GPS Handheld ??

Tom J · Dec 27, 2011

You will probably like the 76 series GPS. We used ours on our trip from the Gulf Coast of Florida to Massachusetts and back, along with paper charts, of course. I usually disabled the compass function, because if the electronic compass goes out of calibration, it throws off the course and track functions. Use the real compass. On our next trip up the East Coast, we used a small Garmin chartplotter, which is nice, but we still had the paper charts on hand, and the 76 as back-up.

dooley1 · Dec 28, 2011

ipad option?

I'm surprised nobody has mentioned the ipad as an option? I've been using a simple $100 garmin handheld for 10 years now. I mostly navigate with paper charts and use the garmin to get a precise fix once in a while. The next upgrade for me will be an ipad or perhaps a similar tablet (I'm not an Apple lover). You can get great chartplotter apps for $50 or less. I've been using Garmin products since they first came out, but the data gets old and they keep soaking you every year or so for data upgrades. Plus their is so much more you can do with the ipad aboard - email, movies, etc. They also make some waterproof cases. Check out this photo of a mount at the helm of a powerboat http://farm3.static.flickr.com/2014/5789945642_6c3ea7d14a_z.jpg

r.oril · Dec 29, 2011

dooley1 said:
I'm surprised nobody has mentioned the ipad as an option? I've been using a simple $100 garmin handheld for 10 years now. I mostly navigate with paper charts and use the garmin to get a precise fix once in a while. The next upgrade for me will be an ipad or perhaps a similar tablet (I'm not an Apple lover). You can get great chartplotter apps for $50 or less. I've been using Garmin products since they first came out, but the data gets old and they keep soaking you every year or so for data upgrades. Plus their is so much more you can do with the ipad aboard - email, movies, etc. They also make some waterproof cases. Check out this photo of a mount at the helm of a powerboat http://farm3.static.flickr.com/2014/5789945642_6c3ea7d14a_z.jpg

I found the GPS Bluetooth for the IPad 2 on line. That red thing in the left corner of the pix is it. $80.

cb32863 · Feb 10, 2012

What's your backup plan if it has an issue?

Sumner · Feb 10, 2012

Squidd said:
After much searching, looking and pondering, I went and bought a SeaClear II with NOAA Charts, a USB/GPS pod and a cheap ToughBook with daylight screen...

That will give me the "big screen" layout, be water "resistant", and with my Verizon "Hot Spot" should give me all the computing power I need on a 26' Great Lakes boat...all for less than the cost of a Garmin handheld...

Thanks everyone for the input...

That sounds like a pretty good option, but I wonder about...

.all for less than the cost of a Garmin handheld

Not sure which handhelds you were looking at, but we bought one 76S (not color) off e-bay that was I think new for $80 and another for $60 that looks new.

I'd stay with you present system, but think about adding one of these handhelds to it along with a $13 cable to connect the handheld to power and to the computer you have with SeaClear. We have this combo.

Now you can do all of the course plotting on the computer, but in just a couple seconds download the waypoints into the handheld and have it out in the cockpit where you can use it to go from waypoint to waypoint if you have that need.

It works great and using the above we went over 400 miles in Florida water that was all new to us. You can also update the waypoints at any time and we got our tide data from the handheld and used it for our anchor alarm,

Sum

[FONT=Arial, sans-serif]Our Endeavour 37[/FONT]

[FONT=Arial, sans-serif]Our Trips to Utah, Idaho, Canada, Florida[/FONT]

[FONT=Arial, sans-serif]Our MacGregor S Pages[/FONT]

[FONT=Arial, sans-serif]Mac-Venture Links[/FONT]

Sumner · Feb 10, 2012

Squidd said:
Are you saying the Seaclear will transfer the NOAA screen/chart as well as waypoints... (Jack..?)

No, just the waypoints, but those will do you. We use the handheld and when we get to one waypoint just move to the next and zoom in or out on the screen and you can hit it within a couple feet if you want.

If we are in a tight channel or someplace we really want to see the chart detail I move forward to the companionway and look down at ...

http://purplesagetradingpost.com/sumner/macgregor-navigation/Comp-ChartPlot-2.html

...the monitor running SeaClear and give Ruth directions.

If you have the waypoints in the handheld and the computer running SeaClear goes down at least you still have your waypoints to work off of.

Like I said before this worked really well for us down in Florida in a lot of skinny water and tight channels where we had never been before. We have used the same setup with the Endeavour and have also added the...

http://purplesagetradingpost.com/sumner/macgregor-navigation/Comp-ChartPlot-5.html

... inexpensive daylight cockpit display that will show the NOAA charts on it via SeaClear. I'm hoping it works as well on the boat as it has at home.

Sum

[FONT=Arial, sans-serif]Our Endeavour 37[/FONT]

[FONT=Arial, sans-serif]Our Trips to Utah, Idaho, Canada, Florida[/FONT]

[FONT=Arial, sans-serif]Our MacGregor S Pages[/FONT]

[FONT=Arial, sans-serif]Mac-Venture Links[/FONT]