Dick King
Melbourne, FL
Boat Name: Twilight Zone
Model/Year: Sport/2005
Hull No. 15546
Hailing Port: Melbourne, FL |
 01/05/2004 7:16 PM Pacific Time
Has anybody used Blue Chart to load a better chart into their Garmin mapping GPS? I am totally dissatisfied with the "waterway " maps in the baseline memory. All of the marks are identified physically (triangle on post) instead of by number. When I queried Garmin Cartography, they suggested I load the appropriate Blue Chart Region so that the presentation on the screen would look like a chart. Before I invest in a Blue Chart disk, I would like to hear from someone who has actually uploaded a region into a mapping GPS. I have a GPSMap76. |
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01/06/2004 3:48 AM Pacific Time
Dick, I bought the BlueChart CD last season along with a key for my local area (coastal Massachusetts) and uploaded it to my handheld Garmin GPSMap 76S. (You need a data cable between the unit and your computer, which should have come in the package.)
I love it. The details are chart quality (less the color, which unfortunately the unit doesn't support), especially when you zoom in. I'm planning to take a month next summer -- if everything works out -- and sail up the coast of Maine. I've already bought the MapTech New England chartbook, but I'll have to buy at least one and likely two more keys to unlock and upload those areas. (The 76S has 24 MB of available memory compared to 8 MB for the 76, which I hope will be enough.)
I'm still having a problem positioning the unit itself while underway. Held perfectly horizontal and pointed dead ahead it works fine, but even the slightest tipping from absolute horizontal throws it off. I even bought the portable antenna -- which works fine in my Explorer, but aboard seems to make no difference. I spoke with Garmin support last summer and they had me change some settings. That didn't make any difference, so I've got to give them another call one day.
I also installed a cigarette lighter plug recepticle, mounted on the face of the cockpit seat. (I've only kicked it once and luckily it snapped right back together!) The handheld eats up batteries, especially in chart mode. Lithium batteries last much longer than alkaline. Keep a lot of spares.
Chip Ford --
Marblehead, Mass.
1974 C22 #3282 - "Chip Ahoy"
http://cltg.org/chip_ahoy/chip_ahoy.htm
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David J. Pierce
Sunset, Louisiana
Boat Name: Little Miracles
Model/Year: 1985
Hull No. 12822
Hailing Port: Cypermort Point, Louisiana |
01/06/2004 12:54 PM Pacific Time
I have a GPS V and the Blue Chart CD. Although the display is small, the detail provided by downloading the Bluecharts to the unit is great. |
Captain Miles Ashley
Chincoteague Island, Virginia
Boat Name: Dragonass
Model/Year: 1972
Hull No. #940
Hailing Port: Chincoteague Island Marina on Main Street |
01/07/2004 4:07 PM Pacific Time
I've used the Blue Charts in my Garmin GPSMAP 176C for 2 seasons now including an extended trip from Ft. Lauderdale, FL to Chincoteague, VA. I've had to add to the regions I initially requested with a second lock key to the original CD. Be careful to buy what you need. In my case, the older (one season) CD worked fine. I had no problems with the install and upgrades, all worked simply and quickly. The Blue Charts are a scanned version of the actual NOAA Charts, which I also use as reference during planning. Additionally, I routinely go to the Garmin site to look for upgrades to the GPSMAP 176C operating system. These are free also and I've upgraded about 6 times over the last 2 years, enhancing and correcting problems within the chartplotter. I also use the MapSource software on my PC to help manage my favorite WayPoints and Routes I've added. I use this product to type in better names and to edit tracks, waypoints, and routes. Recently I started using the MapSource software to do preplanning instead of the paper NOAA Charts. It is rather difficult to do anything other that small scale route planning directly on the GPSMAP 176C. All in all, it's not been to bad of a system for a moderate investment. One thing, don't trust your laptop to work when you are 140 miles offshore in the gulf stream - download all your charts you'll be needing on a long transit into your chartplotter, as it is a more robust device for the marine environment, and periodicall do a Dead Reckoning entry on your NOAA charts or a log, as back up of the chartplotter if it fails, so you'll know where youo are at and so you can go back to the manual method of navigation. |
Captain Miles Ashley
Chincoteague Island, Virginia
Boat Name: Dragonass
Model/Year: 1972
Hull No. #940
Hailing Port: Chincoteague Island Marina on Main Street |
01/07/2004 4:22 PM Pacific Time
Chip,
You might want to check into the RAM clamping solutions for holding your Garmin 76. I actually rigged up an electronics shelf that mounts atop the sliding hatch on 2 RAM balls with arm clamps, that hold my 176C, a fishfinder, and a VHF. Power, Antenna, and NEMA networking to the Auto Tiller is supplied through an encapsulated tubing cable that allows the shelf to be moved inside when not in use. There is enough length to the cable to be able to move the sliding hatch all the way forward with the shelf attached. This shelf de-installs from the hatch top quickly and I've placed 2 additional RAM balls inside the cabin on the table top towards the port cabin side to mount the shelf on it out of the way when I'm not using the electronics. |
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01/12/2004 9:31 PM Pacific Time
I like the idea of the mount on the hatch. Can you tell me a litlle more about how it looks - Picture?
