master....do not let me feed you, unless you want to starve.

gotta say I'm having some remorse of not going for the GPS62.  the Colorado looks and seems like an adequate instrument ($100 off due to overstock), but the screen is just not quite as bright as that GPS60 series.

Alrighty then,
alkalines in the GPS and lithium for the sounder.

I may need to pick your brain Wally. Sometimes when I get onto something new I need to be spoonfed.

Master, I've been using that sweet unit for years.  Alkalines run forever in it....any cheapo brand.  It's your use of the backlight that runs 'em dry.  I used my machine alot and I'll wager that 4 extra cheapo AA's in the pack...and you are good for over a week.  I've never had to change batteries once yet on a 5 day trip or less.  And all I ever use is the cheapest blue-light specials.

Was gonna upgrade to the 62...but saw a blowout price on a Colorado I couldn't pass up.

I picked up a Garmin 60csx GPS over the weekend (don't tell my wife) and I was reading through the owners manual and they don't suggest using lithium batteries as the voltage may be over 1.5 volts and it could shut the unit down. Anyone find this to be an issue?

I like lithium batteries for trips due to all the reasons DD mentioned.

Case in point: I borrowed a different depth finder this year. The fishing aficionados I know lead me to believe I could easily do two weeks on a set. Unfortunately, I expect I forgot to turn off the one I borrowed this year on the first night since my $15.00s worth (8 AAs) was dead the next day. It was raining and I didn't know if it was a short or I left the light on or was pinging the moon all night long or all three. Next night my flashlight said all 8 were dead for all intents and purposes.

I did have a total of 8 new AA's with me to power a camera and two flashlights so I went without and tried the depth finder again mid trip. The thing was showing 13 volts a week later and I left it on quite a bit once I hit familiar territory just to get a better feel. Six of the original "dead ones" are still powering my wife's mouse and keyboard longer than the alks that came with. The other two are in my 30 some year old calculator and the last digit is is only slightly dimmer than the rest after a while.

I do like the lithium for trips. Proprietary batteries are a bit of a pain and you would need a solar panel for some things I won't bring. I've never trusted rechargeables even when I know them well. Everything I bring takes some form of single use batts but I start out with rechargeables. The lithiums have a really long shelf-life too.

master...you gotta upgrade your gps
2 AA's run me 25 hr continuous use.  At an avg use (off and on) of about 4 hr/day.  I've never had to change batteries yet in oine on a 5 day trip.  At most, 4 more in the hand for a 10 day trip.

OK fine. Lithium it is then. Thanks for the input.

I bet the re-chargeable approach would work GREAT here in Florida! That is of course if the solar panels didn't melt first.........

Not sure how relevant this is to this discussion, but anyways...

My dad used a small (12x4") solar panel charger that he placed on the dash of his truck for years to power his old (and v. large) "bag" phone when he was travelling.  It was enough to keep the phone's battery fully charged even when the phone wasn't plugged into the cig lighter plugin- he said it would still last for hours from the sat phone "trickle charge".  Never harmed the battery either.  

I've heard good reviews from others about the new, rollable solar panel chargers as well- many field crews I know use them to charge laptops, GPS, etc. when  they're in remote areas.

I think it comes down to you get what you pay for (and they're really come down in price!).

I tried the solar cell and rechargeable battery approach for a couple of seasons a few years back and wasn't very satisfied with the results.

I've since changed over to lithium batteries.  They are MUCH lighter than rechargeables (and even standard batts) and, with their improvement over the past couple of years, have a substantial service live.  They are, of course, expensive.

I've been running my depth finder with AA lithium batteries for the past 2 seasons and I've very satisfied.  I don't run the unit daily (I'm not typically pinging the bottom on travel days) and my use is probably on the order of 6 hours per day when fishing.  This season I did a 10 day solo and 15 day solo (with company).  One set of batt's was all that was needed for this season.  In fact, my GPS unit batteries died on the last day out and I yanked a couple of the depth finder batts (because they were more handy than other replacements) and they were ample to finish my last day.  I haven't thrown a volt meter on them yet to see what "signal strength" remains, but I'll swap them out for fresh ones before the next season anyway.  BTW:  I think the GPS batts were the lithium batteries from LAST year's trips.

dd

Just finished reading Mike Kinzingers account of a 5 week trip in WCPP. He also had a Brunton solar charger but it sounded like he had rather poor results.
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His trip, however took place in Sept. and I suspect the lower angle of the sun may have had something to do with that. I also don't read anything about the actual re-charging of individual batteries and them employing them in the devices. Or an actual separate "storage cell" type battery. Still determined to give it a shot. Purely experimental and with limited reliance.