Garmin 178c chartplotter

Paul · 13 March 2006, 19:06

Our new boat is coming with a Garmin 178c plotter flush mounted on the boat console. Is there any way of planning routes at home on my PC and then transferring them to the chartplotter or will they need to be manually entered on the boat?

roycruse · 13 March 2006, 19:28

You will need to buy charts for your chartplotter anyway. If you are planning to use just the base maps then its kindo of similar to buying a car and not putting tyres on it. a waste of money.

around £100 will get you a pre programmed datacard (less if you buy second hand) If you go down the pre programmed route then you cannot do your planning on your PC.

If you want to plan on your PC you need to buy mapsource Bluechart CD-ROM, a garmin datacard programmer and a blank data card. (suggest about 32MB but 16 will do for a couple of maps). This will obviously set you back alot more money but you can then load up[ your blank card with the maps of your area - then when you want to do some route planning take the card into the house plan your route using the map source software then when youve done it save it to the card. You can even create the route first and the software will automatically put the necessary charts on the card for the route youve planned.

there are other options that are not strictly legal but will still envolve purchasing a card programmer and a card reader and at least a pre prgrammed card as well and buy the time you have bought those you may aswell go legit and get an official mapsource CD with an unlock code.

If you need anymore info just Ask as i have gone through all this the hard way my self with the exact same plotter... (its a great little unit by the way - good choice)

Paul · 13 March 2006, 19:35

Thankyou. Any ideas how much it will cost to go the latter route and if I don't is it easy to plan routes on the boat itself?

roycruse · 13 March 2006, 19:46

Yes its quite easy to plan the route on the boat using the plotter but no where near as quick - you have to scroll around the chart with the arrow keys instead of the mouse and its a real pain naming the waypoints with the arrows instead of your pc's keyboard. not to mention if the weather is not nice you have to be sat on your boat typically at night the day before you go in the cold in your driveway.

Theres a programmer and 128MB card going on ebay now - not many bids on it yet. I got mine for about £60 for the a similar thing - you might get lucky http://cgi.ebay.co.uk/ws/eBayISAPI.d...ADME:B:EF:UK:1

The bluechart software will set you back between £100 from ebay to around £140 from a uk retailer. Do a google search for "Atlantic Bluechart" version 7.5 is the latest release...

Paul · 13 March 2006, 19:48

Thanks. I think I will start bidding

roycruse · 13 March 2006, 19:53

ahhhhh - dont bid - all you will do is push the price up.

know what you are prepared to pay and wait until the auction has about 20 or 30 seconds left to go...

then put in a bid for the max amount you will pay - ebay will automatically only bid the lowest amount to win the auction.

this way you dont give anyone any chance to outbid you.

this is now unfortunately common practise on ebay and has been coined "sniping"

if you dont join the snipers they will beat you everytime.

DJL · 13 March 2006, 19:55

Quote:

Originally Posted by roycruse

..version 7.5 is the latest release...

Version 8 is now shipping.

http://www.garmin.com/unlock/update.jsp

roycruse · 13 March 2006, 19:57

also - one more thing - if you are buying Atlantic blue chart on eBay - watch out for second hand as you are only allowed to unlock 2 devices.

and also watch out for upgrades being disguised as the full product. I'm sure a few have been caught by that - search the page for the word upgrade in case its in tiny writing somewhere.

Hugh Jardon · 15 March 2006, 18:45

nice to see we use the same tactics, i look forward to jousting on an item we are both interested in, my record is bidding with 1 s to go, bit risky!

Quote:

Originally Posted by roycruse

ahhhhh - dont bid - all you will do is push the price up.

know what you are prepared to pay and wait until the auction has about 20 or 30 seconds left to go...

then put in a bid for the max amount you will pay - ebay will automatically only bid the lowest amount to win the auction.

this way you dont give anyone any chance to outbid you.

this is now unfortunately common practise on ebay and has been coined "sniping"

if you dont join the snipers they will beat you everytime.

jwalker · 15 March 2006, 23:13

Quote:

Originally Posted by roycruse

also - one more thing - if you are buying Atlantic blue chart on eBay - watch out for second hand as you are only allowed to unlock 2 devices.

Are you sure about that, roycruse. I have never registered my bluechart software. It is the unlock code for a chart region that is registered and this is limited to be registered for use in two units.

roycruse · 15 March 2006, 23:40

Quote:

Originally Posted by jwalker

Are you sure about that, roycruse. I have never registered my bluechart software. It is the unlock code for a chart region that is registered and this is limited to be registered for use in two units.

err - I'm confused - its sounds like you are saying the same as me

perhaps my terminolgy was bad. ill be plainer...

as I understand it...

mapsourse is the software - it can be installed on a pc with no code of any kind.

the blue charts can also be installed on a pc but to make them visible on you pc you need a 25 digit unlock code. this unlock code is the same one that is needed for your gps device. however unlike your gps - your pc ca use any unlock code. so if you know a kind chap he can copy you a mapsource cd with charts - and if he's even kinder he will let you have his code which will enable you to use the charts on your pc.

the gps units howerever are a different story. you get a 25 digit unlock code by giving garmin a 7 or 8 digit product code that comes with your disc and your device id that you get fron your gps they then give you the 25 digit unlock code - this code will only allow th use of the maps on that one device. you are allowed to unlock one more device with the same 7 or 8 digit product code but then that it.

what I was warning of was that if someone is selling second hand software they may (probably will have) allready unlocked one device - or maybe even 2 and whilst you will be able to use the maps on your pc - you will not be able to download onto your plotter or at best only to one plotter. not much use if 3 weeks later your plotter packs up and you get a warrenty replacement...

jwalker · 16 March 2006, 00:10

Quote:

Originally Posted by roycruse

...7 or 8 digit product code that comes with your disc...

There must be, or have been, different ways of getting the coupon code cos I bought my first one. Ebay buyer beware, then.

Certainly, with my Garmin Navtalk phones, the software came with the unlock code in the box and no registration was necessary. I have registered at Garmin using the unlock code and was allowed a second unlock code which I used for my GPS 76.

Edit:

Quote:

... you are allowed to unlock one more device with the same 7 or 8 digit product code but then that it.

That's not how it worked for me. The coupon code was registered and it then became my Garmin Customer Code after which I was allowed my first unlock code. For the subsequent unlock code, I referenced to the previous unlock code region so they became an associated pair. For unlocking update Blue Charts, I purchased a new unlock code at a slightly reduced price directly from the Garmin web site. This new unlock code will also allow me a second free unlock code.

DGR · 16 March 2006, 11:28

The other advantage of having a seperate datacard and reader is that you can easily upgrade the firmware on the GPS itself - if you register your device with Garmin they send out a link to any updated software as it is released. You download it to the card - stick it in the GPSMAP unit, and it auto updates the firmware!! Easy.

I've had 5 or 6 updates in the last 18 months by this route. Very simple and easy. I'm not sure how you would do it any other way.

Dylan...

cleverdim · 26 March 2006, 09:30

Good morning,
Can you please tell me what type of card is the Garmin bluechart data card and if is possible that I can buy a USB programmer and data card from another shop and not from Garmin as they are much cheaper?
Thank you

roycruse · 26 March 2006, 09:45

Get one from ebay - loads of cards (someone has started making compatible ones now)

no programmers at the moment but they are always popping up...