Chartplotter for car and boat...

[Mike Smith]

G'Day Mates!

Any recommendation on a GPS/color chartplotter with decent display and software which I can easily use in my car and Breezer?  Seems the car units are dropping in price and growing in capability quicker than the boat units.

Multitasking,
Mike

[Jon Schneider]

I don't have a recommendation, Mike, but congratulations on becoming a Petty Officer First Class!  ;)

[Mike Smith]

Thanks, Jon!

I don't have a clue how I did it, but thanks anyway.  I noticed my Karma is up to 5 these days...  Since I haven't posted anything political recently, and PO'd anyone, I guess you could say my Karma ran over my Dogma!

Multitasking Mike

[Mike Vaccaro]

Hey Mike,

I use a Garmin 396 in the airplane, boat and car--works like a champ and has real-time XM weather feed for flying and sailing.  Can't beat it!  The new marine version which I believe is the 486 (?) has built in automotive and marine data base, which is nice--with previous units, you had to buy the marine and automotive data.  The units come with a mount that will work in the car, have a RAM mount on boat and a custom mount in the F-4 at work...have ops checked by leaving out in the weather for three days (didn't leak), have dropped it from the canopy rail of the F-4 to the ramp (about 9 feet) and it didn't break.  Works fine under G's, while being blasted by the canopy defog and my three kids haven't broken it yet.  The display on the 300- and 400-series is better than the 200- series, but the downside is that the lithium/ion battery doesn't last as long.  You can run a dedicated 12v power wire to the binnacle and there is a lighter adapter that works in the car.  You can take it home and interface with your computer there as well or use it as the GPS and weather source for navigation software running on an on-board computer.  Suspect about 600 bones without weather and about 1000 bucks with XM (not including the subscription, which is about 50 dollars per month and includes XM radio).  If you can live with black and white and no weather, you can find an older 176 or 196 for not too much more than beer money...

Cheers,

Vac

[Mike Smith]

Hey Vac!

I should have known you'd respond!  The Garmin unit sounds great, although a little pricey for my avocation budget right now... I've recently been indulging my other expensive hobby - photography - and just bought a new Nikon 70-200 AF VR zoom (Some sweet piece of glass!) so my Fun Coupon Low warning light is aglow.  If I can use the chartplotter as a street navigator, I may run it through the business since I'm often driving around the boonies of the FL Panhandle.  Looking on EBay, I see units around $700 without WX and XM.  As always, thanks for the advice!

Multitasking,
Mike

[Ken Heyman]

I've had great experience with  and my Garmin 76Cs handheld. (currently aprox. 350.00 at West Marine. I use Garmin Blue Chart navigational programs while "at sea" and their "America"(not the right name) road program on the highway. The road program came with an accessory kit that includes a weighted holder .. The unit slides into it and it behaves quite nicely on the dash. You can do everything imagianble and more with both of these programs and the 76CS unit. Incidentally the unit has a great display that is easily visible on the dash or in sunlight while sailing. It was reviewed favorably a while back by Practical Sailor. Let me know if you have any specific questions.

Ken