I am considering the purchase of a Garmin 176C GPS and I have been told that it is not bright enough for use in direct sunlight. I plan to mount it at the helm of my Hunter 34. I have been told that the Garmin 182C is made for bright sunlight and I should get it instead. The 182C cost twice as much. Does anyone have experience with the 176C in direct sunlight?
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Bob
176C-2 months in the Bahamas
I spent 2 months this past spring cruising the Bahamas. Just before leaving, I installed a 176C. The display was plenty bright in direct sunlight. In fact, its transreflective screen was brighter in direct sunlight than it was in deep shade. Inside the cabin and outside at night, the backlight was almost too bright--it really hurt night vision. An adjustment for this backlight would be good. Overall, I found it to be a great unit. However, throughout the trip, the weather was often bad and the waves were nasty. What I found was that if your sunglasses get wet or the tiny screen gets wet, the tiny details on the screen are obscured. Although other Garmin units have a larger display, there's one safety feature that is a big plus for the 176C. It runs on either 12V dc or batteries. On a trip around the southern end of Eleuthera to Little San Salvador, in waves of 8 to 12 feet, the boat's 12V dc power cable to the unit shorted out. Without the battery power of this unit, it's questionable if I would have been able to "find" tiny Little San Salvador in conditions that were extremely difficult for navigation.
I spent 2 months this past spring cruising the Bahamas. Just before leaving, I installed a 176C. The display was plenty bright in direct sunlight. In fact, its transreflective screen was brighter in direct sunlight than it was in deep shade. Inside the cabin and outside at night, the backlight was almost too bright--it really hurt night vision. An adjustment for this backlight would be good. Overall, I found it to be a great unit. However, throughout the trip, the weather was often bad and the waves were nasty. What I found was that if your sunglasses get wet or the tiny screen gets wet, the tiny details on the screen are obscured. Although other Garmin units have a larger display, there's one safety feature that is a big plus for the 176C. It runs on either 12V dc or batteries. On a trip around the southern end of Eleuthera to Little San Salvador, in waves of 8 to 12 feet, the boat's 12V dc power cable to the unit shorted out. Without the battery power of this unit, it's questionable if I would have been able to "find" tiny Little San Salvador in conditions that were extremely difficult for navigation.
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Rip Edmundson
Love my 176C
We bought one just before a two week circle of Lake Michigan in August. It is plenty bright in direct sun for me. The brightness is adjustable too. I love the plug-in cards. I have a card Blue Chart Roads & Recreation for land trips and the Lake Michigan Blue Chart card. Easy to swap out. Worth every penny.
We bought one just before a two week circle of Lake Michigan in August. It is plenty bright in direct sun for me. The brightness is adjustable too. I love the plug-in cards. I have a card Blue Chart Roads & Recreation for land trips and the Lake Michigan Blue Chart card. Easy to swap out. Worth every penny.
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Alan Douglass
GO 176C
I have one and it is awesome. I have much experience with GPS receivers and this is the best one yet. The brightness is adjustable, and I have found no problem seeing it in direct sunlight. Mine is mounted in my cockpit in direct sight of the satelights. Only problem I have, is my sunglasses sometimes make it difficult to read. Not sure if they are polorized or not. Either way, I have the same problem seeing the display on my cell phone. Now I'm used to removing my sunglasses when I have trouble seeing. I am considering a mini bimini for my GPS and depth sounder. When it rains, any screen would be hard to read.
I have one and it is awesome. I have much experience with GPS receivers and this is the best one yet. The brightness is adjustable, and I have found no problem seeing it in direct sunlight. Mine is mounted in my cockpit in direct sight of the satelights. Only problem I have, is my sunglasses sometimes make it difficult to read. Not sure if they are polorized or not. Either way, I have the same problem seeing the display on my cell phone. Now I'm used to removing my sunglasses when I have trouble seeing. I am considering a mini bimini for my GPS and depth sounder. When it rains, any screen would be hard to read.
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Carl and Juliana Dupre
Different Opinion
Hi, Charlie. We have the other opinion. We had a lot of issues with the 176C's screen visibility. In direct sunlight if the screen is at the right angle to the sun, the trans-reflective screen is indeed magnificent. But change the boat heading by 10 degrees and you need to adjust the screen angle. The worst situation we found was a bright sunny day with a bimini up shielding the helm from direct sunlight. The direct sunlight was shielded, so trans-reflective mode didn't work; but the overall light level with glare off the boat and the water was too much for backlight mode. For us, the 176C just didn't work. Perhaps we were just expecting too much. We traded in the 176C for the 182 black-and-white. The larger screen and the high-contrast black-and-white we found to work much better for us in terms of visibility. Then there is the other view. Who needs a chartplotter on a bright, sunny day? You really need that chartplotter when its dark and nasty, and the 176C in backlight mode will probably be fine. And we do agree with one of the other posts about the safety feature of working on batteries if necessary. That was one feature of the 176C that we really liked. As usual, it's a tradeoff. Overall we are happier with the 182 B-and-W and a backup hand-held with batteries. Good luck. Carl and Jule s/v 'Syzygy'
Hi, Charlie. We have the other opinion. We had a lot of issues with the 176C's screen visibility. In direct sunlight if the screen is at the right angle to the sun, the trans-reflective screen is indeed magnificent. But change the boat heading by 10 degrees and you need to adjust the screen angle. The worst situation we found was a bright sunny day with a bimini up shielding the helm from direct sunlight. The direct sunlight was shielded, so trans-reflective mode didn't work; but the overall light level with glare off the boat and the water was too much for backlight mode. For us, the 176C just didn't work. Perhaps we were just expecting too much. We traded in the 176C for the 182 black-and-white. The larger screen and the high-contrast black-and-white we found to work much better for us in terms of visibility. Then there is the other view. Who needs a chartplotter on a bright, sunny day? You really need that chartplotter when its dark and nasty, and the 176C in backlight mode will probably be fine. And we do agree with one of the other posts about the safety feature of working on batteries if necessary. That was one feature of the 176C that we really liked. As usual, it's a tradeoff. Overall we are happier with the 182 B-and-W and a backup hand-held with batteries. Good luck. Carl and Jule s/v 'Syzygy'
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TL Stanbro
I have a GPSmap 168 Sounder and I love it.
