Garmin GPS II Plus MultiTrac8 Personal Navigator

Batteries last about 10 minutes, and I'm not talking [bad] batteries here. The data sets loaded into it are a complete waste of time, they'll just about tell you which country you're in.


Wonderful Father's Day Gift   July 7, 2000
 12 out of 16 found this review helpful

My husband has been getting gifts from me for 15 years and finally I got him something he really liked. He has marked several fishing spots with it and everyone he takes fishing with him to these marked spots is very impressed with his GPS. I've used it to go for walks and monitor distance. It is a unique, affordable, and user friendly piece of equipment.


Good in the bush   February 2, 2000
 29 out of 29 found this review helpful

This is my second GPS unit and by far the best, I do not need the in built map function, in some cases my 4WD club goes where no man has gone before. A great tool for navigating around the sand dunes and scrub in Western Australia. Ideal for my hobby which is 4 Wheel driving going away for weekend just to get lost really. The trac back feature is fantastic. Good in tree cover as well. Overall very impressed.


Great GPS Unit   January 12, 2000
 17 out of 19 found this review helpful

After using this unit for the last month I've found it to be very easy to use. I've been using it for highway driving, but since there are no built-in maps this unit is really geared for boaters. However, it is still useful for highway navigation, especially if you enter waypoints in advance. I recently used it for a 600 mile trip by entering my own waypoints and it worked great. This is my first GPS unit and I've had a great time playing around with it, and I think it is a good unit for "first time" GPS users to learn about GPS. I plan to upgrade in the next year or so to a unit that includes maps (possibly the Garmin GPS III plus).


Easiest to use, But some problems   November 12, 1999
 125 out of 127 found this review helpful

I purchased my GPS II plus in Sept 1997 and have used it throughout Fla bay and the east coast North to Hilton Head S.C. The elementry maps of the GPS III & III plus are not of use to me as a boater but some people love this feature.

I have used Garmen, Northstar, Lowrance & Magellan Units. The Garmen is by far the easiest to use, Very intuitive menus & text identifiers. Accuracy is Exellent The 12 Channel reciver is fast enough to provide accurate positions at high boating speeds, unlike some older multiplexed recevers I have used. Differential GPS is marginal in extreme S. Fla and therefore I have not persued this technology.

However my unit has had problems, the unit will shut itself off without warning and will not always reboot when switched back on. This has been very disturbing at night in the boat near shallow water. The last time it did this it would not work for several months only to come on the day I was going to ship it to Garmen for repair. Never depend on only one means of navagation!

The unit has been durable and not effected by salt spray or fresh water washdowns.Except for the one issue I am very happy with my Garmen and this is probably an isolated problem. I intend to purchase 2 more units one for each of my boats and a back up to be carried in my "dry box" for good luck. Lot's of bang for the buck! This would be a 5 Star revue except for my one problem.