Looking to buy unit and keep cost @ $1000 or less. Leaning toward the Garmin 182C or Standard Horizon 150C or 170C. My sailing area will be the ICW NC & SC and maybe offshore in same area. I have no previous chartplotter usage experience, limited knowledge of units. I have been told the accuracy of the Garmin BlueCharts are better than the C-MAP NT chips. Any advice and/or opinions appreciated
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Peter Roach
Garmin compairson
Here is a web site that compairs Garmin features. I am getting the GPS MAP 176 for $449 from GPSCITY.com
Here is a web site that compairs Garmin features. I am getting the GPS MAP 176 for $449 from GPSCITY.com
Advice for Peter too.
Peter: I would suggest that you take a look at the 176C before you purchase. I have not heard ANYONE that was truly happy with a grayscale unit when it is in the sunlight.
Peter: I would suggest that you take a look at the 176C before you purchase. I have not heard ANYONE that was truly happy with a grayscale unit when it is in the sunlight.
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Peter Roach
Steve
I looked at the 176C (color). A friend is buying the GPS for me (long story) and I felt like it was asking too much to have him put up the extra $100 for the color model. The 176 comes with 10 different shades of gray scale instead of the normal 2 shades. Hopefully this will give me a little better performance. I am now looking at the blue water chart pack - WOW$$$$$$. Do you know if there is any other alternatives? I will be crusing from North Florida through the Bahamas.
I looked at the 176C (color). A friend is buying the GPS for me (long story) and I felt like it was asking too much to have him put up the extra $100 for the color model. The 176 comes with 10 different shades of gray scale instead of the normal 2 shades. Hopefully this will give me a little better performance. I am now looking at the blue water chart pack - WOW$$$$$$. Do you know if there is any other alternatives? I will be crusing from North Florida through the Bahamas.
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Chris Gonzales
Happy with my Garmin GPSMap76
When I was getting used to it at home I was worried about the screen definition in sunlight since it was, at times difficult to read but it actually does better outdoors than indoors. Lots of features and I found it on the net for $319. I purchased the Mapsource (Garmin BlueCharts) software to go along with it. It is fun to play with the charts on the computer and upload a route to the GPS. Worth a look, I think. Chris
When I was getting used to it at home I was worried about the screen definition in sunlight since it was, at times difficult to read but it actually does better outdoors than indoors. Lots of features and I found it on the net for $319. I purchased the Mapsource (Garmin BlueCharts) software to go along with it. It is fun to play with the charts on the computer and upload a route to the GPS. Worth a look, I think. Chris
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George Chamberlain
I have been looking also
I have been comparing the Garmin 168 and the Lowrance 240, both are GPS/ depthfinder combos. If anyone has comments on the wisdom of buying a combo unit I'd love to hear it... Regarding Peter;'s comment on the cost of the Blue Charts, Lowrance offers a GPS Chart Accessories kit which includes their series 6 chart, containing all of North America, plus the memory chip to transfer data and the USB PC interface to load the chip, in the $200 range. Not sure if the charts are as good as Garmin's but if they are I'd say this is a better value. One other thing - try cyber-marine.com, they had the lowet price I could find on the Garmin 168, they may beat the price on the 176 as well.
I have been comparing the Garmin 168 and the Lowrance 240, both are GPS/ depthfinder combos. If anyone has comments on the wisdom of buying a combo unit I'd love to hear it... Regarding Peter;'s comment on the cost of the Blue Charts, Lowrance offers a GPS Chart Accessories kit which includes their series 6 chart, containing all of North America, plus the memory chip to transfer data and the USB PC interface to load the chip, in the $200 range. Not sure if the charts are as good as Garmin's but if they are I'd say this is a better value. One other thing - try cyber-marine.com, they had the lowet price I could find on the Garmin 168, they may beat the price on the 176 as well.
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Tom
Chartplotter screen really usefull?
