In article ,
Marc Auslander wrote:

Harlan Lachman writes:

What are the experts thoughts on differences between the buttons on the
478 versus the touch screen of the 640? According to the West Marine guy
I talked with, the 640 has to be put in its huge base to be charged and
the huge back would seem to make it less portable than the 276.

I have not seen a 478 and would have to order one blind although one
might be available for several hundred dollars less.


I own a 478. The charts include full information
on marks - including their designations. The unit is portable but not
pocketable. The charging cord plugs into the unit directly. It
doesn't have a "base". It does come with two mounts, one of which I
use in my car, and the other I've rigged so I can mount the unit under
my dodger when sailing. It is battery powered, and runs a number of
hours on battery. Battery is built in and rechargeable.
In the car, I don't normally plug it in at all.

IIRC, when you get it, you get to load one set of detailed marine
charts. I don't really remember the details - check the Garmin web site.

It has reasonable auto support - including route computations and
voice.

The button controls work well, as far as I'm concerned.

Thanks for a response Marc.

h