
I was looking for a unit that would only show coordinates in a format of my choice and in a selected datum and it seems that the 72H is the closest to what I had in mind, but it does many other things that I don't really want and it is much bigger than I wanted. Nevertheless, satellite lock time is excellent (unless the WAAS is enabled which gives a little better precision at the expense of greater power drain and much greater satellite lock time), position lock is precise, battery life is great and the unit will stand up to some abuse. I have accidentally sprayed the GPS with DEET-based insect repellent and it didn't hurt the plastic. I'm not going to do it again, but I have a 2-way radio that'd got a bunch of freckles after a similar accident.
It is important to understand that the 72H is not a mapping GPS. It has a "map" screen, but the screen shows only waypoints and the coordinate grid (in degrees/minutes based on WGS84, even if UTM coordinates are set to be shown). Get a printed map if you want to use the unit for navigation. Finding USGS benchmarks or geocaches can be done without a map but you must start in reasonably close to whatever you want to find; then, the unit will draw an arrow pointing at the selected waypoint.
I'm giving the unit 5 stars but this doesn't mean that it is perfect. Some things could have been done more user-friendly. Backlight is my biggest complaint - there is no way of turning it on and off at will; instead, brightness is selected by repeatedly pressing the on/off button, after which all buttons, including the on/off, will turn on the backlight which will stay on for a few seconds.
When NiMH batteries are used, the battery indicator shows that freshly charged batteries are about half-drained; probably, because of the lower voltage. Selecting the type of batteries in the settings (or testing their internal resistance) and showing the level based on the type would be a considerable improvement.Get more detail about Garmin 72H Waterproof Handheld GPS with High-Sensitivity.


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