Don't know how you're going to use your boat but if you ever get caught in a storm or an unexpected fog, you'll appreciated a dedicated marine GPS at the helm. In my opinion, there are places on a boat to save money but navigation is not one of them.
I have bought from Fred and he's not only reasonable but very helpful and knowledgeable. As others have said, there are nice reasonably priced units out there. I've found thegpsstore.com and Hodges Marine have decent pricing. There are used units on eBay but you need to know what you're buying. For instance, there's a couple out there now, but they don't have the power cable, etc. Whatever you buy, you can always take it to the next boat. I guess I'm a bit anal when it comes to navigation. I kinda like knowing where I am. I have a chartplotter at the helm and another at the navstation. I have a switch for selecting which unit is interfaced with the boat's autosteerer, instruments, etc. I also have Navionics on my iPhone, OpenCPN on an Android tablet and a small text only handheld GPS so consider my system a bit multiplicative. I will ditto comments on OpenCPN running on Android. It's a decent system and probably the least expensive way to go. Once you download the free charts and set it up, it works well. Cheap, used and refurbished Android tablets are plentiful. Amazon has several refurbished Samsung Tabs under $200. Dennis C. Touche' 35-1 #83 Mandeville, LA
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