I ran back to the boat ramp, secured my boat, and pitched each handheld off the bow into two feet of water. Haven't we all dropped handhelds over the side? I sauntered up to my truck, and backed it down the ramp. But where'd the Garmin go? If I were a woman, and capable of reading instruction manuals before acting, I might have noted that the Garmin floats. That could be a real advantage when your GPS accidentally goes overboard. For me, it was a problem. Luckily, I soon spotted the Garmin bobbing around near the end of a pier, where I retrieve it.LENNY RUDOWNote the rubberized collar around the Lowrance, which is easy to grip even when slimed by a fish.

Once again, the units all survived and appear to be in good shape. So I'll needed to come up with something better – like the time I destroyed my first handheld VHF by accidentally backing my trailer over a bag of gear. For the next test I place the units in a row on the concrete launch ramp, and haul my trailer and 1,800-pound boat over them.

This time, some damage did occur. None of the units came through this tragedy without injury. Each had a scratched casing and a few dings. But they all kept working. It was time to take the gloves off.

I returned home, but before I got serious about destroying these things I took the units up to my office for a close exam. First, I wiped them down and discovered that most of the scratches were superficial, visible only when the units were tilted to catch the sun's glare.

Next, I popped open the battery compartments. On the Garmin, it was bone-dry. Under the rubber-protected external antennae port, however, there were a few tiny droplets of water. When I opened the battery compartment on the Lowrance, I discovered several droplets. I also noted that the plastic door to this compartment had a small flexible piece, which makes me question its longevity. The Raymarine also had a few droplets in the battery compartment. Both Unidens were 100-percent moisture-free, thanks in part to rubber protectors over the speaker/mic ports. I did have to note that on the MHS 350, the protectors are aggravatingly hard to open.LENNY RUDOWThe Lowrance survived the onslaught with minimal damage.

KILLER KIDDIES

I had expected some catastrophic failures by this point, but these units are proving to be pretty darn tough. However, as all parents know, one of the most destructive forces on planet Earth is a young child. And I have lots of kids. So I decide to turn the units over to them for a little unsupervised playtime.

What luck! A friend had dropped her three kids off with us for the day. So I had a three-year-old boy, two five-year-old boys, two five-year-old girls, and a seven-year-old girl to help me. I handed out the units and broke out a bag of candy bars.

The only rule I set was that they could not hit anyone. "Otherwise," I told the troops, "do your best to break 'em."

My particularly destructive son David got the ball rolling by kicking a Uniden down the hardwood stairs. The next thing I know the stairway looked like an electronics waterfall, with GPS and VHF units tumbling down at an alarming rate. But the only damage this did was to our hardwood floors, and my wife's patience level. I deflected her looks-could-kill glance with a grin, and ushered the kids into the kitchen, where the floor is less likely to get dented.

The handhelds were then smacked repeatedly onto our stainless-steel cutting board. They were used for indoor hockey. One adventurous youngster took a VHF into my basement workshop, mounted it in a toolbench clamp and attempted to remove the antennae without unscrewing it. Then there was a VHF antennae light-saber battle. Hyper-active Max held a GPS in each hand and clapped them together until little Kaleb wrestled one away and burried it in the dog food bowl. Emma and Mollie were pretending to be concert singers, using a couple of units as microphones. I chastised the children for their lack of destructive ambition, handed out sticks and suggested they use the handhelds as drums, instead. They started whacking away.

STILL TICKING

After an hour of the most outrageous abuse any handheld electronics unit has ever faced, they all still worked. Sure, there were more scratches and a few more casing dings. But I was stunned at our collective failure to trash anything.

Then one of the kids shouted out an idea: we should put all the units into a blanket, hold it by the edges, and trampoline the things into the air. We moved the party outside, spread out around the blanket and created a navigation/communication maelstrom with a thousand bucks worth of electronics.LENNY RUDOWThe Author's electronics are subjected to the ultimate punishment.

The units zinged through the air like exploding popcorn. Handheld-to-handheld contact was frequent and violent. I'm not sure what sort of nautical event we were simulating at this point, but I didn't care anymore – killing these units had become a challenge and this was bound to cause some damage. I let them go at it until the kids started to tire. The units weren't flying as high or hitting each other as hard as they were, but before I can figure out what to do next Mollie yelled out, "Let's flush them down the toilet, Daddy!" That's my girl.

We brought them back inside, and tossed the units into the john. Mollie flushed. The electronics swirley complete, I removed the handhelds and rinsed them. Finally, we had done some damage.

The Garmin had a hairline crack about 1/16th of an inch long in the casing next to the display, and three scuff marks on the display itself. The Lowrance had beads of moisture inside the display face and in the battery compartment. The Raymarine showed no visible marks, but the gasket under the volume knob had been knocked out of kilter, and it was very hard to turn. Both Unidens had a few minor-league scratches on the display covers, but otherwise could still be sold as new.

I felt at peace. I can't imagine how else I could have made these things suffer – the torture test was done. I decide to let some time pass before making a final assessment, so any toilet-water intrusion that had taken place would have a chance to do internal damage. A week later, I opened the units up and checked all the internal compartments for corrosion. Nothing. I fired them up, and they worked just fine. Who would have believed it?

Mariners, you can buy these units and use them with confidence.