Hand Held Chart Plotters

[Ducati]

Any suggestions for hand held chart plotters? Do Raymarine make them?

Trying to keep electronic clutter at the nav station to a minimum and a hand held device might be an option.

Thanks

 

[Steve Dion]

Garmin makes GPS with Charts that can be hand held and/or mounted.

 

[Stu Jackson]

Everyone shoud have one

or two: West Marine catalogs. One on the boat and one at home. Even if you don't buy from them, the catalog has all sorts of interesting things to look at.

Or you could look at their catalog online, and then go to the manufacturer's websites and see what they have.

Garmin
Raymarine
Lowrance
Humminbird
Interphase

are the ones in the printed catalog.

Or you could Google "handheld chartplotters"

Our Garmin GPSMap 76 Cx is "only" a GPS, but has chartplotter features: the software on the computer is helpful, easier than doing it with the unit, but I have the charts and it shows where the boat is.

You just posted a dynamite report on your recent cruise, very well done and appreciated. Thanks for that great "tour."

 

[sailingdog]

The handheld devices are not really chartplotters, as the screens are too small IMHO to be considered chartplotters. However, there are some relatively small chartplotters, either the portable ones, like the Garmin GPSMap 640, or the permanently installed ones like the Garmin GPSMap 440 that might do the job for you.

 

[tommays]

I find a good 5" screen gives plenty of info at 7 knots

 

[Stu Jackson]

But

dawg, if they use the same Garmin Map Source charts, the only difference is the screen size, so why's one a chartplotter and the handheld is "only" a GPS????

Inquiring minds and all that malarkey...

 

[svenusa]

From what i've read, some of the bigger units allow you to create a route of waypoints from clicking on the chart directly.. Some of the really small handhelds let you create waypoints, but its much harder to string them together into a route - I was thinking of getting a garmin oregon 400c as a backup but i am unsure - i have seen a lot of the reviewers complaining about the lack of route creating ability.. Cool looking unit though..

 

[Rick Webb]

I have One on My IPhone

It was like $10.00 from Navionics. Just used it Monday on the water really a neat little tool.

 

[Tim R.]

Go with a chipped unit as Garmin just announced the discontinuation of the Bluechart CD updates for 12/31/09.

http://www8.garmin.com/cartography/mapSource/bluechartCD.jsp

 

[Bob S]

I don't have as much experience as most here but i bought my handheld (Garmin 76cx) as a backup. I don't have the chart card for it but I do carry paper charts and the handheld gives your location which can easily be found on the paper charts. I also use it as an anchor alarm that I take to the birth with me. Great to track your swing. I do have a Raymarine C70 on the helm. I figure if ever we had a problem either electrical or lightening I could power it up as a backup. The cool thing is you can take it with you everywhere. We used it hiking Sentinal Dome @ Yosemite. Pretty cool to know your elevation.

 

[Snotter]

The navionics package on the iPhone is awesome and is less than 10$. I just downloaded my 3rd or 4th free update since I bought the app about 1 year ago. If you go this route, be sure to get a cigerrette plug outlet installed near the nav station. I would also recommend some velcro tape.

 

[sailingdog]

The resolution of the screen and size of it make it really useless as a "chartplotter". The 4"+ screens on the compact chart plotters gives you a lot more information and lets you actually see the area around your boat, as opposed to just the water you boat is sitting in.

dawg, if they use the same Garmin Map Source charts, the only difference is the screen size, so why's one a chartplotter and the handheld is "only" a GPS????

Inquiring minds and all that malarkey...

 

[Hermit Scott]

There is nothing like a big ole screen with a bunch of information on it.

 

[David in Sandusky]

Price/Performance

We have had a Garmin 76CX for three years now. We have a PC on the boat, and the Garmin software that connects to the charting GPS has all the bells and whistles for creating waypoints - drag and drop, etc.

I am setting the unit up so that it's easy to see hands free. It does a great job, and I'd buy it again.

We had a good 6 inch color chart plotter on a Catalina 30 we chartered in the San Juans. It was better than our handheld but not enough better for the extra bucks.

 

[Paul F]

Hand held works well

Have been using a hand held Magellan Meridian fixed mounted to the helm for years. It has screens for position, plotting, speed, tides and currents, anchor monitor, time of arrival, etc. When used with a p.c. for pre-planning routes it works very well. I also have NOAA charts and plotter on the p.c. to get the latest charting information. A good program to transfer data is GPSBabel found at http://www.gpsbabel.org/