GPS for my boat

I know my speedo is off. I would like to actually know how fast I'm going. What do you guys use? Can you recommend some GPS units?

I'm just looking for something that can give me speed, I'm not really interested in any other features unless you can convince me otherwise...

My wife just got the Magellan Roadmate 2200T at Costco. I think it was around $200. but not positive. I wanted one that was set up for marine use and hunting but they are even more money (plus it was her Mother's day gift to herself). Since it is meant for the street, I thought it would suck in the boat. It actually is pretty helpful on the Delta showing detail down to little islands in the middle of the sloughs and the names of some of the channels and sloughs. It didn't work so well on New Hogan. Not that you could get lost there but I was just playing around with it. It showed us on land. For a speedo, you just tap the top edge of the screen and it gives you speed, elevation, location and direction. I set my Perfect Pass by it. I also changed props and wanted to see what my top end was so it was nice to have. Hope this helps.

I think you can get a Timex Ironman GPS watch for under $100. Good Luck

all will do speed . i would recommend one with a map. i have the sporttrac ba magellan i like it , but probably would have upgraded to the sporttrac pro.

I have the lawernce ifinder H20...$150.

You can have mapping for 200 with a garmin GPSmap 76, the newer model, gpsmap 76Cx has a better antennae, color, more memory, oh and more money. The map76 also has a coastal database built in of bouys and nav aids. For the price you cant go wrong with a mapping unit and you will use it after you see how handy it is in unfamiliar areas.

Great information, thanks!

The new "cruise control" for skiing is Zero Off. It is a GPS speed control, no weights or anything else needs to be put in, just tell it the speed and it does the rest. Very skeptical about it, but after seeing it pull some slalom this past weekend, it's going to be the best available.

I love the idea of a GPS controlled speed control system. My paddle wheel speedometer hasn't worked right since I bought my boat. That's the only reason I've held off on buying on Perfect Pass and learned how to drive instead.

It's too bad they only make it for electronically controlled throttles...

Livorsi makes a GPS speedometer which is only a speedometer.
http://www.livorsi.com/catalog/gps.htm#GPS_SKI

Are you pulling comps? I've never really understood why people care so much about speed. It's an arbitrary number. keep the speed constant and your good to go, regardless of what the numebr actually is.

The whole point behind my question is that I was considering buying PerfectPass for my boat, cuz my wife SUCKS at pulling me & gets pissed if I don't let her. But, the PerfectPass would be useless if my speedo is off, or just jumps & twicthes all over the place like it does now. So, my understanding of PerfectPass is your speedo has to be calibrated properly so the PerferctPass sets at the proper speed. The only way I know to make sure your speed is spot on is GPS & a GPS speed control makes all the sense in the world to me.

PP keeps the speed constant regardless of what speed it is...the numeber coudl be 25 or 35...PP will hodl the same. your speedo does not need to be calibrated for PP to work properly, you are misinformed.

Troy your paddle wheel was either improperly installed or something is wrong with your system. PP has been flawless for me and a buddy for years. GPS will either be high or low, speedwise, going against the current or with the current. GPS can NOT adjust for these conditions.

Bob has summed this up with "GPS can NOT adjust for these conditions." He is correct. If you don't understand why this is important, read this...

http://www.wakeworld.com/MB/Discus/messages/65921/425305.html