Gps for boating in ontario lakes

Therapeutic

hi everyone
i was wondering if anyone can suggest a good marine GPS for my 226 Captiva. I boat smaller lakes and the Trent Severn in Ontario. Most seem to advertised as fish finders which is cool but I’d rather know where I’m going, how deep wate is etc etc
hoping to keep it under $500

cheers 

Ian

I have a Lowrance HDS-5 unit, an older unit that the PO upgraded to before I bought boat that works well for me. Key is the right mapping region, mine uses Navionics and I purchased east coat/NE (can't recall) mainly to cover from where I am near Albany NY for the Mohawk and Hudson and worked well to NYC but somewhere west of Utica NY I lost the maps but still had marked buoys shown.

Willhound

Welcome to the forum @Therapeutic
Your cheapest and easiest option is to get the Navionics app for a phone or tablet and a mount for the console. **** battery though som a power point with charging cable is a must.

Most of us use that as a backup with a permanent GPS/Chartplotter/Sonar. It might be possible with your budget for something small in the 5 to 7 inch screen range. Or look at discontinued models. Since you're in Canada check out a couple of sites I've found good deals at over the years like Radioworld https://radioworld.ca/
Or Gps Central https://www.gpscentral.ca/ or even Amazon.
Gps City is another good one.  https://www.gpscity.com/gps-receivers/&p=1&c=3&t=marine+gps

If you find something make sure it comes with the transponder because quite often they are sold separately. 

Good luck. 

Stodge

The newer Garmins include all the regions in the US and Canada if you got a model that has the built in charts.  

mattie

Had good luck with both Lowrance & Garmin. Be sure to get a unit with an internal antenna.
Willhound's websites above are the places to order from. They are all good.
Maybe just a nice handheld with a suction mount for the dash. That way you can use it off season as well.

Stodge

I'm a fan of fixed mount GPS and VHF because you can link them for full feature DSC.  The best feature of DSC (if you do all the setup) is that you can then hit the distress button on your radio and send a distress call to the coast guard with your MMSI number (which gets them all your contact info) and your location.  For inland lakes it may be over-kill, but on the Great Lakes I consider it required.