I bought a Garmin 45 when they were introduced about 15 years ago. Small handheld with a flip up external antenna, I did experience some canopy problems from time to time so about 12 years ago I bought a Garmin 12, same size but internal antenna and utilized 12 channels. Never had a problem with any canopy here in the NE at any time of year and I still use it today. No mapping, just coordinates, accuracy usually ranges around 10 yds. It still functions perfectly except it thinks it's July all year round. Time of day is always correct. Garmin no longer supports it so I can live with the day being off.
I still use the 45 while kayaking on LI Sound and as a backup for the Garmin GPS/Chartplotter on my fishing boat.
And I always carry a map and compass on land and water. I will practice coming back into port at night by compass to be ready for the day the GPS craps out.
Garmin makes the best units but they know it and are an arrogant company, they never admit to a problem. They'll replace a unit but rarely admit they have a production problem. A few years back they had a chartplotter, Model 198. Great unit for the boat except they had designed in a pressure equalizing valve that allowed moisture to enter the unit. The screens would fog up internally until the unit warmed up enough to dissipate it. I went through 3 of them, then they model was gone and replaced with a similar model sans valve.
