well I don't mind spending a few bucks for a good new unit and mainly only
want it for on the boat.
"derbyrm" wrote in message
m...
How much do you want to spend? New (or factory refurbished), waterproof
units from Garmin (a good vendor) run from $65 up. I have several Garmins
and a couple of the "wall wort" type that plug into a PDA or PC. My pride
and joy cost $1500 but that was because I wanted the aviation database and
features as well as marine and automotive navigation with voice prompts in
the car. With only the automobile feature, it drops to about $600. A
panel mounted unit certified for approaches by the FAA costs MANY
thousands of dollars plus regularly recurring costs for keeping the
database current.

(The wall wort types can leave you feeling as though you've been captured
by a giant spider. Cables everywhere and do you really want to leave your
laptop on the car seat while visiting your local pub?)

They all show lat/long, track and SOG, a trail of breadcrumbs and at least
some user specified waypoints. Accuracy without WAAS is about 15 feet at
most times while driving using only the attached antenna which is looking
thru the sun roof and windshield. (The external antenna didn't improve
things as far as I could tell.)

Roger

http://home.insightbb.com/~derbyrm

"Chi Chi" wrote in message
. ..
So what is a good gps unit to purchase?

"derbyrm" wrote in message
m...
Ref. Q2 A cheap GPS unit will give your speed over the ground more
accurately than any paddlewheel. That gives you water speed and
requires you to know currents and tidal flow, assuming you're interested
in navigation. Yes, GPS technology has improved in the last 12 years
(more channels, better sensitivity, and, for a lot more bucks, better
databases).

Depth is good. New mono-chrome fishfinders seem to be in the $100
range. More for color.

I've got a basement full of obsolete electronic stuff. It isn't worth
fixing.

Roger

http://home.insightbb.com/~derbyrm

"Skip Gundlach" wrote in message
oups.com...
Well, after our 2.5 years ashore, along with several other instruments,
much to my disgust, this unit's display has gone Tango Uniform (along
with several of the buttons), with the LCD screen severely compromised
for viewing. The transducer, of course, is virtually useless to
anything other than a single Raymarine depth (only) sounder, as it's
low power and the current gear would fry it.

Speed (paddlewheel), depth, contour bottom, and temperature are
included in that transducer, which is a 2 O-ring sealing removable
unit; there's a plug if I'd want to remove it for cleaning or the
winter (if I were doing something other than what we are, which is
going to the caribbean full-time).

If I replace it, of course, the existing hole would be a great deal
easier than hauling, tearing out the old one, and starting over. The
plug is 1.04, and the uncompressed O-rings 1.08, and there's an
alignment pin at the top, which has a screw-top for final fit and
security; the removal is facilitated by a D-ring bail.

So, two questions (maybe 3):

1: Does anyone know of good sources for NOS or good used gear where I
might find another display? Ironically, in all the eBay listings, the
only ones which showed up were 3, all sold in the last couple of weeks,
before we found the defect. Nothing current, nothing before in the
sold listings.

2: Does anyone know what fishfinder transducers would take that
receiver, if I replace it altogether? Related, has technology
progressed, yet, to the point where speed sensors don't require moving
parts?

3: This is minimum 12 year old technology. However, functional
replacements seem to run somewhere between 3 and 12 hundred dollars, so
if it can be repaired reasonably, I'm up for that option, as we don't
really need all the bells and whistles, our boat not being a primarily
fishing vessel :{)) Knowing how fast we're going, and how deep it is,
on one unit, is handy, but that's the primary usage. Bottom contour is
interesting, but for the most part, we'll be able to look over the side
and see that, so it's not very critical.

TIA for any help...

L8R

Skip

Morgan 461 #2
SV Flying Pig KI4MPC
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