Navigation Software

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cscott

cscott

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Oct 18, 2007
188
Macgregor 26S - 1993 Aumsville, OR
I know that the Navigation SW SEACLEAR II is used by many of you, including me. I was in the process of buying a USB plug-in GPS Receiver for my laptops and came across a, New To Me, Navigation SW package. It is OpenCPN at http://OpenCPN.org.

I was wondering if anyone else has used this SW, and what is your opinion of it? I have loaded it on my Laptop and Netbook. I connected it to the SeaClear Chart folder, and it fired right up. It uses both raster and vector charts, as well as others. It will show currents and tides for any given day.

I know I will use it, probably as well as SeaClear.

Chuck
 
heart of gold

heart of gold

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Sep 21, 2009
385
Hunter 34 Comox
While I haven't put it to the test, I have downloaded it and tested it on land. It looks good. You can find tons of info over at the cruisersforum.com, they have a forum just for it. Cheers
 
sinnettc

sinnettc

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May 23, 2007
1,306
Catalina Capri 22 Albany, Oregon
I use OpenCPN and like it better than SeaClear. Personal preference, not a case of one being better than the other.

I used OpenCPN to plan our trip to the San Juans last summer. Worked up my courses, checked tides for the best departure window, and then copied the waypoints to/from my netbook to my Eagle chartplotter/depth sounder throughout the trip. Worked great.
 
RECESS

RECESS

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Dec 20, 2003
1,509
Catalina 27 . St. Mary's Georgia
I have seaclear on my laptop with a USB GPS. I mostly use it to check the maps on my chartplotter to make sure they are up to date as I can download the latest maps on any given day from NOAA to my laptop. I just do not find seaclear as user friendly as my chartplotter at all.
 
Jimm

Jimm

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Jan 22, 2008
372
Hunter 33.5 Bodkin Creek - Bodkin YC
RECESS said:
I have seaclear on my laptop with a USB GPS. I mostly use it to check the maps on my chartplotter to make sure they are up to date as I can download the latest maps on any given day from NOAA to my laptop. I just do not find seaclear as user friendly as my chartplotter at all.
Click to expand
What GPS receiver do you use?
 
cscott

cscott

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Oct 18, 2007
188
Macgregor 26S - 1993 Aumsville, OR
Jimm said:
What GPS receiver do you use?
Click to expand
I ordered this from Amazon:

"USGlobalSat BU-353 WaterProof WAAS Enabled USB GPS Receiver"
Electronics; $36.50

Have not used it yet, but the reviews were good.

Chuck
 
cscott

cscott

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Oct 18, 2007
188
Macgregor 26S - 1993 Aumsville, OR
heart of gold said:
While I haven't put it to the test, I have downloaded it and tested it on land. It looks good. You can find tons of info over at the cruisersforum.com, they have a forum just for it. Cheers
Click to expand

Thanks for the info. I just loged on to cruisersforum.com, and I see the OpenCPN thread.

Chuck
 
G

Gary_H

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Nov 5, 2007
469
Cal 2-25 Carolina Beach NC
I have both SeaClear II and OpenCPN. They are both good but I find OpenCPN easier and more intuative to use.
 
Stu Jackson

Stu Jackson

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Feb 26, 2004
23,362
Catalina 34 224 Maple Bay, BC, Canada
cscott said:
I ordered this from Amazon:

"USGlobalSat BU-353 WaterProof WAAS Enabled USB GPS Receiver"
Electronics; $36.50

Have not used it yet, but the reviews were good.

Chuck
Click to expand
Good choice. There was a lengthy discussion about this last summer.
 
RECESS

RECESS

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Dec 20, 2003
1,509
Catalina 27 . St. Mary's Georgia
Jimm said:
What GPS receiver do you use?
Click to expand
Humminbird 785c2i



Has a lot of controls and alarms.





The anchor drift alarm is my favorite thing on it. I sleep really good with it on. I use a seperate Humminbird 525 fishfinder but I can use the transducer to the 785c2i if I want the screen in color. I like having them seperate though. I have had both for three years and they have done very well. Scott, with the Catalina 30 Event Horizon, told me when they had the 785c2i on sale for $285, IIRC.
 
Snotter

Snotter

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Sep 25, 2008
615
Morgan 415 Out Island Rogersville, AL
Another thing to consider if you are integrating your pc/laptop with your autopilot is how does the chartting software do at steering your boat? OpenCN was vastly inferior to MapTec in this regard on my Morgan OI. I absolutely hated MapTec. My C80 excels over any pc-based software I found. However, every boat and every autopilot is going to be different. I suspect, though, that if you have a Raymarine autopilot that a Raymarine chartplotter will steer best. More food for thought.
 
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