Garmin GPSMAP 79sc, Marine GPS Handheld Preloaded With BlueChart g3 Coastal

9 reviews for Garmin GPSMAP 79sc, Marine GPS Handheld Preloaded With BlueChart g3 Coastal

1. 

   Bradley Davidson – 30 December 2024

   NMEA output Capable
   Garmin has never been good at describing features or how to use them on their GPS systems. It is certainly the case for this very capable handheld GPS device. One must learn by scrolling through the menus and getting your device to do what you want it to.I got this Garmin GPSMAP 79sc to replace my 76Cx which, after years of using, had a simple battery compartment issue I was unable to fix. I had set up and used my old Garmin to, among other things, communicate NMEA streams of data to my autopilot on my sailboat. I shopped online, even at the official Garmin site, and looked for this feature among GPS handhelds with no luck. I even went into a retail store to talk with knowledgeable salespeople as to what product would do this. No luck. But while having the 79sc in my hand, I noticed it had the Garmin round plug port for power and I/O which wasn’t even mentioned or shown in online descriptions. The Quick Start booklet which came in the box said nothing about the port, and the owner’s manual, which I had to download, had little. I took a chance and bought it. Turns out I could get this working like my old device by exploring the menus. Not much help from any written direction provided by Garmin. It must be a legacy feature not used by many today.The 79sc has many features, some useful to me and some not, but it is very capable. It determines position faster than my old, almost instantaneously. The compass feature is handy and works by some technology alien to me. Probably magic. And the unit I got, being preloaded with coastal charts, is nice. Display is nice. The scrolling buttons are a bit touchy. I’ll wait to test out its waterproof and floating capabilities until I accidentally drop it overboard.So, if you want a very capable handheld GPS, try the Garmin GPSMAP 79sc. Just be patient, explore the device, and get to know each other together.

2. 

   michelangelo – 30 December 2024

   good quality
   excellent GPS, but the menu is very complicated, everything else is fine.

3. 

   Bob Siegel – 30 December 2024

   Good quality. Poor instructions, confusing, and very small screen.
   This is a well made durable unit. The instructions are very confusing and it takes a lot of trial and error to figure out the process. Read the instructions all the way through before attempting to use it and it may seem a little clearer, go one step at a time.

4. 

   Rich – 30 December 2024

   Great back up GPS for boating
   I bought this as a backup to the main navigation unit on my boat. It’s packed with a lot of features, but marking waypoints and navigating to them is just a couple of clicks. I turned off my primary plotter yesterday while fishing offshore and used this to get back to port. The compass navigation mode is the better of the two IMO.The charts are detailed enough to use this unit as a main GPS unit if you also want the ability to use this in other environments such as camping. However, you’ll probably find the screen too small when there’s bigger units available.

5. 

   Tom Rutchik – 30 December 2024

   Comparsion to Oregon 400c
   We use this product for sea kayaking and forest foraging. Both are situations where it’s a little iffy to use you cell phone. I bought this one to replace a Garmin Oregon 400c. It’s not as compact but has the same screen size (other Garmin devices in this same category have smaller screen sizes). The UI for this product works almost the same as Oregon 400c, with the exception it’s not a touchscreen. This display is certainly better than the Oregon 400c when used in outdoor lighting. The Oregon 400c was terrible in outdoor lighting conditions. GPSMAP 79 is much better in outdoor lighting conditions, but I think Garmin still needs to do even better. The most disappointing thing about this device is its unintuitive UI. The user manual doesn’t do an adequate job explaining the various features. You need to rely on user forums to get a better understanding. Their software “basecamp” which you download and run on your PC is as clunky as the devices UI. Basecamp is used so you can plan a route and add that route to your device. In basecamp, you can only have one active map opened (example of what I mean by its clunkiness). There seems to be a debate whether Gamin even still supports basecamp, but I’ve not found a Garmin alternative. I bought the Oregon 400c may about 10 years ago; wouldn’t you think that the UI would have been vastly improved over that time span. The answer is NO! Garmin products today are so 90’s style when it comes to their UI. Garmin is just not an innovative company. They seem to be the leader of the handheld GPS market, not because they deserve it, but rather due to the lack of competition. (My guess is that the GPS handheld market to probably too small for real competition.) I knew all these things when I bought the device but still purchased it because the device is rugged, waterproof, and you can depend on it for getting you back to your starting point if you get lost in the woods foraging for mushrooms and other edibles. You can’t make that same claim using your cell phone with GPS. The device is well designed to save battery life. Garmin claims that you get about 19 hours of use on two AA batteries; and that’s probably true! That’s another reason for why you may want to use a handheld GPS device over a you cell phone (with maps cached). Garmin support is very limited; you cannot contract them via phone, chat or email to get answers. Their online support page is pretty much FAQ’s.

6. 

   John149823 – 30 December 2024

   Crappy graphics, battery life. Vastly inferior to the cell phone app
   I bought this item to reduce use of my iPhone in the boat for fear of getting it wet. But its almost unusable. The interface is non-intuitive, the graphics are like a 1980s video game, and if you don’t set it so that the screen goes dark after 30 seconds of non-use your battery dies in a couple of hours.Just buy a used iPhone or Galaxy for the same price and load the app. You’ll be vastly happier.

7. 

   Cliente Amazon – 30 December 2024

   Excelente equipo y calidad inigualable

8. 

   Mike wilson – 30 December 2024

   This product is awso.e and does everything I need it to

9. 

   Brent – 30 December 2024

   I could have or should have bought a cheaper version with all the same features. It didn’t come with the BlueChart maps loaded as advertised.