GPS chartplotter on the cheap

[Peter Ennis]

Thanks all!

This was my first post on the forum and I found your replies very helpful/entertaining. I guess it is a llittle impractical to mount a 10" tablet PC on my pedestal and I agree that visibility, power consumption and vulnerability to weather are issues. I very much liked Mark Ferricks solution of "unlocking" an automotive GPS and then loading marine navigation software and NOAA charts. I've ordered a Mio moov 310 4.3" GPS for $70 from an ebay retailer so for $110 I should be up and running.

thanks !

Peter Ennis

 

[MrBee]

Seems that enough responses have been posted already.
But... I use a "RoyalTek" Gps puck thaat i bought off ebay for about $40.00. Works great. Needed to download the correct driver for Windows Vista but that was eassy from their web site and the support folks even emailed it to me when i ask. I downloaded Seaclear for free and then downloaded any and all charts i wanted, free, from the NOAA site. I think i have every chart you can get from them. When setting up the seaclear and the GPS i have to go into my system and set the COM port for the gps to Com 1. That seems to be what Seaclear wants. I can't speak for your computer but I like the Seaclear software. It is good enough for our sailing on the upper Chesapeake. Used it last May when we brought the boat down from Connecticut and just used it this week when me and the wife were gone for a few days. Back Creek is nice this time of year.

Also, if you are thinking of buying charts or a chart book, When i bought a large chart book from Maptech it came with "Offshore navigator Lite". I have been using it just to see if I like it and am getting used to it. Not sure if it has heads up ability or not. Didn't get that far into it yet.

Forget the naysayers...You ALREADY have the computer so it's THE cheap way to have a chart plotter. The only thing that should cost you any money now is the GPS, less than $50.00.

We mostly leave my Computer below but we don't have a large boat and I can set it on the table and peek at it from time to time, if the weather is nice an i don't have to worry about rain or spray I will set it on a cockpit cushion. Would ARE saving for a nice Chartploter, waiting to save enough points with Cabeles credit cart to get it for free, till then we will use the computer.
An added bonus with the computer is the ability to do some routing and dreaming while at home.

Good luck and maybe we'll see you on the bay.

Brian

 

[Mark Ferrick]

I think you will enjoy the MIO

Peter,
You can get the MioPocket 3.0 software from here:
http://gpspassion.com/forumsen/topic.asp?TOPIC_ID=126303 .

I use the SD card install, a 4GB card. 2 GB would be plenty. Plenty of instruction on that site to get up and running. If you ned help, I can help you thru it.
Next you will need to install OziExplorer and again it is pretty straight forward. Help on the Ozi site is good.

Then you will need to load the NOAA maps. They will need to be configured for the OziExplorerCE, using OziExplorer, but I can help here. Let me know what charts you will want / need.

I have a minor bug with mine starting the gps, the OziCE app cannot read the GPS data, but the work around is easy.

 

[Peter Ennis]

Mio GPS

Hi Mark,

I got my Mio ( the 310, 4.3") and got miopocket running. Oziexplorer is the next step. The web site says that maps need to be configured for OziexploreCE with the utility,Img2Ozf and to do that the site imples one needs OziExplorer for $95 in addition to OziExplorerCE. Is that true? The only map I need is NOAA #12274 head of chesapeake

Thanks,

Peter

Peter,
You can get the MioPocket 3.0 software from here:
http://gpspassion.com/forumsen/topic.asp?TOPIC_ID=126303 .

I use the SD card install, a 4GB card. 2 GB would be plenty. Plenty of instruction on that site to get up and running. If you ned help, I can help you thru it.
Next you will need to install OziExplorer and again it is pretty straight forward. Help on the Ozi site is good.

Then you will need to load the NOAA maps. They will need to be configured for the OziExplorerCE, using OziExplorer, but I can help here. Let me know what charts you will want / need.

I have a minor bug with mine starting the gps, the OziCE app cannot read the GPS data, but the work around is easy.

 

[Ross]

Re: Mio GPS

Peter, We cruise the upper Chesapeake with paper charts and a Garmin 72 GPS. It shows all the nav marks as we get close. But bare bones is probably what we do. A chart plotter can be fun but don't spend all your time watching that and not watching the bay. The bay is much prettier.

 

[Dan H]

We mostly leave my Computer below but we don't have a large boat and I can set it on the table and peek at it from time to time, if the weather is nice an i don't have to worry about rain or spray I will set it on a cockpit cushion.

What type of laptop do you have? How long does it last on the battery or do you plug it in to 12VDC?

Does one operating system consume more power than another? Like windows to ubuntu? Seems my antivirus runs constantly and that must use power, maybe?

 

[kenn]

Does one operating system consume more power than another? Like windows to ubuntu? Seems my antivirus runs constantly and that must use power, maybe?

Not really. In general, the same computer will consume essentially the same power regardless of what OS is installed.

There are Linux OS variants that run better than Windows on smaller or less fancy computers - eg on netbooks - so from that standpoint, Linux would allow you to select a smaller, more efficient computer.

 

[kloudie1]

ya can save some power by making sure the WyFi and Bluetooth is disabled in the computer when you are using it as a chartplotter.. Dim the screen as much as you can stand because it is a major power eater too.. but you will find that plugging into 12V is almost mandatory..

 

[MrBee]

I use the same computet as i use at home . It does draw a lot of power and i use an inverter rather than 12v. Its a gateway higj end high end power hungry 17" wide screen. I use 8t at home , on the boat as a chart plotter, dvd player, and have mobel broad band connection. If ypi dont need all that power a more eficient system woild b better and use less power. What we have works for us because its what we already had.

Brian