The GPSMap76 is a great unit! More functions than I'll ever be able to figure out how to use. Contrary to the what the writeup says, the unit does fit into my shirtpocket. So far, only two shortcomings. 1) Not rechargeable (2-AA batteries) and 2) the manual seems sparse on details of "how to". All-in-all 4 stars. A REALLY GOOD UNIT!!

Excellent quality / price relation. It has many useful features. Easy to use. The pc cable provided works great ( even with linux - gpsman software - ).

The Garmin GPSMap 76 is a nicely thought out and solidly built device that works great if you're willing to learn how to use it. It has super-sharp graphics, a fair amount of detail, good satellite reception and accuracy, and nice additional features like tidal and sun rise/set information. Oh, and it's waterproof and it floats. I've had mine a few months and have gotten good use out of it while driving around northern California and city hiking in San Francisco, and i'm just starting to look at geocaching.

This should be obvious to most people but, for the price of this unit, you are not going to get a GPS that puts your seat belt on and gives you turn-by-turn directions in your choice of voices. You have to be a bit of a gadget-head (or, at least, not a gadget-phobe) to figure out how to use all of the 76's features like navigation or the surprisingly detailed trip computer. The menu-driven UI is rather terse and doesn't have built-in documentation. Luckily, the GPSMap 76 allows you to work in simulator mode so you can put it through all of its paces from your living room.

The 8Mb RAM does seem light, but GPS Mapquest format must be very efficient in storing data, because that actually works fine for most localized uses. If you travel around a lot and want to keep two or more locations memory-resident, you might begin to feel the pinch. As others have mentioned, some of the stored topo and location data is rather high-level and you can spend ~$90 for a CD set that will provide more detail. That seems to me to be a reasonable price-performance investment.

The only thing i've found in this unit that i would consider a bug is that the user has to tell it what time zone to use. I would think that it would figure that out based on its location. Minor detail, though. One other thing -- the 76 doesn't come with a carrying case so you're out a little more money buying a pouch for it. Great deal for the money though, and a solid product overall.

My husband and father both have this unit. It's really handy to have on road trips and to use while Geocaching. From our experience, it does take a while to download map information onto the unit, and a color screen would be nice, but for $200, I think it's a good value.

After spending a lot of time reviewing the various alternatives for handheld mapped GPS units, I came to the conclusion that I needed a unit with a quad helix antenna and preferred a Garmin product. I initially targeted a GPSMAP 60 but discovered that for my purposes the GPSMAP 76 was a better value. I don't need the extra memory or USB interface that the 60 offers, so I went with the 76 and have not been disappointed. I definitely recommend it.

This is a great gps, especially for marine purposes. I searched around and researched before deciding on purchasing the gpsmap 76. I find the preloaded base maps to be very sufficient and fairly detailed. It's waterproof and submersible, what else could you ask for. The only downfall is that it's not colorized, but big deal. It's quite easy to see when you're standing in direct sunlight. This is one of the best gps devices out there for this price range. It's well worth every penny, and comes highly recommended.

So I finally got around to upgrading my trusty 3 year old Garmin 12XL to a new GPSMAP 76. I played with one of the Magellan 330s at the local store for comparison but found that once again I simply prefer the Garmin user interfaces. I also picked up the MetroGuide CD. I figured if I was going to upgrade to a mapping GPS, I'd really want richly detailed maps. Surprisingly, I've experienced no buyer's remorse whatsoever. The GPSMAP 76 is nothing short of miraculous! Garmin is to be commended for the improvements they've made to their product line over the years.<p>The internal quad-helix antenna is excellent. Position accuracy is superb, screen resolution is vastly improved, and the extras such as tidal and celestial info are a really nice touch. The optimal fishing/hunting time predictor seems like overkill but I'll bet there are users who swear by it. The routing and tracking functions are well thought out and much improved since the 12XL was released. WAAS is sort of a mixed bag. I find that that whenever I lock onto WAAS signals, the estimated accuracy gets a few feet worse. It's never reads more than 20-25 feet off total but it's still the opposite of what I'd expect. Regardless of what the estimated error reading is, the accuracy always seems much better than it lets on. I've been using it a lot for geocaching lately and it invariably puts me within 5-6 feet of the caches.<p>The MetroGuide CD is quite nicely designed for a Windows product (I'm a Mac fan!) It contains substantial improvements over Delormes Street Atlas 4 Mac which was the last CD based mapping product I owned. It's fast and accurate (I understand that they just updated all their maps) and the integration with the GPSMAP is excellent. You can easily transfer all waypoints, routes, tracks, or maps back and forth between the GPS and your PC (or VirtualPC for Mac fans). You can also connect your GPS to the serial port and dynamically track your whereabouts on your laptop screen but I find this arrangement a bit cumbersome. There are just too many wires and batteries to deal with. For me having an easily readable, high-resolution, zoomable map on the GPS is the only way to go.<p>The only complaint I expected to make was with regard to the limited 8 MB map storage space. It turns out that 8 MB will hold pretty much the entire San Diego, CA and San Francisco, CA Bay Area. If I were driving across the country and wanted to investigate every nook and cranny I might be concerned. Otherwise it's perfectly fine for now.<p>Great product, great price. Happy navigating!

With the internal quad-helix antenna (as opposed to a simple patch antenna)and the external antenna port for an optional active antenna, you can get great signal, even in the worst circumstances. After reading all the comments [...] I chose this unit and have been extremely satisfied. I have been able to get reception while driving in a valley under tree cover. I have even gotten reception holding it up next to a window on an airplane (way cool!). The 8MB of memory is enough to hold the map of the entire Bay Area. The compass is sensitive enough, so that a few steps in any direction will give you an accurate heading. The altimiter is accurate to within 10-20 feet when it has a 3D lock with good signal. It's acquisition times are short and the darn thing even FLOATS! I had to choose between this unit and the Vista (the other top of the line Garmin) and chose this unit for its reception sensitivity. The only other unit with "better sensitivity" was the feature-poor Garmin III+.

I have not been dissapointed with the Map76. One thing, be sure to hold it vertically for the best reception (as opposed to the patch antenna units which must be held horizontally).

Also: I have found that this, and other Garmin units, interface well with the MapSource and the TOPO! software for dynamite route and waypoint planning. Great Toy!

Having owned over 6 Garmin GPS products, and now having the 76 that provides accuracy beyond belief, makes this product a real winner. Read all of the options, the WAAS is clearly next generation. I have used it on land and sea, in both cases there was no comparison to previous models. It is all here, you need look no longer.