Bill
C22 8364 "ob1"
Rhinebeck NY |
PHILIP & SHARON MERLIER
FELLSMERE, FLORIDA
Boat Name: SWIZZLE STICK
Model/Year: 1990 C22
Hull No.
Hailing Port: FELLSMERE, FLORIDA |
01/27/2004 11:04 PM Pacific Time
For those of you that have the Garmin GPSMap 176C --- are you completely satisfied with the instrument??? I am thinking of getting one and have been researching them. There is talk that the screen is hard to see and the contrast needs frequent adjusting. Also how long have you found batteries to last is you do not use the backlighting?
Thanks for your input. |
Dick King
Melbourne, FL
Boat Name: Twilight Zone
Model/Year: Sport/2005
Hull No. 15546
Hailing Port: Melbourne, FL |
01/28/2004 4:51 AM Pacific Time
Phil - I have the Garmin Map76. I don't know if the screen technology is the same, but I think it probably is. I have trouble seeing it with polarized sun glasses. |
Stephen Yingst
Glen Ellen, California
Boat Name: Third Flight
Model/Year: C22 - 1988
Hull No. 14644
Hailing Port: Sausalito |
01/28/2004 8:21 AM Pacific Time
Phil,
I've had a 176C for a year and a half and love it. It's taken me thru thick fog and black nights on the CA coast. On one occasion it took a fall from the cockpit seat on to the sole and sustained a large bruise that almost covered the screen. Garmin fixed it and updated software for $100.
Tide table is accurate, too, which is quite important on the San Francisco Bay anywhere near the gate. |
Dan Plank
Cullman, AL
Boat Name: Half Fast
Model/Year: C-22 / 1989
Hull No. 14855
Hailing Port: Guntersville, AL |
03/30/2004 4:53 PM Pacific Time
I have a Garmin GPS Map 76 that saved my butt a time or two in the Keys last fall, without the Mapsource Blue Charts, although I think they would be a good investment for a regular user. Garmin does super business. They sent me a new cigarette lighter power cord with no questions asked when the plug on mine unscrewed and was lost. I'll definitely stay with Garmin when/if I buy a new GPS. |
Chip Ford
Marblehead, MA
Boat Name: Chip Ahoy
Model/Year: 1974-Swing Keel
Hull No. CTY032820374
Hailing Port: Marblehead, Mass. |
03/31/2004 2:00 AM Pacific Time
I bought the key for my usual sailing area (Massachusetts Bay down to Buzzards Bay) last year for my Garmin GPSMap 76S, and combined, I consider it one of the best investments I've made in Chip Ahoy yet.
In one situation, I amazed my two guests by bringing them home across Boston Harbor from the South Shore in thick fog and vicious thunderstorms navigating buoy to buoy "blind," solely by GPS (using chart and compass as a comparitively-weak backup). It took us all day under motor (I had to get them back for a flight home to Chicago that evening) often in almost zero-30 yards visibility. Every time, we hit the next buoy right where and when I said we would. Both of my guests were sailors, but neither had ever used GPS before (prior to last year, neither had I, but I'd learned in a short time that I could rely on it so long as it worked); they were stunned by its accuracy (and impressed that I'd ignored their seat-of-the-pants "second-guessing"). For a photo of the conditions on that trip see:
http://cltg.org/chip_ahoy/graphics/plym03.jpg
I plan to sail north singlehanded up the coast of Maine for the month of August, so I intend to buy two more keys to open the Maine coast. I ordered and recently received (free) the Garmin BlueChart v5.5 software update, which I'll install when I order the new keys.
Apparently once you install the upgrade, you have to call Garmin for a new (free) key to open areas you've already paid for, and I want to make sure I save all my routes and waypoints correctly before I upgrade and risk wiping them out.
I still haven't dealt with the problem I reported above (01/06/2004), but the last time I spoke with Garmin to address it, the tech guy was extremely helpful and patient; unfortuately, the fix just didn't work, the problem remains.
Dan, I'm glad to hear how well they took care of you. That's been my experience with Garmin too, with both its products and its support. I won't hesitate to buy from them again.
Chip Ford --
Marblehead, Mass.
1974 C22 Swing Keel #3282 - "Chip Ahoy"
http://cltg.org/chip_ahoy/
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03/31/2004 7:08 AM Pacific Time
Chip
Great story! I am amazed that you did that great act of navigation in the fog. I like the photo, too. What impressed me most about the whole thing is that you were drinking Sam Adams.
Ah . . . you are true blue!
Robert |
Captain Miles Ashley
Chincoteague Island, Virginia
Boat Name: Dragonass
Model/Year: 1972
Hull No. #940
Hailing Port: Chincoteague Island Marina on Main Street |
04/01/2004 4:39 AM Pacific Time
Sorry about this very late response,. I was browsing earlier responses on this thread and just saw that Bill wanted pictures of the electronics shelf that I developed for Dragonass. Bill's response was back in January... I'll get several pictures as soon as the weather clears and place them on my WEB Site. |
