I have the 176 sounder and LOVE IT
I recommend a sounder/gps unit in one.
Also go color! Grayscale is a thing of the past and does read easily in bright daylight.
We are avide boaters and have been aboard many boats with other brands that are harder to use, less features.
For the money, Garmin is the best bang for the buck.
I own 3 various models for various usages, and am 100% satisified with all units.

Try a Garmin Etrex Summit

Go to for hand held gps !

GPS with WAAS is only 15′ plus or minus accurate and then you have the problem of drift and anchoring. you need a “bottom machine: depth finder you should be able to see the structure on the depth finder if it is there.

also you need a floating marker to figure out the drift. That will help in anchoring over the reef.

I use an old milk jug twine and a 8 oz weight. The jug will point to the direction of the drift. Throw it out when you see the structure on the depthfinder.

Hope that helps.

I guess the bigger question is which chart system you need. West marine sells both software and hardware, If there is one near you, stop in and look at everything. I use the Ray marine C series. Easy to see! Important for old guy! Good Luck!!!

Have a look at TOM TOM by far the best in the business try their
web site . They have the best maps also and free map updates , They also own the map company Teleatlas so you now your getting the best up to date map…Hope that helps ,,Ren

I would enter it in the unit and save as a waypoint and then “go to” when you get there start watching the sonar, as mentioned the numbers may not be exact. look around a little. I have brushpiles marked for bass fishing and there are days it takes a few mins to find them, Other days I get em first shot.

The answer may be in the “pretty close” estimate. You may have not gotten quite there yet before you stopped. And some of the reefs are made of sunken boats. You would have to be in exactly the right spot to be able to fish it. You were as you said very close to it, but evidently not quite at the right spot.

The handheld GPS units use the Global Positioning Satellite system to determine a position for you. Basically it is a compact satellite receiver and is often accurate to 10 feet or so. You need to have some clear view of the sky for it to work well.

As for getting one just to mark locations, I would recommend the low end Garmin unit. I use a Garmin “Etrex” for marking locations that I use when mapping my outdoor adventures to post to my blog. It gives me position information in Latitude / Longitude format like 34 27 58.03N 117 13 42.16W and that is more than close enough to mark a location on a map. You can save entire routes or just mark “way points” and save those. It is battery operated and the batteries last well over 12 hours of continuous use.

Since I just use mine to mark maps, I don’t need a unit with built in USGS map data.

VOX- Voice Operated Switch
This means that you can say something and it will automatically broadcast without having to press any buttons.

FRS- Family Radio Service
An improved hand-held radio that operates on ultra-high frequency or UHF and uses Frequency Modulation than Amplitude Modulation. Better range than most radios like CB’s or other license-free radios.

GMRS- General Mobile Radio Service
A hand-held mobile radio that operates on ultra-high frequency or UHF and typically used for short-distance 2-way communication.