Hi all, I went through the comparison of handheld GPS chart units (wanted something that I can carry in my pocket) and found that the handheld Garmin, Magellan, etc. screens are too small to be useful for charts. The larger color units, I imagine, are somewhat better, but I didn't want to spend the $$ or carry around such a large unit. Also, the Charts are very expensive and you get locked into the charts for your unit type. Also, I already had a color PDA and found software to display charts on both my PC and PDA, and can connect both to the GPS unit for positional data and to upload/download waypoints, routes, and tracks from/to the GPS. Here is what I found most useful. Purchased a Garmin eTrex Marinier (West Marine Exclusive) that contains a database of aids to navigation for US waters. These are shown graphically on the display when in "map" mode. For electronic charts, I purchased Memory-Map (see www.memory-map.com) for my PC and hand held PDA (HP Jornada). It provides the capability to display charts, define waypoints and routes, etc. on your computer, then download to your GPS for use in the field. The user interface is very convenient for defining routes and waypoints. You can download all your charts, waypoint, routes etc. to the PDA, too for a very portable system. Memory Map supports different sources of Maps, both topographical and nautical, and you can even scan in your own if you want. I found that SoftCharts from Marineplanner.com offer a great value to get the charts for regions I use. You buy a subscription (about $5 per area) and can update all your charts from the Internet as many times as you want for a year. I purchased the 10 pack for about $50 and have downloaded, so far, four charts that cover my sailing territory around Boston. They provide notice to mariner updates on their web site, too. I also use Microsoft Maps and Streets and it supports download of maps to the PDA for use on the road, and it too will track your position on the map if connected to a GPS. Both Memory Map and Maps and streets allow you to print out charts. For nautical use, you should have a good chart (NOAA or equiv.) as backup in case your electronics go out. It is a good idea to print out your route legs for reference, too. I plan my trips on the computer at home and download the routes to the GPS. The GPS provides the navigational info to direct me over the course. The PDA provides the means to change or add routes while away from the computer and you can use it as a chart-plotter display, if desired, but batteries tend to drain quickly while connected this way (can connect to an on-board DC power source). Fair winds, Tom
Hi all, I went through the comparison of handheld GPS chart units (wanted something that I can carry in my pocket) and found that the handheld Garmin, Magellan, etc. screens are too small to be useful for charts. The larger color units, I imagine, are somewhat better, but I didn't want to spend the $$ or carry around such a large unit. Also, the Charts are very expensive and you get locked into the charts for your unit type. Also, I already had a color PDA and found software to display charts on both my PC and PDA, and can connect both to the GPS unit for positional data and to upload/download waypoints, routes, and tracks from/to the GPS. Here is what I found most useful. Purchased a Garmin eTrex Marinier (West Marine Exclusive) that contains a database of aids to navigation for US waters. These are shown graphically on the display when in "map" mode. For electronic charts, I purchased Memory-Map (see www.memory-map.com) for my PC and hand held PDA (HP Jornada). It provides the capability to display charts, define waypoints and routes, etc. on your computer, then download to your GPS for use in the field. The user interface is very convenient for defining routes and waypoints. You can download all your charts, waypoint, routes etc. to the PDA, too for a very portable system. Memory Map supports different sources of Maps, both topographical and nautical, and you can even scan in your own if you want. I found that SoftCharts from Marineplanner.com offer a great value to get the charts for regions I use. You buy a subscription (about $5 per area) and can update all your charts from the Internet as many times as you want for a year. I purchased the 10 pack for about $50 and have downloaded, so far, four charts that cover my sailing territory around Boston. They provide notice to mariner updates on their web site, too. I also use Microsoft Maps and Streets and it supports download of maps to the PDA for use on the road, and it too will track your position on the map if connected to a GPS. Both Memory Map and Maps and streets allow you to print out charts. For nautical use, you should have a good chart (NOAA or equiv.) as backup in case your electronics go out. It is a good idea to print out your route legs for reference, too. I plan my trips on the computer at home and download the routes to the GPS. The GPS provides the navigational info to direct me over the course. The PDA provides the means to change or add routes while away from the computer and you can use it as a chart-plotter display, if desired, but batteries tend to drain quickly while connected this way (can connect to an on-board DC power source). Fair winds, Tom
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Ed
My Garmin map76 doesn't state the right time
For some reason my map76 is an hour behind. in the manual, they say the clock is automatically updated by the satelites. Has anyone else run into this problem and how did you fix it? Ed
For some reason my map76 is an hour behind. in the manual, they say the clock is automatically updated by the satelites. Has anyone else run into this problem and how did you fix it? Ed
Check the Garmin site for software downloads.
Ed: You should check out the Garmin site for a program fixes for your unit. Quite often there was a program bug that did not get fixed from a previous model/release.
Ed: You should check out the Garmin site for a program fixes for your unit. Quite often there was a program bug that did not get fixed from a previous model/release.
more for Ed,
Ed: You also need to check out the UTC offset. This is in the owners manual. Q. How do I get local time displayed? What about daylight saving time? A. GPS units operate on UTC time. UTC is the Universal Coordinated Time or Greenwich Mean Time (GMT). You can input a local offset (or difference) from UTC so that the unit will display your local time. This option is located under the unit's operational setup. A chart is provided in the owner's manual to help you select the appropriate offset for your area.
Ed: You also need to check out the UTC offset. This is in the owners manual. Q. How do I get local time displayed? What about daylight saving time? A. GPS units operate on UTC time. UTC is the Universal Coordinated Time or Greenwich Mean Time (GMT). You can input a local offset (or difference) from UTC so that the unit will display your local time. This option is located under the unit's operational setup. A chart is provided in the owner's manual to help you select the appropriate offset for your area.
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