Vhf raido?

(FTB530) has that vhf for sale if he hasunt sold it yet, you might be able to make a deal with him

Having GPS with your VHF could be great, but I'm happy having my GPS capabilities separate from my VHF.  The VHF gets wet from use, and it's located in my PFD where it can get wet from splashing fish, rain, my own activities...etc.  Even though they're "waterproof" units, moisture does eventually make its way in and corrode these pieces of electronics, so I'd stick with separate units for GPS and VHF.

And while I'm at it...  I recommend redundancy for the GPS too - having only one of something that can die on the water is somewhat risky.

Spare paddle, at LEAST two working radios, three GPS's, two compasses, spare sunglasses...etc.  It's really good to be prepared, and nothing wrong with being over-prepared.

Good info there Eric. I don't prepare quite that well, but I'm getting there. I went ahead and got the HX870 (guess I didn't need help after all  ) I figure that has GPS, the fish finder has GPS, and I have a compass. So that's got me covered. I'll throw some aaa batteries in a tackle tray just in case and I should be OK on that front. Couldn't pass it up for $30. I saw the one for sale in the classifieds, but that gift card has been burning a hole in my pocket and pops will be happy that I used it for that.