What type of GPS for the new boat?

[simmons0]

Im very close to orderign a new prosport now. Just thinking about all the electronics ill need.
Mainly about the GPS/Plotter.

It doesnt get used much so im a little wary of people stealing it from the console. I definatly dont want a handheld unit so ive gotta decide between a detachable unit or a properly fixed one.
Any suggestions?

[Steve Care]

With my new avon I'm having a Plastimo 5500i colour put in the console which seems a good deal
Can be surface or dash mounted.

[peteb]

Look at the Garmin 176, They have the colour as well which is the 176C which I have. This unit fits to a bracket and is very easily removed when you leave the boat, you can also get a cheap bracket to use it in your car with the road maps loaded, I use this option in my 4x4 and find it great. The unit uses the Garmin Blue charts, full details and costs of the charts are shown on their website. The good thinga bout the latest Blue Chart produced is that one chart covers from the Thames right around the South Coast, some charts do not give as much coverage which means buying yet another. The areas are also shown on the website, but remember you have to buy the chart on top of the purchase price. I have used both B&W and colour, I upgraded to the colour and find it brilliant for my needs. You can use it in a 12v socket or wire it directly into your power and DSC radio which I have, you then unplug the cable when you remove it.

I am sure there are othe good units about but the flexibility of this was the deciding factor for me.

Good hunting.

[simmons0]

Well, having had a quick search throuhg the internet im pretty well decided on a GPSmap 176.

However, the unit itself is very expensive(for me) and the Bluechart cards are another £200+

I really dont know much about these units so bear with me.

Will they work without a Bluechart card?
If so what will/wont they do?

[Andre]

I have the garmin 176C and it will work without the Bluechart chip . I got mine from www.thegpsstore.com in the US . Much cheaper then the same from a UK retailer. The only snag is that the base map is the USA whereas a unit bought over here will have Europe as the base map. If you however want to use it with a bluechart then it doesn't matter. I have since purchased the bluechart chip of the English channel and it is a great navigation tool.

look up the web site and see what savings you can make even having to pay from the DHL and UK VAT

Andre

[simmons0]

After paying for the unit itself i will not have money left over to by a blue chart chip, So i'll have to buy in England.

Anyone know where i can get one? At a half decent price, the ones ive found so far have all been nearly twice the American price

[Michael]

Go to the Boat Show in London in Jan, but do some research into prices/specs first so you can decide whether to buy there or not.

Do you really need a chart plotter? If you are not going far offshore a GPS will probably do until you want to upgrade.

Good prices at www.redcar-fish.co.uk

Mike

[simmons0]

Ill talk to Jason at Prosport when i go to visit in a weeks time.
Redcar-fish are £30 more expensive than another company ive found so i may order from them or see if Jason can get them cheaper.

The prices are coming down to quickly though i might be right, but a cheap GPS and use that untill we feel the need to upgrade to a ChartPlotter and then keep the original GPS as backup. Might be the best solution.

We will need a new radio too. Is it worth going DSC now or waiting untill the prices (hopefully) come down on them too?

[Michael]

GPS first then plotter later sounds like the best option.

All new fixed VHF are DSC compatible - you can add a DSC module later. I have the Icom M401 Euro - good product. (There are some full DSC models but they cost more).

Re Redcar - give John a call. He knows his stuff and will usually meet your price. Its useful to deal with someone who can help with advice etc as well as offer good prices.

(No, he's not a relative, but he did give me a very good deal plus good advice when I was kitting out my boat).


Mike

[peteb]

IMHO go DSC now, they are so cheap it's hardly worth bothering with the old ones. You should get one for £189 or even cheaper at LBS.

With regrads to the Chartplotter, I find mine invaluable when NOT going too far off shore, you get so much vital info on the coast it could save you a prop or two. I have also found it invaluable in the dark having navigated by it quite a few times now. I will be in the States in a few weeks time if you know what I mean, should you require any help.

