The GPSMAP 172C fixed-mount chartplotter offers brilliant sunlight-readable color LCD, robust features, and a user-friendly interface - in a compact, value-priced console.It comes standard with a built-in worldwide marine basemap and accepts MapSource BlueChart offshore marine cartography - featuring detailed depth contours, inter-tidal zones, wrecks, navaids, and many other points of interest. For small-water anglers, the GPSMAP 172C is compatible with MapSource Recreational Lakes with Fishing Hot Spots - featuring fishing areas, boat ramps, marinas, and hazards for hundreds of popular U.S. and Canadian lakes. Pre-programmed data cards can be easily inserted into the slot on the front of the unit.For added flexibility, mariners can upgrade the GPSMAP 172C to a full-fledged combination chartplotter/sounder at any time by adding a Garmin GSD 20 "black box" sonar and transducer.
Customer Rating: 
Summary: INTERMITTANT LOSS OF DISPLAY
Comment: I purchased a Garmin 172C GPS through the mail on July 6, 2004. I am quite familiar with the reduction in visibility during sunny days for GPS systems,particularly if the sun shines directly on the display. Using my hand to shade the display under these conditions helps. However, one sunny day this past Fall, while navigating back to our boat launch facility in the Chesapeake Bay, the GPS display faded out completely! Nothing was visible! While the sun was bright that day, the GPS seemed to be unusually warm to the touch. At that point, I felt this condition was more than a simple reduction in visibility from the sunlight. I stopped the boat, turned it
away from the sun, and placed a towel over the GPS to further shield it from the sun. A minute or two later, the display began to gradually appear as the unit cooled down and return to normal visibility. Removing the towel and resuming my navigation back to shore, a few minutes later I again observed
this total disappearance of the display...and once again it slowly returned after I cooled the unit down with a towel. In summary, this unit has a TOTAL loss of display in the hot sun and is useless under such conditions. No display is visible EVEN IN THE SHADE until the unit cools down sufficiently. On all days this winter, the unit functioned normally. Now I have to pay shipping to Garmin...along with an insurance fee for repair. A good deal...NOT!!
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