I purchased a Meridian Gold last Feb. and have used it all year while canoeing. For many of the trips it sat in the bilge of the canoe and often in water for hours at a time (Until I broke my spell of laziness and drilled a couple holes in my thwart to run a bungie cord to hold the unit.) I use it more often in my car. I also purchased their MapSend Topo US product and I have to say that it is 99.99% accurate. It even shows the Level B maintance mud roads that we have in Iowa. I would purchase this unit again and spend a little more money based on how well it has done.

The only problem is that it makes it hard to switch back to compass and map. I got our group lost a couple of times in the Boundary Waters this fall on the second day. I took that long to figure out how to read a real map again.

: I'm in the process of planning a week to 10 day trip for the upcoming spring.
: Due to the fact that most of the water in this province is of the solid
: variety, planning my kayak trip and building a 14' Grebe for the kids will
: have to fill the kayaking void for the next 5 or 6 months.

: The trip that I am planning is on the Winnipeg River, from Kenora in NW
: Ontario to (possibly)Pointe du Bois in Manitoba. I have ordered the maps
: and will tailor my take out point to suit the number of paddling days I
: have. I have fished some areas of this river and it is very wide in some
: stretches and can be quite confusing due to numerous islands and channels.
: I have convinced myself that a GPS is in order. I will be using the GPS
: for kayaking, canoeing, cross country skiing, and Mtn. Biking. I don't
: require maps of cities around the world or altitude information.
: I have narrowed my search(unless you more knowelegable folks convince me
: otherwise) to either the Garmin eTrex $199(basic yellow model) or the
: Magellan GPS 315 $174. I read on a website, linked in an earlier post on
: this board or the Techniques board, that the type of antenna used in the
: garmin eTrex is somewhat less sensitive and therefore less effective with
: any sort of tree cover, than the type used on the Magellan's. Have any of
: you had any first had experiences(good or bad) with these or similar
: models? Are there other units that I should have a serious look at?

: Thanks,

: Ken