My wife bought a Garmin Dakota 10 for me for our anniversary.  Is this the right model for a handheld GPS for the boat?  I have Lowrance electronics without GPS.  Suggestions appreciated.

GO BIG RED!

The specs on that unit look good. With the quoted from advertizement: "Dakota 10 comes with built-in worldwide basemap, so you can navigate anywhere with ease. Adding more maps is easy with Garmin's wide array of detailed topographic, marine and road maps, which can be loaded to internal memory.", it can be as useful as any other handheld model with lake mapping capability.

X2

I have a Garmin 400c that I use for duck hunting coastal marshes/lake Okeechobee and use it as a backup to my Garmin 545s when boating.  The little unit is awesome, I bought the G2 chip for it that I cloned for my 545s and love it.

Here is the info. on your unit for different maps

https://buy.garmin.com/shop/shop.do?cID=145&pID=30925#mapTab

Thanks guys.  I'm really concidering taking this one back and purchasing one that will take a chip.  I was on Lake Fork last week and the wind was wailing on our way in.  I want the short cut chip so I never have to feel the fear of is there a stump again.  I'm I accurate that I need to upgrade and is Garmin the way to go?

Thanks Rod

I have the 400c which is pretty good w/ the added chip detail for the Florida region.

I would suggest the inland lake 400i or 400c, coastal areas, depending on primary use.

here are the rest of Garmin's choices:

https://buy.garmin.com/shop/shop.do?cID=161

Why not save the money and just buy the DVD on inland lakes and update your base map on your existing unit?

https://buy.garmin.com/shop/shop.do?pID=1404&pvID=2691

I can take this one back and have a $299 credit to start over with.  I just want what is going to be best.  I really don't want to spend a bunch more money so I was wondering if I buy the 400 if that would be all I need.

THanks for all the help.