"NE Sailboat" wrote in message
news:qUEPh.722$IY4.646@trndny03...
Wilbur ,,, the Andy Rooney of boating ..

I looked at the Lowrance H2O.. I can get one fairly cheap..

What about the software? I couldn't seem to figure out the software.

Is this like Garmin ,, buy the unit and then buy the chart software ..
Garmin calls it Blue Chart of something.

Does the Lowrance come with the charting installed?

Tell me about the chart software..


The unit comes with a built in world map but it has very little detail.
For serious navigation you should get the detailed maps which are stored
on little secure digital chips.

You can buy a blank or full secure digital chips that slip into the
secure digital chip slot in the battery compartment. The Nautic-Path
secure digital chip (NP-USA 108-129) has detailed charts of the entire
U.S. coastline, Great Lakes, Bahamas, Hawaii and Alaska. Here's the
link: http://www.lowrance.com/Products/Map...th/default.asp
You can see the detailed coverage area in blue. It's quite extensive.
The charts have tide tables and graphs, marinas and other points of
interest, nav aids, contour lines - the works. The unit also can use the
Navionics secure digital chart chips which some people like better. You
can also get a secure digital card burner that connects to your computer
via USB and you can make your own custom secure digital cards. You can
also by highway map secure digital cards. See Map Create link on the
left on the above web page.

That should give you some idea of what's going on.

Wilbur Hubbard