GPS

[higgs]

One can now get a car GPS for well under $100 that includes maps for the entire US and Canada including info on gas stations, stores, hotels, etc.

Why are chart plotters, with far less info, $1000? Raster charts are available to anyone for nothing and you don't need to program in millions of street names.

 

[tommays]

Well

My Lowrance 3500C has a screen that can be seen in ANY condition

IT has been OUTSIDE getting a Saltwater bath for 4 years without a wimper

You can connect all kinds of NEMA 183 and 2000 stuff to it and it does work

It cost 600 with a Lowrnace chart that is right on the money in MY area

My car GPS will have a heart attack if get it wet and if you try and do any GPS stuff by walking around you will see how limited it really is

 

[richk]

Higgs...

One can now get a car GPS for well under $100 that includes maps for the entire US and Canada including info on gas stations, stores, hotels, etc.

Why are chart plotters, with far less info, $1000? Raster charts are available to anyone for nothing and you don't need to program in millions of street names.

I guess the best answer is because the maritime public will pay for them. For the past couple of years I've been lobbying for use of cheap and free chartplotting options. They are out there and getting cheaper.

It used to only cost you a cheap laptop and handheld gps. Now you can get a netbook for $300, a nmea compatible, gps dongle for $40, free s/w (www.sping.com), free, current NOAA charts (http://www.nauticalcharts.noaa.gov/mcd/Raster/index.htm).

There are, however, two downsides
1. netbook ain't "marine ruggedized"
2. netbook screen difficult to see in sunlight

Have a merry Christmas
Rich

 

[kloudie1]

All in the market size and scale of production. MANY more car GPS's sold than marine.. The high performance auto ones are almost same price.. and they mostly will not let you put in a waypoint in Lat/Long. (Nuvi 5000) My Garmin 545 marine unit has info on marinas, where to get fuel, phone numbers .. etc.. Car maps are MUCH easier.. it is harder to draw a channel with several markers and their data than it is to draw a road as they present it.. I dunno..

 

[seadaddler]

On many trips fron Florida to NY pretty much every other car truck has GPS in it and many new cars and trucks have built in gps but yes lots of info but it tells you pretty much where to go with limited input.
My Raymarine C-80 does what I tell it to do and has inputs for,Radar,Fishfinder,AIS,Weather,Engine Monitor,Routing,and on and on.
All this is not cheap.
I have GPS in my car and GPS chartplotter,radar,weather on my boat plus 2 backup handheld but only ever use the handheld for kayaking,no one ever said boating was cheap.
Nick

 

[Tim R.]

How about this:

Marine units are weatherproof, have more memory, bigger screens, ability to interface with other instruments(radar, sonar, AP, etc), less volume sold, more input buttons and more sophisticated SW.

Be glad you are not a pilot!

BTW, my Garmin Quest II came with all the road maps included and I loaded charts for southern Maine for $115. It is rugged and weatherproof. I use it in my car but comes in handy as a backup on the boat. It has enough memory to hold all the road and water map data plus all my marine waypoints.

 

[Tom Spohn]

I think it has to do with what economists call "marginal costs". That is once you have produced enough supply of marine, auto, aviation units to satisfy the demand and have sold them at full price, what is the cost of making a few more units? Answer: not very much. So you make them and sell them at bargain prices. Why do you do it? If you don't your competitor will. And you hope the customer will trade up when they tire of the ceapie unit.

 

[Ross]

The manufacture of modern electronics is avery low cost operation once the programs are in place. The first 4 function electronic calculator I ever saw was by Litton Industries and sold for 120 dollars in 1974. That was a week's pay for me then. Today I can get them solar powered business card size for less than fifty cents each. That includes manufacture, shipping, engraving with my business information and delivery to me, and profit for everybody along the line.

 

[higgs]

How about this:

Marine units are weatherproof, have more memory, bigger screens, ability to interface with other instruments(radar, sonar, AP, etc), less volume sold, more input buttons and more sophisticated SW.

Be glad you are not a pilot!

BTW, my Garmin Quest II came with all the road maps included and I loaded charts for southern Maine for $115. It is rugged and weatherproof. I use it in my car but comes in handy as a backup on the boat. It has enough memory to hold all the road and water map data plus all my marine waypoints.

All this is worth $900?

 

[Tim R.]

All this is worth $900?

It must be Higgs. People buy them.

 

[BobM]

There are a lot of options on marine units that you won't find on a cheap car unit. My friends new unit has an option where you can watch an illustration of the boat passing down the bottom profile of a narrow passage as it travels. You can even adjust the view angle. This is no doubt overkill, but from a safety perspective is it is no doubt easier than trying to read depths on the chartplotter.

 

[richk]

route planning

One advantage my cheap system has is I can plan a cruise at home and take it to the boat, to follow w/the gps. See attached image.

 

[kloudie1]

Higgs.. yeah, I was talking about something like a Garmin 431($549) and a Garmin Nuvi 775T.. ($450)..Those are the Garmin prices.. only $100 difference. I think that in the discounters they are about the same $100 difference.. (488 vs 377 on Amazon)