handheld GPS

How ya'll are!?,
This post is stemming from the earlier post of fav. compass.
I am now convinced that a handheld GPS is the best bet along with a small compass as backup.
My questions are , Which model has long battery life, waterproof,simple to use (as for basic return to start info) and the most durable.
Please include remarks for and against any model or brand you have had experiance with.
I believe this may be an interesting thread since all of us should have one and a reliable one at that!
All the info I have gotten from this site is genuinely unique and personal, without it one could spend a lifetime stumbling instead of enjoying what we love to do.
 Thanks to all at NCKA

this might help.....
http://www.norcalkayakanglers.com/bb/index.php?topic=2532.0

here is a nice one some freediving spearfishing folks have picked up:

http://www.garmin.com/products/gpsmap76/

i wish i had money for one becasue it seems durable and great for use while spearfishing and kayak fishing.

fun fun fun!

To through another monkey in the wrench...

I have the Garmin 76s(same as the one John reccommended, but with magnetic compass) & always thought it was nice... till I saw the Garmin 76csx!   

http://www.garmin.com/products/gpsmap76csx/


Pricey, but very nice.  It has a new SIRF chip in it that allows it to lock on coverage almost instantly!  Several times I've been out in the middle of open water & have to wait while the GPS tells me that it can't get reception.   

A friend had this new beauty to play with & within seconds of turning it on, I had 3d locked in!   

Not sure if it's worth the price, but it's definitely the next generation.  Removeable media too for extra maps/waypoints.

To through another monkey in the wrench...

I have the Garmin 76s(same as the one John reccommended, but with magnetic compass) & always thought it was nice... till I saw the Garmin 76csx!   

http://www.garmin.com/products/gpsmap76csx/

man fuzz! that thing is awesome. i think i will have to find 101 reasons to tell my wife why i need one and maybe none will be good enough!! 

well, maybe i can find something used but working. sure would be nice to have something super reliable though for the money.

I might have posted this before:
  Fry's sometimes has a $65 sale on Magellan Explorist 100 GPS which are normally about $100.  It serves my purposes, but doesn't have maps and probably a lot of features others have, such as being able to enter waypoints from a computer (but then, that's one less hole for water to get in it, and not much of a problem if you have just a few usual launch places and don't want to navigate on the road.) .
 I used it bare, it got cranky after 25 uses, the factory sent me a new one, I put it in a tiny dry bag and have had no further problems in another 40 trips.   It's not obvious from the brief manual that comes with it that there is a much more complete one on their website, which really helped, because I'd never used a GPS before.  It uses AA's, and I can 6-10(?) half-day trips from them, but choose to use rechargeables (Long's has some deals) and replace them each trip.  It seems impervious to flopping fish and other gear banging on it.
   One button click and you can mark the honey holes, later go in and name them.  It has a compass-like needle screen to point you to your go-to, a cookie-crumb (track) screen to show how you've wandered, which helps to show your drift and whether you have a big one on or are just snagged and confused by the wind.  Also has a screen to show the lat/lon numbers, elevation, miles traveled, etc.  I took it skiiing just for fun and logged 33 miles up and down(and traversing) one day!
   Do other GPS's show you moving at .5 knots when you are pretty sure you're just going that fast up and down on the swells?  I guess that's not much of a problem if you just look at the cookie-crumb scale to see that you actually haven't moved horizontally. 
  You do have to remind yourself whether you've put a go-to in it so you know that the arrow is pointing to it and not to North. 
  I bought it after a very foggy day where I was going 90 deg off the direction I thought I was, and naturally, haven't seen fog that thick again! 
   I also take  a "Scout" compass and have one of those small-ball zipper-pull ones on my life-jacket.  Only for newbies: of course you always mark your launch site before you go out, or you might wind up not only lost, but feeling super stupid!