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Recommendations For New GPS

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Steve Milby
Past Commodore

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USA
5909 Posts

Initially Posted - 06/10/2013 : 16:39:18

I had to take my boat north on the Bay Friday while Andrea was drenching us, and a lot of water got behind the screen and destroyed my old and much loved GPS/chartplotter, so I'll need a new one. I'd appreciate recommendations for a moderately priced GPS that can be mounted on the steering pedestal and hardwired into the 12v system, and, while we're at it, Im also interested in your recommendations for a moderately priced handheld gps/chartplotter to keep on board as a backup. (We got by ok using paper charts and binoculars, but a gps sure makes it all easier. I'm colorblind, and a chartplotter makes it much easier for me to navigate at night.) (I know this has been discussed before, but models and features change often enough that I'd like to see what's new and good before I buy.)

Steve Milby J/24 "Captiva Wind"
previously C&C 35, Cal 25, C25 TR/FK, C22
Past Commodore

Edited by - on

Stinkpotter
Master Marine Consultant

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Djibouti
9089 Posts

Response Posted - 06/10/2013 : 18:45:29

Hi Steve... This might not be what you're looking for, but I'll tell you about what I have and why I picked it about five years ago (when it was more expensive than now): The [url="http://www.westmarine.com/webapp/wcs/stores/servlet/ProductDisplay?productId=435496&catalogId=10001&langId=-1&storeId=11151&storeNum=50157&subdeptNum=50177&classNum=58525#"]Garmin 640[/url].

It's probably smaller than the plotter you lost... I mounted it right in front of my wheel, and it's satisfactory for me. It clamps into and releases from the wired-in mount with a flick of the finger, has an internal, rechargeable battery, and is "almost" pocket-sized (in a big pocket). Thus, it will work with or without your electrical system, and can immediately be taken with you and used if you have to ditch. It's "waterproof" to some standard (?), and with no external buttons, that would seem like a reasonable bet.

As a bonus, along with built-in Blue Charts, it has built-in street-level mapping for N. America and most Nuvi navigational functions (except real-time traffic). When I clamp it into the boat mount, it automatically comes up as a marine navigator, and when I clamp it into the car mount, it comes up as a Nuvi--totally different functions.

The user interface is touch-screen, and I've found it to be quite intuitive and easy to touch. As I said, it's probably not the big screen you had, but I like the battery function--you can remove it and do your route planning, or tell the Coasties where you are in your dink!

Edited by - Stinkpotter on 06/10/2013 19:37:38

Steve Milby
Past Commodore

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USA
5909 Posts

Response Posted - 06/11/2013 : 09:36:07

Thanks for the recommendation, Dave.

My old chartplotter was the Garmin 276C, which only had a 4" screen, and was about 10-11 years old, but it was a really neat little gps that had lots of functions and information.

I went into West Marine today and finally settled on a Garmin 541s, which is a fairly no-frills chartplotter with a 5" screen. The 640 is very nice, but it's more expensive than the 541s, and has functions that I won't need.

I also bought a Garmin 78 handheld, to keep as a backup.

Both were on sale, which helped alot.

Having the GPS suddenly go blank during bad weather got my attention, and was a big factor in persuading me to part with the price to ensure that it doesn't happen again.

Edited by - on

Voyager
Master Marine Consultant

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USA
5431 Posts

Response Posted - 06/11/2013 : 19:34:36

Nothing on Amazon or eBay? We've discussed the pluses and minuses of paying the West Marine premium, but I've had good luck using both for new and used electronics.

Edited by - on

Steve Milby
Past Commodore

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USA
5909 Posts

Response Posted - 06/12/2013 : 09:58:02

<blockquote id="quote">quote:<hr height="1" noshade id="quote">Originally posted by Voyager
 Nothing on Amazon or eBay? We've discussed the pluses and minuses of paying the West Marine premium, but I've had good luck using both for new and used electronics.
<hr height="1" noshade id="quote"></blockquote id="quote">I usually go to Amazon and Ebay first, and have also had very good luck with them. This time, I went to West for a couple of reasons. I am easily confounded by electronic devices, and wanted to have someone to consult if I couldn't figure out how to use them. Also, Since the two devices represented an expenditure of about $850., I wanted to be able to have a more liberal return policy than what those services usually offer.

