Reviews of the Garmin GPSMap 76

Real Reviews Submitted by Real Users!

I got the Garmin GPSMap 76 for its integrated quad helix antenna. A lot of other GPS receivers have a reputation for losing the signal under cloudy conditions or in areas with a lot of tree cover, but I've never lost the signal with this unit yet; I can generally even get a signal indoors in my wood framed home.

I was just looking for an odometer to take along while hiking, but made the decision to go for a unit with mapping capabilities and I've been happy with this unit for hiking, cycling and driving. It's not specifically designed for any one of these purposes, but the GPSMap 76 makes a great all purpose GPS.  This unit doesn't plan out routes for you, but it doesn't need to, since you can use it Google Earth's path tool to plot out trails, then convert to GPX with KML2GPX and load them onto your GPS. When hiking, camping and offroad biking in places I've never been to before, it's been my best friend. I use it on longer drives, where it works as a combination speedometer, altimeter and map.

The downside is that the unit is a bit larger than I'd like and a SD unit would be a good addition so that I could save trails, but aside from those relatively minor complaints, I've been happy with this GPS unit.

The Garmin GPSMap 76 is a handy little unit which offers a lot of features which I've found especially useful. The external antenna, DGPS and WAAS capabilities and wide input voltage range are all things which I think make this an excellent GPS system for the average user.

The quad antenna on this unit is a great feature which makes it easy to receive GPS signals even in hilly and heavily wooded areas. It's consistently outperformed etrex units in all of my comparisons. As you would expect from a Garmin device, the user interface is intuitive, so even if you've never used a GPS unit before, it shouldn't be a problem. The unit is also watertight other than the battery compartment and I while I haven't had the chance to really test this for myself, I haven't read anything about leakage with this unit - and it even floats, which may make this a model worth considering if you canoe or kayak often.

It's also probably the most accurate GPS I've ever used, quickly capturing satellite signals and receiving WAAS data even in very remote areas - the accuracy is especially high when WAAS data can be downloaded. I've used this unit for a lot of trail mapping and design; using an external antenna like the Mighty Mouse II, you can get even more detailed, accurate data. Even though the information you'll get through MapSource can be a little lacking, the GPS utility is great and with a little time and patience, you can do some amazing things with the GPSMap 76. My only complaint is that it could really use a SD card slot or some other removable memory or storage media.

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