Guy wrote:

snip
Based on that, I am interested in the groups experience with the
current crop of handheld GPS offerings and what features were great and
which disappointed. I would love to hear your raves about how happy you
are with brand X, but please let's not get into cartoon characters
urinating on a brand because Chevy is better than Ford, is better than
Dodge, is better than ...

I do occasional boat deliveries in the Northeastern U.S. I have a
Meridian Color and the optional MapSend BlueNav charting package. That
travels with me as a backup navigation system to the equipment that is
on the boats. It also has on it, all the routes and waypoints I use
regularly.

The BlueNav package gives me 80-odd "charts" covering the U.S. Great
lakes, the East, Gulf, and West coasts, and down through the Bahamas.

What is called a "chart" on BlueNav is actually a Navionics "Small"
chart region. Each region contains a number of charts of various scales
and charts for many ports and harbors in that region. So I actually
have hundreds of charts.

To get a feel for the charting, look at the 6xx and 7xx series regions
here and you can get a feel for the size of the BlueNav regions:

http://www.navionics.com/Charts.asp?...&ChartSizeID=1

The BlueNav package comes with a desktop application for navigation
planning, that can be used to place waypoints and build routes. The
routes and waypoints can then be uploaded to the Meridian.

So this gives me a good navigation capability. I can get on a boat with
that and a chartbook and, with no other navigation equipment, find my
way around.

As a warning, the process Magellan has to use to protect the chart data
from illegal copying and distribution makes using the charts somewhat
less than a "no brainer" if you are going to be crossing two or three
regions in one day or if you are operating on the boundary between two
adjacent regions. But it is manageable enough and certainly better than
not having the charts.

I also use some other PC software (SeaClear II, a great! freeware) and a
GPS utility named GPS Utility (free to try, nominal cost to buy) to
handle my interactions between SeaClear, the Meridian and other software
packages. Those let me archive, edit, and manipulate tracks, waypoints,
and routes to my heart's content.

Garmin has comparable offerings in both hardware and software that I
have not used, I assume those will do about the same things to about the
same level of satisfaction as the Magellan stuff.

If anyone that does not own both brands of hardware and software tells
you that either one is better than the other, don't believe them. It
boils down to user preferences and perceptions and the dreaded "I bought
it, so it has to be best" syndrome can be very misleading.

If I were going to buy a new handheld today, I would give the Magellan
eXplorist XL serious consideration because it has a larger display than
my Meridian, can use the software I already own, and uses a very similar
menu system.

I would also look at the offerings from other companies and drop by West
Marine or somewhere like that to see what else is on the market.

Jack

--
Jack Erbes in Ellsworth, Maine, USA - jackerbes at adelphia dot net
(also receiving email at jacker at midmaine.com)