Garmin GPSMap 478

Garmin thinks of people who are just as crazy as me! I have a nasty habit of going to places which are unknown to me and driven by the spirit of the great Columbus, one fine morning I decided to explore the waterways- perhaps the most unknown of the turfs for a freaky land rover like me!

Thank God, the Garmin GPSMap 478 was there to help me and I guess that without this smart fellow, I would have had to wait over the scarily silent and at times furiously moaning water with albatross flying high over my head until a rescue team appeared like some divine souls!

Thank God, the data of sea cartography and the Marine Details Charts of US Coastline (which includes Alaska and Hawaii) showed me the way back to my Sweet Sweet home!

Into the details:

Garmin GPSMap 478 has a lovely technology by the name BlueChart g2. It provides the details of the waterways with the shaded depth contours, restricted areas, wrecks and others. Along with navigational instructions in verbal format, the Garmin GPSMap 478 makes use of the WAAS technology (Wide Area Augmentation System) so that the navigational error margin lies below 3 meters. Now, that is a great deal of accuracy on the waterways! This 12 channel global positioning device enables information sharing, updating the database maps as well as adding programs by making use of the USB port of the receiver which can be connected to the computer for these dynamic updates. The most enchanting feature that perhaps played the most crucial part in guiding me back to my family from the clutches of the filthy and confusing waterways is the track log function. This function automatically recorded the traveled path and stored the same as points which became handy for my return errand. Guess what? My hands are still shaking as I remember that ‘DAYMARE’.

Though this device was my savior, I think that a review needs to be honest and now driven by the power of divine truth; I will address both the pros and the cons of the device.

Pros of Garmin GPSMap 478:

• It is waterproof and suitable for every kind of weather.
• It has a TFT display of 256 colors.
• The device has MapSource trip & way point manager and MapSource city navigator North America NT.
• The GPSMap 478 is capable of storing 3000 way points.
• It stores 10,000 track log points and accommodates 50 navigation routes which are quite outstanding!
• It has a detachable antenna just in case you are short of space- well, while on water, the space is limited only to the sky and I guess that you will never need to detach it at least due to space scarcity.

Cons of Garmin GPSMap 478:

There are several shortcomings of the device and the worst being the display unit. Let us have a look at them separately.

• The Garmin GPSMap 478 has a screen size of 3.8 inches and this is a clear cut drawback simply because other GPS receivers with 12 channels provide up to 7 inches of screen where visibility is prominent and the maps are more vibrant and clear.
• The next in line is the absence of any removable storage media. The device only has an internal memory card and therefore, adding too many data is not possible. This is a very big drawback and Garmin perhaps need to rethink on this aspect.

Included Accessories:

There is not too much of offering to make you drop your jaw down and/or open your eyes wide. Only a few things come out of the box and they are listed here: USB cable, Mounting bracket, Protective cover, Data/Power cable, AC power adapter and Car power adapter. Wait! Car Power Adapter? Ah! Yes, you read it right! The device can also be used on land as simple GPS navigation units! Cheers!

Conclusion:

It is a real handy fellow when it comes to water adventures! Though it will cost you nearly 600 bucks, but still you don’t have to wait for those divine angels to rescue you from the barren waterways!

Humminbird 383C

Hey, let us go for a day’s outing in the inland waters and catch some fishes. We can fry them for our dinner and relish with some fine champagne! Don’t worry, the Humminbird 383C is there for your help and more importantly, I am there for your rescue! I guess, it is enough of kidding and especially if you learn about my waterways experience in the past, I am surely going to enjoy a dinner with some extraterrestrial creature on the farthest end of the Milky Way since I will be out of this earth because of a kick from you! Ouch… it hurts!

But honestly speaking, I feel far more confident when I am out in the inland waters and I know that I will be back home safe and sound unless I receive a huge kick from a Tsunami or something else of that kind. The DualBeam PLUS sonar of the Humminbird 383C makes my life easy and the built in UniMap adds up to my confidence. Guess what? I never found so much success while fishing before without the aid of Humminbird 383C. Until last week, people used to call me as a novice fisherman! Even my wife was not an exception! Sad, isn’t it?

Into the details:

The Humminbird 383C is an amazing fishfinder which is preloaded with advanced sonar and built in maps to help a fisherman. The GPS receiver with 16 channel WAAS technology is a treat for everyone. The antenna is omni directional and delivers a high performance every single time I am out on the waters! The most amazing fact is that the Humminbird 383C has a built in UniMap which has a resolution of 4 nautical miles. The UniMap gives the details of the inland lakes of USA and details of the coastal areas and the rivers are inbuilt. Completely waterproof, the Humminbird 383C operates at a very low voltage and the power eaten up by the unit is as low as DC 10 – 20 V. With over 3000 way points the GPS navigation unit features 50 routes, 50 tracks and 20,000 track log points. That is simply amazing! If you have a different view, please let me know as I will like to know the reason behind the difference. The advanced DualBeam PLUS sonar features sonar echo enhancement, TrueArch and Selective Fish ID+.

A bit of operational details:

The operational details I found in the Humminbird 383C were simply amazing and I guess that once you come across the details, you are surely going to love this and the desire to own the unit will be set ablaze. With a beam width of 20/6 degrees, the Humminbird 383C has a peak to peak power output of 2400W and a RMS power output of 300W. With an operating frequency of 82/200 KHz, the device can scan for a maximum depth of 1000 ft. Wow… 1000 ft! I will never ever dare to go down that low! I am scared! Getting back, the device has a XNT-9-20-T – dual-beam Transducer with a target separation of 2.5 inches. The color TFT display with a resolution of 240×320 px just that last bit of perfection required and Humminbird 383C did not put me down! As far as the diagonal size of the screen is concerned, the size is 3” and is considerably large for a clear visual effect. The most fabulous feature of the display unit is that provides a split-screen zoom facility and has a RTS window (Real Time Sonar Window). These features make this device a must have GPS navigation for those who love fishing.

Conclusion:

The Humminbird 383C with its loaded features is perhaps one of its kind available in the market and with its distinguished features, the price tag becomes justified.