Garmin handhelds are pretty much the only game in town for marine gps, and this device delivers on the technical front. The tracks are consistent and accurate. The screen is clearer and bigger than the preceding GPSMAP 78, the controls seem to me far more intuitive, and the battery life is much, much better (although still no touchscreen, but given the marine application, that makes sense: you want this thing to take some watery abuse, and a touchscreen complicates that). I re-activated my inreach account for this device, and that brings me to my constant complaint with Garmin: their tech is usually solid. Their product integration? Meh. There's always some annoying little thing that makes life more complicated than it needs to be (example: the Earthmate map with the old inreach devices had marine nav charts. Very cool. This device? Same inreach account, but now the device integration uses Garmin Connect and the Explore app, with no marine charts. Another example: using Garmin Connect for managing multiple adventure wrist and handheld devices makes sense, but the maps loaded on said handheld devices load and sync separately, and that makes management, and especially updates, confusing and tedious). And of course Garmin's InReach accounts are expensive. Not that this device needs the InReach to be a good handheld chartplotter, but if you're out of cellular range it's good to have ... and it costs: a more expensive device, and pricey monthly and annual fees and charges. Another reviewer mentions that this device isn't compatible with Garmin's One Chart integration. That's true, very annoying, and worse still, the incompatibility isn't obvious until you've scoured a lot of the help files and FAQs (and customer complaints), so be careful before you purchase maps or updates. It's a seemingly arbitrary feature too: is it really so technically difficult to bring handhelds into the Garmin chartplotter family for shared maps and the Active Captain app!? What's more, it reeks of a petty cash grab. Still, for some bizarre reason I keep being charitable with Garmin, and not assuming they just want to wring money from their faithful users. I guess it's because the tech is always solid. Update: I had this device out while escorting a marathon swimmer on an 18hr crossing. I was using the Inreach tracking services, but the live tracking stopped mid-swim. Disconcerting for those following the tracking in real time, although luckily we also had a SPOT track running as well, so we could broadcast that instead of the Garmin track. What explained the Garmin failure? No idea, but I suspect it happened while trying to use the handheld for ITS ACTUAL JOB! navigating. So, Garmin, that's not a great look: I either use this ridiculously expensive device as a navigation tool, or as a tracker, but trying to do both risks some silly software compatibility fault!? I'm downgrading my review score simply on this basis: a company with this much experience and dominance in the Marine sector simply shouldn't market a device that fails so randomly. I notice now that Garmin has revamped the old GPSMAP78 series, so I may sell this overpriced handheld, and instead use my old Garmin Inreach mini for tracking, and buy the new GPS-only marine handheld for navigation. Oh Garmin.
