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On my Catalina 42 I have a bicycle mount on my Binnacle and a plug that integrates it with power and data to my auto pilot. You can usually find the BlueChart CD on line for under $100.00 and that is much more valuable than the Color version that cost about a $100.00 more.begold I also save all my traks and download them to my computer to save information and routes. I often crew on lots of other peoples vessels and I am always glad to have this little GPS with me. I also own the updated color version of this unit but in reality I prefer the interface and practicality of this Grayscale version.
It has been onboard with me from alaska to New Zealand. The battery life is exceptional although I usually attach it to a cig lighter outlet whenever I can to save batteries. The little GPS runs the whole boat from that connection to my Raytheon instruments. If I had to choose one I would pick the Map76 without the color. I have used and abused this handheld Map 76 for 5 years.
I have the Blue Chart America CD downloaded with the California to Mexico portion of detailed maps as that is where I usually cruise and they have great detail. It is also useful to study races to see where I have called the wrong tactics on the race course.
Using a serial to USB converter, and some free software (Garmin software will be no help) you can get to the gps data on windows, but good luck if you're on a mac.Also, it is really hard to create new waypoints on the water. So, to create waypoints over water, your only solution is to manually enter the lat and long (you can't use the cursor to select a point). I haven't seen this written explicitly, anywhere, so here goes: This thing isn't mac compatible. This is because if you try and create a waypoint too close to a known feature (such as a highway, intersection, or BODY OF WATER), the GPS will try and use the center of the feature (or something like that).
With this unit you cannot get both on the same screen. The only problem is when we are looking for a set of GPS coordintes, it is nice to see the compass and the coordinates on the same screen, like the older garmin 12 was able to do. If you are looking for an exact spot, it is nice to see your coordintes change and the N S E W heading as you are moving, otherwise you have to guess which way is up, so to speak, especially when you are in a boat moving around quite a bit. The maps are nice, but the user interface is lacking. We travel all over Michigan and visit many lakes and this unit works great after loading the necessary maps, to see where you are. The compass is on one screen, and you position is on another.
Work good, sometimes seems to be off by more than 100 feet, even when located 5 or more satelites.Good battery life, easy to navigate menus. Bought this as a back up for a boat. Manufacturer should provide GPS-to-USB connector, not only to-Serial, which is not common these days, especially on laptops.Once connected to PC and software installed, easy to back up and load maps and routes.
The features which are the most helpful are 1) the breadcrumb trail which is automatically generated and 2) the backlight LCD screen which was a HUGE help to us on a recent trip (from Pt Judith, RI to Block Island, RI) where we got caught out at sea at dusk. We often have to stop the jetski to take a look at this GPS to figure out where we are and where we are headed, but it's a small price to pay for having the piece of mind out on the water. It's also easy to mark points of interest which is critical to finding your way back to the boat ramp in an unfamiliar place.The item is totally waterproof, and for novice users (like us)., it took about 20 minutes to read through the manual and get up to speed on the key features. Using this product to navigate roads would be awful. The item also clearly displays latitude and longitude, so if we had engine problems out on the water, i'm confident we could radio in our position from the GPS and get picked up rather easily.
We use the default maps which came with the unit.This product works well, but the default maps are not detailed and key roads are missing and are often mislabelled. Several buoys and markers are correct and are in the expected positions on the map. This GPS allowed us to follow our earlier-marked trail, so that even though we were out on the ocean and couldn't see very far, we just followed our trail by GPS and navigated home safely. I wish the screen was a little more resolute. We use this GPS on our SeaDoo GTX, and are very satisfield with its performance out on the water.
However, navigation by water is a little better. It is easy to mark waypoints and good for displaying speeds, time, and the direction we're headed.
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