterday and I've spent about 6 hours total getting used to it. There were several concerns that I, at first, felt like I had bought a pig in a poke -- BUT, after a couple of phone calls talking to the Garmin technical people, all my issues were resolved.This device is simply incredible with its accuracy and features for such a small package. I rely heavily on the MOB (man overboard) screen for use in setting upwind marks at specific bearings and distances from the committee boat in Race Committee work for Offshore classes. The color screen is very easily seen in the brightest conditions. The track log and reciprocal bearing back to the committee boat are highlighted in different colors and make for a superb display.One of the reasons the color screen is so good (and they don't mention it anywhere) is that the lense window is polarized. I stumbled onto that by accident today on a hike while wearing my polarized sunglasses. I noticed that when turning the device at a right angle the image suddenly disappeared. That only happens when you are viewing a polarized lense from another polarized lense.Now that I am familiar with the 78sc, my ONLY complaint is that the on-line Operation Manual is woefully inadequate for anything other than a basic introduction. However, all of your technical questions (and I am sure you will have some0 will be answered by their Customer Service department. Unlike many other companies, you won't have to wait more than a minute or so before getting through to a tech specialist. Pretty impressive.Let me give you an example of how the Operation Manual suffers. Nothing in the on-line literature advertising the 78sc explains the setup capabilities of the compass feature. It is factory set to show a compass rose instead of degrees. I have a real need for this to be in degrees, and yet after playing with the device for over an hour, I could not locate any menu item that would allow me to change the display. I was quite disappointed in my purchase at this stage -- however, my first call to their tech people got me oriented in how to use the menu drop-down sub categories to find where I could make the setup change.My next issue was that I consistently found the compass bearing was always 10 degrees off from measurements made with my hand-bearing compass. I must have performed the compass calibration in the 78sc a dozen times -- all to know avail. Unbeknownst to me, the factory default for the compass feature is for TRUE north instead of Magnetic north. In my region of the country, eastern Virginia, the angular difference between true north and magnetic north (known as the declination) is ---- Ding ding --- 10 degrees. I stumbled on this by again calling the tech support and was led to the menu item where I could switch from True North to Magnetic North. The devices is now dead on with my hand-bearing compass.I also will be using this for my hiking adventures and purchased the Topo 24 -- Mid-Atlantic sw to provide topographic detail. This along with the built-in altimeter make this a powerful tool to have in your backpack.Having owned this for only two days, I obviously cannot speak to the reliability of the device over long term exposure to saltwater, etc. I had read a few negative reviews from purchasers on this issue on several other websites. But, I intend to keep such exposure to a minimum (i.e., not leave the device on-board), so I do not think this will be a problem for me.UPDATEI spent most of the day yesterday out in the bay doing mark boat duties for our Race Committee. The 78sc performed flawlessly and the accuracy of the MOB feature (pinging on the committee boat) was amazing. As the committee boat stayed put the whole day, I only had to ping it once and from then on I had accurate bearings and distances for setting and moving the upwind marks and the pin end of the starting line.I set the device on the top of the dash in the center console and it never budged, even in choppy waters, thanks to the rubber backing on the GPS.The coastal chart info is also detailed and accurate.I honestly cannot think of anything I would do to improve this device. If you have a need for it -- don't hesitate, buy it.

I have been using this about about 200 days a year in the field since I got it several years ago. I put a screen protector on it, and change it out once or twice a year. I use this all day everyday for field biology work, navigating 2.4km transects, marking data points, etc. It took some getting used to Basecamp, and I still use Mapsource for some stuff to work with files, but the Garmin software is WAAAY easier than the deLorme stuff. I got a Delorme Earthmate PN-60w for a backup/replacement when my old Garmin 76 got run over, and I found the PN60much to difficult to figure out, and the software was crazy. I got both because fo the ability to download satellite imagery to them. The Delorme software is to tedious, too many layers. Garmin you just say high resolution, and go for it. The Garmin download speeds are SLOW. To get a 150mile by 100 mile area at high res, expect to spend a day and ahalf coming back and clicking on the next section you want download. a 200mb file will take an hour or so. I have tried on faster connections than my 5mb/sec setup, and it is still tediously slow.Pros-Indestructible(mostly)I like the 10000 waypoints, I put a 32gb memory card in there and have about 20gb of satelite imagery downloaded onto it.I like the old style push buttonsI go a day and half on my rechargeable AA batteries that I charge on my little solar chargerI think you can go 2 days on regular AA's, though I use the screen saver that turns the screen off at 15sec, 30sec, 1 min, or 2 min intervalsPro and con-customizable setup, you can make it look like your old style garmin format for those who are too used the 76, but it is somewhat tedious to do that, and it is a little too easy to accidentally hit reset to factory-that does not erase your data, just your page setups, map setups, etc.Cons-Garmin sat imagery is slow to download, requires their $30 a year subscription service. OH, and, if you have sat imagery on your computer that you downloaded while your subscription was in effect, once it expires, you can't move it back onto your device. They want that $30 a year. Eh, cost of doing business for me, maybe not so appealing to a recreational user.