Having grown up in South Dakota, I was taught to memorize any prairie landmarks—old windmills, silos, farmsteads, fence posts, or lone cottonwood trees—that I could later align and bisect to return to good fishing spots. But considering that my handheld GPS guides me back to within a few feet of every fishing spot I know, the old landmark method is now a waste of brain space.

Handheld GPS units are visually better than ever, affordable, and accurate. They track, find, and lock on satellites more quickly— and, like most technologies, GPS units are now more compact, easier to use, full of features, and less expensive.

These days we can download software maps that show lakes, rivers, streams, duck sloughs, campgrounds, rest stops, small town streets, and big city byways. Once you reach a lake, the rockbeds, points, flats, drop-offs, and a few known fishing spots are visually displayed on the screen. New color monitors, teamed with detailed contour lake bottom mapping, not only make handheld units invaluable tools, but they’ve never been more visually intriguing and fun to use.

Before May 1, 2000, Selective Availability (SA) was “On” for national security reasons. After that date, it was turned “Off,” which greatly improved the accuracy of typical units used for fishing (to within about 30 to 50 feet of a saved waypoint). Then the U.S. government, together with Raytheon engineers, also developed an accurate technology known as Wide Area Augmentation System (WAAS) that allows the user to return to within 5 to 15 feet of the designated spot. Many new units feature both GPS and WAAS.

Several companies, like Lowrance, Garmin, Magellan, Cobra, and Navman, make handheld units that get the job done. Lowrance, for instance, recently introduced the iFINDER H2O, a completely waterproof handheld that operates in most harsh environments (like ice fishing), that features a 12-parallel channel GPS+WAAS receiver. The high-resolution screen and dual processors allow for fast scrolling and screen updates of the built-in detailed background map. It can chart 1,000 waypoints, 1,000 event markers, and 100 different routes.

The iFINDER H2O Plus has the same features but the added bonus of MapCreate software, an MMC/SD memory card, and an MMC/SD card reader with USB connector, making it easy to download and customize detailed maps. It’s also compatible with optional Lowrance FreedomMaps and Navionics Gold, Classic, and HotMaps.

Another great handheld is the Garmin GPSMAP 76C unit. The color monitor is most impressive, featuring a vivid sunlight-readable color display (256-color) and an LED backlight that makes it easy to view in either broad daylight or complete darkness. It comes with a built-in 13MB Americas marine mapbase, but the 115MB of internal memory, coupled with fast USB computer connectivity, makes it quick and easy to download detailed maps from MapSource, BlueChart, or Recreational Lakes with Fishing Hot Spots. The Recreational Lakes software, for instance, includes fishing areas, boat ramps, marinas, and hazards for more than 1,000 popular U.S. and Canadian lakes.

Only two AA batteries are required to keep the unit operating for 30 hours of normal use. And just in case you drop it down an ice-fishing hole, the rugged and waterproof housing floats.

Handhelds are easy and fun to use, not to mention invaluable tools for finding spots under the ice. For some people, reading about downloadable mapping, USB computer connectivity, LED backlighting, WAAS, or 115MB of internal memory may trigger a slight unease regarding technology; but if you can learn how to find your way back to an exact fishing spot using a fence post, windmill, or a cottonwood tree as your coordinate, you’re more than capable of learning how to use a handheld GPS.