[simmons0]

As soon as ive spoken to Jason at Prosport it give the guy at RedCar a ring.
I think all this money youve saved me means i can have a CD player and waterproof speakers in the boat!

[simmons0]

There are a lot of DSC units going for under £200 but not that many of them are up to the abuse the recieve on a rib.

Which radio are you using Peteb

[peteb]

Nasa SX35, nice bit of kit for the money, see www.allgadgets.co.uk under £190 I think.

[simmons0]

looks nice but this is a bit suspect:

In general waterproof to CFR-46.

I have no idea what that is but what does "In general" mean?
Thats the only problem with sets like that. On a rib it will get wet. Ill get a lil screen though so wont be too bad.

Oh btw, its on sale at £187.99 Sounds like a bit of a deal to me if you've got somewhere dry to put it

[peteb]

I have seen that www.allgadgets.co.uk are doing the Garmin Blue Charts for £149 ish, don't know if that is cheap or not, but you get the charts for most of the South Coast up and around to the end of the Thames on one disc. BEWARE that you may have to buy another memory chip to hold all the data, that COULD be an additional cost, so a couple of questions required there. Garmin UK are brilliant and will help you with all you need to know.

[simmons0]

are those the Garmin Blue large charts or the small ones?
The large ones cover the whole south coast inc. London and northern France, The small ones are about that price normally and cover a tiny area in comparison.

I belive that the memory chips are for when you buy the Bluecharts on CD and use a computer to transfer them to a memory chip that goes into the Plotter. Correct me if im wrong, i need to find all this out.

[peteb]

This MAY help :-

USCG CFR-46

USCG CFR-46 refers to the Coast Guard definition for waterproof, this is not a Coast Guard requirement.

The Coast Guard definition is found in 46 CFR 110.15-1(b)19, which states that a "Waterproof machine means a totally enclosed machine so constructed that a stream of water from a hose with a nozzle one inch in diameter that delivers at least 65 gallons per minute can be played on the machine from any direction from a distance of about 10 feet for a period of not less than 5 minutes without leakage...". A similar description applied to watertight.

International Maritime Organization (IMO) Resolution A.605(15), referring to VHF hand-helds used in survival craft, describes water-tight requirements as "The equipment should be watertight to a depth of 1 meter for at least 5 minutes", and that it should "maintain watertightness when subjected to a thermal shock of 45 degrees C under conditions of immersion."

[simmons0]

But it says, "In general", which bit isnt water proof?

[peteb]

There is no big or small, all one size I'm afraid (unless you have a bigger plotter :-) )

You can either buy the chart on a pre programmed chip or on a CD that is put on your computer and transferred onto the memory in your unit. I am not too sure of the memory requirement of the whole of the South coast chart, but I am certain it will NOT fit on the chip suppied with the unit (if one is supplied), or on the internal memory. I have a selection of chips all various sizes so can't remember what is required for the South coast. Speak to Garmin on Monday, tell them the unit you fancy getting and they will tell you exactly which size chip you need.

NOW if you get the pre programmed chip, you can only view the data on the PC but NOT transfer any data whatsoever to the PC. IF you get the CD and download it onto the unit you can view routes and set wayponits on the PC BUT for waypoints the unit MUST be directly connected to the PC. I say this as you can get a chip reader which connects by USB but you CANNOT set waypoints into the chip within this, it MUST be connected directly to the unit. The card readers are quite expensive, I had a problem as my PC does not have the 9 pin connection required by the Unit connectivity kit, only a USB, I therefore had to get a 9 pin to USB convertor from Garmin at a stupid price (because others do not work), but that did not work due to a clash with some synchronising programme for my PDA running in the background on my Sony Vaio desktop. I can only connect my unit via the USB convertor to my Sony Vaio Laptop, carzy I know, but I spent hours and hours trying to resolve that, but no joy. I therefore have to set all my waypoints e.t.c. via the laptop.

[peteb]

Well I am NOT going to chuck buckets of water over mine for you to find out :-)