This morning I had to take the handheld gps in to West for help in loading the new chart chip.

Edited by - on

Prospector
Master Marine Consultant

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Canada
3159 Posts

Response Posted - 06/12/2013 : 10:10:43

Hey Steve - I have a SH-I180 that I've never hooked up. Not handheld, but I am toying with selling it.

Dunno. Let me know if you are interested. email may be best.

Edited by - on

Steve Milby
Past Commodore

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USA
5909 Posts

Response Posted - 06/12/2013 : 11:32:16

<blockquote id="quote">quote:<hr height="1" noshade id="quote">Originally posted by Prospector
 Hey Steve - I have a SH-I180 that I've never hooked up. Not handheld, but I am toying with selling it.

Dunno. Let me know if you are interested. email may be best.
<hr height="1" noshade id="quote"></blockquote id="quote">
Darn! I might have been interested 2 days ago, but yesterday I bought both a handheld and a Garmin 541s. A third gps would put me over my limit!

Edited by - on

delliottg
Former Mainsheet C250 Tech Editor

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USA
4479 Posts

Response Posted - 06/12/2013 : 11:39:50

Are you able to hook up any of these to your VHF for DSC? I've currently got a Garmin 276C as well that I use both in my car & on the boat (just swap chips). On the boat it's connected via wire to my VHF to provide lat/lon to it.

How do you guys (plan) to hook yours up if you have or plan to?

I'd like to figure out how to connect via bluetooth to our iPad with Garmin's chart plotting software. I think Rick (TakeFive) might have done this?

Edited by - on

Jack Schafer
Navigator

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USA
112 Posts

Response Posted - 06/12/2013 : 12:23:08

When I was looking for a new Nuvi for my car I checked the Garmin website and they had refurbished Nuvi's (the latest model) for almost 50% off. It looks brand new and is warranted.

http://g.factoryoutletstore.com/cat/1639/Garmin-Marine.html

Edited by - on

Stinkpotter
Master Marine Consultant

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Djibouti
9089 Posts

Response Posted - 06/12/2013 : 17:49:22

I always wonder... latest model--refurbished? Why? What was it before refurbishing? Who refurbished--did they send it back to China where somebody knows how to do anything to it? Or did they just wipe it off and "refurbish" the packaging...

Then I buy a new one direct from China. Silly me.

Edited by - Stinkpotter on 06/12/2013 17:50:16

Steve Milby
Past Commodore

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USA
5909 Posts

Response Posted - 06/15/2013 : 05:14:31

<blockquote id="quote">quote:<hr height="1" noshade id="quote">Originally posted by Stinkpotter
 I always wonder... latest model--refurbished? Why? What was it before refurbishing? Who refurbished--did they send it back to China where somebody knows how to do anything to it? Or did they just wipe it off and "refurbish" the packaging...

Then I buy a new one direct from China. Silly me.
<hr height="1" noshade id="quote"></blockquote id="quote">
I have bought a couple refurbs, and got great deals. The most recent is the laptop computer that I'm using now. I bought it as a refurb for about 1/2 price. It works great, except for one function. When you turn it on, it is supposed to recognize your face via the onboard camera, and let you use it without typing in a password. The camera works, but the facial recognition has never worked, so I have to type in a password, like with most computers. I got an Intel i5 processor with 6 Gigs of RAM and a 750 Gig hard drive for half price.

I suspect the salt air environment where I use my laptop is hard on it. (A technician said he never saw so much corrosion as was inside my old laptop.) So, I buy a good basic laptop with the features that I need as inexpensively as possible, and am happy if I get 2-3 years out of it. By then, it's getting obsolete anyway.

Edited by - on

Stinkpotter
Master Marine Consultant

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Djibouti
9089 Posts

Response Posted - 06/15/2013 : 07:45:43

<blockquote id="quote">quote:<hr height="1" noshade id="quote">Originally posted by Steve Milby
 ...am happy if I get 2-3 years out of it. By then, it's getting obsolete anyway.<hr height="1" noshade id="quote"></blockquote id="quote">Yup--the great Microsoft/Intel conspiracy...

