Portable colourchart plotter

Anyone know of any alternative to the Garmin 276 for a battery powered chart plotter ? I would have expected all the major 'brands' to have an equivalent or is that just wishful thinking . Really dont want to get into drilling to many holes on the console / adding in to electrics .

Hi
I have the Lowrance H2O as a back up.
It seems good with great battery life and good screen. Also I don't think its as expensive as the Garmin.
Click here for web site (http://www.lowrance.com/Products/Outdoors/ifinderh2o.asp)

Anyone know of any alternative to the Garmin 276 for a battery powered chart plotter ? I would have expected all the major 'brands' to have an equivalent or is that just wishful thinking . Really dont want to get into drilling to many holes on the console / adding in to electrics .



Use your imagination ,friend, get a small pocket HP pocket pc / BT gps
and some good mapping software ( fuagawi) et Voila.... there you go
one hell of a standby system AND completely portable.

This is what I use..

-HP HW 6515 ( GPS included) ( about 280$ stateside) + an extended battery.
-Fugawi 3.0 maping software.

( you will need a good scanner to get some maps into the program)
Just as a joke I used tomtom 6 in the middle of the channel last week... and it told me to turn right at the next buoy???????????????:D


Jonathan

I also use a pocket PC - I have tomtom on there for car use with all the speed camera databases etc. Also have ordnance survey maps on there which can be very useful for close in work. Map Point do excellent nautical charts and I even have aerial charts for the UK. Not only that but you can surf the net and read Ebooks whilst listening to MP3s.

The Mio is very good value at the moment with built in GPS - you can get waterproof cases for use on boats. Only thing to watch out for is some screens are much better than others for daylight viewing.

Thanks for suggestions I will investigate in the next few days then pull out mycredit card ! I am very tempted by Garmin as I use them alot in my other big hobby - planes. Virtually everything has garmin fitted as routine and the aviation vertions of the 276 are pretty impressive. The only draw back being the cost - I was stunned by the cost of the 276 & relavant charts & thought it was only anything aviation related that added several zeros to the cost !

I do carry a handheld just in case ( & VHF ) and pretty much in the solent if I still cant find where I am/ am going I probably shouldn't be let out on my own - if else fails turn north and wait till you see land ! ( I can manage this in pretty much most weather if I can see the sun and/or know the tiem ( for tide direction)!!

The only draw back being the cost - I was stunned by the cost of the 276 & relavant charts

Drop me a PM, I may well be able to help. :)

The Mio is very good value at the moment with built in GPS - you can get waterproof cases for use on boats. Only thing to watch out for is some screens are much better than others for daylight viewing.

This is the problem I found - with a Mio 168 PDA, the combination of small screen, waterproof case and bright sunlight made the screen unreadable.

This is the problem I found - with a Mio 168 PDA, the combination of small screen, waterproof case and bright sunlight made the screen unreadable.

The newer screens are a pain - especially the super bright ones - same goes for laptops. The better they look indoors the worse they are outside!!!

I have the Lowrance H2O as a back up.
As do I... and it shares Navionics charts with my built in LCX 25C... Plus you can move waypoint info back and forth on a card...

Have purchased 276 & installed today - very handy in about 40yards viz along Bournemouth seafront from hurst to Poole & cant see anything ! Many thanks to Malthouse for a great unit.

All of you plannig to run to Poole - fog didn't lift till 2.30 pm & really was very very thick.