OMG This thing is awesome!, (What's this?) I've owned several handheld GPS over the years. This thing finds satellite's and locks in about 10 seconds......in my house. My other handheld which was also a garmin would only find satellites outside only on a clear day when no trees were within sight. OK I'm exagerating. There could be one or two trees near but not too near. This 78sc sreen is awesome also. You can see it from any angle, in the sun, with sunglasses on. I LOVE THIS THING. It's simple to use. I'd buy it again. If anyone gives negative feedback on this thing they are in need of help. Serious help.
Marine Garmin, (What's this?) It's a Garmin, It's great. Brand new. Came in box. Arrived quickly. Love that it floats if for some reason you drop it in the water. Very sturdy.
This was a needed upgrade., (What's this?) This unit replaced my Magellan GPS 3000 which had replace an older Loran C unit. The older unit was not a Chartplotter and had great difficulty in acquiring satellites when on shore. The 78SC acquires satellites within seconds of turning it on as long as you are outdoors. Although it did a pretty good job acquiring them even indoors most of the time.
It is nice to have a Chart to give you a visual of the area you are in. I always was concerned that the older unit I had would guide me right into a breakwall in poor visual conditions, if I didn't have an old route map to rely on. The built in map is sufficient for my purposes as I only need to rely on it for fishing purposes on Lake Erie which is part of the coastal maps included. I seldom if ever need to rely on it for poor visual conditions and I am only guiding a 16' aluminum boat fishing fairly familiar areas. The general need is to be able to find structure for fishing and being able to mark spots where I have had previous success. It is good to be able to see where sandbars and old wrecks are located in an open lake.
All its features function accurately and it wasn't too difficult to learn and use. After one trip out with it I am ready to trust it completely.
Love it for Sailing!, I got my Garmin 78sc a couple of weeks ago, to use not only on the water (Chesapeake Bay), but for hiking and geocaching. By now I've sailed for 3 days,(about 15 hours total run-time), and the alkaline batteries are about half gone according to the meter, so I'm fairly satisfied with the battery life. I haven't tried NiMH rechargeables yet.
I was concerned the unit was going to be huge (it's intentionally large to give internal air space for water flotation ability), but it's not too big or heavy. It was smaller than I was expecting it to be.
Save your money, (What's this?) Disply is pixeled, not as clear as my four year old gpsmap 76csx.
Disply isn't half as bright as my 76.
When battery level is at half strength, unit will turn off back light and other features which makes unit very difficult to read.
Battery campartment is a pain in the ass to get into and now you must change batteries twice as often as with the 76 because of the low battery feature.
Garmin dropped the ball on this unit.
The future is now, (What's this?) 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 polaroid. I stumbled onto that by accident today on a hike while wearing my polaroid sunglasses. I noticed that when turning the device at a right angle the image suddenly disappeared. That only happens when you are viewing a polaroid lense from another polaroid 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.
Garmin GPSMAP 78S, (What's this?) If you are reading this, then you are doing what I did, trying to decide it this is the GPS for you, right? I will tell you up front, this one of the biggest pieces of junk I have ever owned in my life. It is crap... This is my fifth Garmin and it is the worst, by far.
So, why did I buy it and why do I still have it?
My first Garmin was a GPS 40, then I moved up to the GPS 12, then I moved up to the Vista HCx. The first two were pretty impressive and still work, but became out of date as things improved in the GPS world. The Vista worked fine, until I started taking it canoeing.
Map colors NOT customizable, (What's this?) I have happily owned a GPSMAP 76CS and was looking forward to owning the 78S "upgrade". I am returning it and writing this review for one reason. The map colors are not customizable. I called Garmin support who confirmed this. The daytime map color scheme is light gray back roads, on a dusky green background (using City Navigator maps, don't know if that makes a difference).
I am a long distance cyclist and need to be able to actually SEE the back roads on the map screen. The gray on green is unreadable under optimal light and is impossible in sunlight.
The 76cs, and the 76csx, have an option "daytime color scheme" to adjust the map background colors. Someone at Garmin decided to drop this option and in my opinion this is a fatal flaw.
A good step forward but Garmin is not a customer support giant by any means., (What's this?) I've had the Garmin GPSMAP 78sc now for over a year and have found it to be a big step forward in technology in terms of acquiring satellites. It quickly acquires satellites under heavy timber and up against steep mountain faces which my old GPS76 never acquired. Technology rating - 5 stars. However, I find Garmin to be extremely frustrating when it comes to customer support/intuitive use of the unit. Garmin forces users to use Garmin's Base Camp software to interface with the PC and they make it very hard to export the data to other, very common, GPS data platforms, i.e. Google Earth, ArcGis, etc etc. Same holds true for importing, what should be easily shared, items such as icons/symbols.
Supports geocaching GPX files for downloading geocaches and details straight to your unit.Marine-friendly handheld with high-sensitivity GPS receiver and 2.6-inch color TFT display.Get a detailed analysis of your activities and send tracks to your outdoor device using Garmin Connect.Perfect for boating/watersports--waterproof to IPX7 standards; floats in water.Built-in worldwide basemap; microSD card slot for loading additional maps.For boaters and watersports enthusiasts who want to run with the best, the rugged GPSMAP 78 features crisp color mapping, high-sensitivity receiver, new molded rubber side grips, plus a microSD card slot for loading additional maps. And it floats! Colorful maps, durability, and a buoyant design--everything a mariner needs.
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