Edited by - on

Dave5041
Former Mainsheet Editor

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USA
3758 Posts

Response Posted - 06/15/2013 : 08:12:07

I also frequently buy refurbished computers and assorted other electronics. I also tend to keep them until they fail mechanically and irreparably. My old 2007 MacBook, now my wife's, is still satisfactory for her web, email, word processing and light photo editing activities. It won't run the most recent version of OSX, but she doesn't like it on my 2009 refurbished MacBook Pro anyway. My heavier duty photo and video work is making me ready to make the jump to a refurbished quad core I7 MBP.

Edited by - on

awetmore
Master Marine Consultant

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USA
1144 Posts

Response Posted - 06/15/2013 : 09:08:00

iPads are picky about what bluetooth GPS's they want to talk to (they don't use a common GPS protocol). The one that works the best is made by Dual (part number is something like XGPS150), but it is also $100.

Considering that the iPad isn't waterproof, has a screen that doesn't work in sunlight, won't talk to instruments without other expensive hardware, and is touch only (hard to use with gloves) I think it's worth buying a cheap boat chart plotter vs trying to make an iPad into one.

Edited by - on

GaryB
Master Marine Consultant

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USA
4316 Posts

Response Posted - 06/15/2013 : 09:12:12

Here's a grerat example -->> http://g.factoryoutletstore.com/cat/16536/Chartplotter-600-Series.html

Edited by - on

TakeFive
Master Marine Consultant

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2272 Posts

Response Posted - 06/15/2013 : 14:43:25

<blockquote id="quote">quote:<hr height="1" noshade id="quote">Originally posted by delliottg
 ...I'd like to figure out how to connect via bluetooth to our iPad with Garmin's chart plotting software. I think Rick (TakeFive) might have done this?
<hr height="1" noshade id="quote"></blockquote id="quote">
I do have the Bluechart software on our iPad, but it runs off the iPad's internal GPS. Contrary to popular belief, you do not need cell service for the iPad's GPS to work. You do need the wireless capable model, which we have. But we've never signed up for service, and don't have a SIM card installed. Works fine, even offshore in BVI where there was no cell service at all.

However, the iPad/Bluechart hardly gets any use. It's just a backup, and will remain that way until Garmin displays AIS targets in their software, which would require the iPad to receive the AIS information via Bluetooth.

What I use as my primary system is a Garmin LVC 18x GPS puck that is hardwired to the GX2150 radio. I have two industrial strength Bluetooth transmitters that send out NMEA sentences via industry standard protocols. One broadcasts the GPS coordinates from the puck, and the other broadcasts the AIS info from the radio. Both of these are received by the Bluetooth receiver in my netbook, and OpenCPN displays both on the screen. The Bluetooth can also be picked up by other Bluetooth enabled devices, though I have only tried it on my Nook Color, which does not have its own GPS chip. That did work, though I don't regularly use it. I have never tried to pick up the Bluetooth with the iPad. I have no need to try until I have a way to display AIS with it.

I prefer the Windows netbook over the iPad for several reasons. The netbook has a very bright screen which is daylight viewable and matte finish. I also run two instances of OpenCPN side-by-side on the screen, which the iPad cannot do. One window is zoomed out to see AIS vessels from 5-10 miles away, and the other is zoomed in to see depth readings, contour lines, and other local features. With both windows running simultaneously, I minimize the amount of manipulation that I need to do on the computer while sailing. Obviously, the computer stores inside the cabin very nicely, and I have a mounting point for it in the galley area. There have already been a few times this year when I was in the rain with low visibility, and I sat in the companionway and watched the chartplotter down below while steering the boat on autopilot using a Raymarine wireless remote control. As long as the sea state allows for stable autopilot use, that's a very flexible system that allows me to go wherever on the boat that I am most comfortable - and take the portable netbook chartplotter with me.

My other "secondary" nav system is my Garmin Oregon 400c, which is always running and recording my track. Since it's waterproof, it mounts to the binnacle rain or shine, so I always have some access to the local charts if I'm sitting at the wheel, no matter how hard it's raining.

Steve's experience during Andrea makes me glad I postponed my departure on Friday, leaving for the Patapsco on Saturday instead.

Edited by - TakeFive on 06/15/2013 14:47:00

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