Jeff wrote:
This weekend I installed a new GPS on the boat - a Garmin GPSMAP 545.
This is the first new GPS I've had in 10 years - the old one is a
GPSMAP 175, a handheld mapper that relies on obsolete chart chips.

The new machine is awesome! Bright, crisp 480x640 color display, all US
charts built in, fast processor. The problem I have is that the
software seem a bit brain-dead compared to my old unit. I wasn't that
surprised that it had very few configuration options - the old 175
actually too many. But I was rather dismayed at the lack of
functionality with Routes.
First of all, it only holds 20 Routes. This is not a big problem, but
still rather surprising. But then I discovered that Routes are not
reversible, meaning that I would have to enter two routes for every
commonly used path.

That is kind of bizarre. Sounds like they convened a software design
group that was comprised of all the better corn farmers in the Olathe,
KS area.

My old GPSMAP 188 (and my newer 76Cx handheld) will do 50 routes with up
to 50 waypoints each. The 188 has 50 routes with 50 waypoints and a
3,000 waypoint max. The "newer and better is less capable and dumber"
concept is getting more pervasive at Garmin all the time.

On my 188, to reverse a route you use NAV to look at the route list,
select one and choose Activate or Invert and Activate. And I think that
is the way your 175 worked too, no? But you can't do that on the 545?

And while editing I discovered that this is quite
limited - it was impossible to add a waypoint to the end of a route! And
finally, this is no "table display" that shows a list of the waypoints
along the route, with useful bits of information like distance, time,
heading, etc.

Wow, that is another major omission.

I looked at the online manual for that and it says the BlueChart data is
stored in main memory and that User Data (waypoints, routes, and tracks)
can be transferred to and from the SD card. If you got a copy of the
MapSource Trip & Waypoint Manager with that, maybe that would be an
option for editing and reversing routes. But that would not give you
any marine details unless you had BlueChart on the PC too.

I use BlueChart from a microSD card on my 76Cx and that works well and
has all the route building and editing features built into it. I
elected to buy BlueChart on a DVD for that and is loaded to the card
from a MapSource install on a PC. But it does not look like having and
using the charts on the PC is an option for the 545.

Garmin quit shipping DVDs with the mapping data along with the newer
preloaded automobile units. So some owners noticed that they could not
plan routes on a PC and upload them because they did not have the
MapSource install and map data on the PC. Garmin solved that for the
owners that called and asked for it by sending them the MapSource DVD
that had the same mapping as was preloaded.

You might try calling Garmin support 1 800 800 1020 and seeing if there
is a similar option for you.

Frankly, I can live with the limitations, but I can't help but wonder
why they took a major step backwards in this area. Am I missing
something? Is there a magic button the opens up the functionality, or
some option I have to buy? Or do they think Routes are a bad function
they would prefer to phase out?

Garmin appears to be severely deficient in the area of designing
software for their GPS receivers. I don't know if they are as clueless
as it appears about how their units are used but my impression is that
there few knowledgeable people involved in the designs and that there is
little or no interface or dialog with the real world on their products.

To not be able to build, reverse, edit, and modify routes from the GPS
receiver on the water is not only silly and very limiting, it can be
dangerous.

My 76Cx does an okay job on the water as far as navigating the routes
but it has some quirks that make it less adept in that environment than
the old Magellan Meridian that it replaced was.

Jack

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