I do use a hand held GPS... But a Chart Plotter is too expensive a piece of dedicated single use/function hardware as far as I am concerned. I would use a laptop and GPS plug in first. Right now I use paper charts and hand held GPS. And 90% of the time I don't even use the GPS... just the charts.

I am still too much of a seat of the pants sailor... tell tales and strings and compass work quite well for me... add a speed log and perhaps a wind instrument, and I am good. I have a draft less than a Dragonfly 1200, so if it gets too shallow I can probably see the bottom.

I like the speed log as it gives me feedback on my trim... GPS does this too, but it is slow responding. Most of the time I can just tell that the latest sail tweak has improved my speed just by the sound of water alone, but it is nice to quantify the speed... and GPS gives me that if the speed log doesn't work.

This is a mental thing for me... I don't want to depend on diode working (or failing) to control my sailing status. I do have redundant radios, but that is more of a safety issue.