Parallax,

One more to wade in here with nothing new....

A Garmin 48 can be had on E-bay for about 100$us. It is a very good
unit and (IMHO) easier to use than a 76.

You can load it with waypoints or just use the information, but it is
faster at start-up and more capable in bad conditions than most others.

If your slide rule siezes up, call me, I have a spare.

If you want to hook it to a computer - you can - either just to load
waypoints or use it with ploting software (the waypoint software is free
- go find Peter Bennette's site). I was once a coastal pilot, and when
I think about how hard I used to work just to know where I was..... I
still keep track on paper because that will work when the lights go out.

If you do go so far as to hook it to an autopilot (I did, I love it.) DO
NOT use aids to navigation as waypoints. You will "Hit The Mark" with
out considering tide, drift or windage.

Well, that is my .02$us. I set these things up for owners all the time.

Matt Colie A.Sloop "Bonne Ide'e" S2-7.9 #1
Lifelong Waterman, Licensed Mariner and Congenital Sailor

Parallax wrote:
Being a psuedo-Luddite who still has a slide rule (and knows how to
use it), I still use paper charts and think that navigation and
position plotting is aesthetically pretty, but I also admit to being a
geometry/trig geek. For the last 13 yrs, I have had a Loran that I
sometimes trust when it agrees with my plotting. I used to rely on a
"knotstik" to get my speed and then when I got the loran started using
its stated speed. Far from any recognizable markers or shore
features, I reluctantly rely on a Loran position but check it with
dead reckoning. I spose I just have a fetish about my hand compass.
I am planning to go to he Bahamas where Loran supposedly dont work so
am considering GPS but will still use my beloved paper charts so dont
need a chart plotter. All I really want is position and speed.
Waypoints just get me screwed up because I can never remember if I
really entered the correct coords last night or if those coords for
WP5 is for my last trip. Considering that my wants are few, which GPS
would be best? Do I get one that works off of the boat 12V? Do the
hand helds have that option as well as batteries? Most of the hand
helds look too much like my cell phone that I purposefully leave at
home. I have even been tempted to forego GPS completely but I spose
it is a safety thing. Any ideas?