Are you getting all that you can from your handheld unit? Are you able to directly observe State Plane coordinates with your handheld? Although inexpensive units may not have a selection for the State Plane coordinate grid that you use in your state, if your State Plane Coordinate Zone uses the Transverse Mercator projection, then it is possible to use the USER GRID position format to configure your unit to display State Plane coordinates directly.
The USER GRID position format is based on the Universal Transverse Mercator (UTM) System, which is a global grid system. The only difference between a UTM zone and the State Plane Coordinate Zones that use the Transverse Mercator projection is the values of the defining constants. Both systems are metric and both are referenced to the same ellipsoid, the Geodetic Reference System of 1980. Basically, the difference is a matter of translation and scale. The USER GRID position format is essentially a UTM zone in which you can customize the defining constants to correspond to the specific State Plane Coordinate Zone of interest to you.
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