I have a 168 sounder and it great. The lighting button works great in the Sun and at night it can be as bright as a light. Thou I was a little stupid until I played with it for a while but it seem to do everything I want it to do. Good luck on your hunt for the right GPS.
I have a 168 sounder and it great. The lighting button works great in the Sun and at night it can be as bright as a light. Thou I was a little stupid until I played with it for a while but it seem to do everything I want it to do. Good luck on your hunt for the right GPS.
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Ken
176 B&W
Another option, The 176 Black and White, you save $100 and have a great system. I work in the industry, the 176 is the best of many worlds. It gives you a mount, battery back-up, take it home for online updates, use in car, and something you can fit in a pocket and use hiking. I've had customers switch from the 176c to the 176 because of the sun glare, and I've had them tell me the 176c was the best thing for them even in the sunlight. Hands down Garmin is the better system, we sell all brands in our store and for those and other reasons I bought a Garmin for myself. So what ever unit you choose Garmin is the best, as long as the government doesn't turn off the GPS system you'll be okay.
Another option, The 176 Black and White, you save $100 and have a great system. I work in the industry, the 176 is the best of many worlds. It gives you a mount, battery back-up, take it home for online updates, use in car, and something you can fit in a pocket and use hiking. I've had customers switch from the 176c to the 176 because of the sun glare, and I've had them tell me the 176c was the best thing for them even in the sunlight. Hands down Garmin is the better system, we sell all brands in our store and for those and other reasons I bought a Garmin for myself. So what ever unit you choose Garmin is the best, as long as the government doesn't turn off the GPS system you'll be okay.
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Jose Venegas
I agree with Ken
The 176 has worked great for me. Before I got it last year, I had a Garmin III+ but, because of the many hidden rocks in the area, I was always petrified of sailing around Marblehead. To keep it in view at all times, I made a clamp to secure it to the instrument pod and I take it home when not sailing. I use BlueChart on my laptop to make routes which I download into it at home. A good thing is, the same routes can also be downloaded to the GIII+ (for back up) and to my 162 that I keep at the nav station that I have interfaced to my B&G autopilot. The only advantage that I see the 176C has is that with a glance at the screen you can see whether you are approaching shallow areas shown with a different color. On the 176 you get the same information but you have to look at the screen longer to get the subtle gray scale differences. That advantage becomes irrelevant if you can’t see the chart due to glare.
The 176 has worked great for me. Before I got it last year, I had a Garmin III+ but, because of the many hidden rocks in the area, I was always petrified of sailing around Marblehead. To keep it in view at all times, I made a clamp to secure it to the instrument pod and I take it home when not sailing. I use BlueChart on my laptop to make routes which I download into it at home. A good thing is, the same routes can also be downloaded to the GIII+ (for back up) and to my 162 that I keep at the nav station that I have interfaced to my B&G autopilot. The only advantage that I see the 176C has is that with a glance at the screen you can see whether you are approaching shallow areas shown with a different color. On the 176 you get the same information but you have to look at the screen longer to get the subtle gray scale differences. That advantage becomes irrelevant if you can’t see the chart due to glare.
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Carl and Juliana Dupre
Try one!
Hi, again, Charlie! Another thought, since it looks like (as usual) one person's 'great' is often another person's 'unacceptable'. Try to find someone in your sailing locale that has a 176 B-and-W or 176C, and go out with it and see what it looks like. See how it works for you. Also, we found that WM / Garmin were very reasonable about returns / trade-ins if you find you don't like the first attempt. Good luck. Carl and Jule s/v 'Syzygy'
Hi, again, Charlie! Another thought, since it looks like (as usual) one person's 'great' is often another person's 'unacceptable'. Try to find someone in your sailing locale that has a 176 B-and-W or 176C, and go out with it and see what it looks like. See how it works for you. Also, we found that WM / Garmin were very reasonable about returns / trade-ins if you find you don't like the first attempt. Good luck. Carl and Jule s/v 'Syzygy'
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Al Nash
I tried both the 176C and the 176 B&W
and found I had all-round better visibility with the black and white unit. Here on the Indian River there are many shallows and I used to have to estimate my position on the chart and leave some leeway to be safe--now I can go close to the 6 ft line with my shoal draft h-34; it has doubled my effective sailing area. Besides, the 176 was $100 less.
and found I had all-round better visibility with the black and white unit. Here on the Indian River there are many shallows and I used to have to estimate my position on the chart and leave some leeway to be safe--now I can go close to the 6 ft line with my shoal draft h-34; it has doubled my effective sailing area. Besides, the 176 was $100 less.
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