Matt O'Toole wrote:
I had enough problems with previous versions of Nobletec to make me say
"enough is enough." The show-stopper was, the program would freeze
occasionally, completely freezing the computer. After shutdown and
rebooting, Nobletec would not run unless it was completely removed and
reinstalled. This happened about once a week.

It's a shame, because otherwise it was a pretty nice program. If only
they bothered to work out the bugs...

Matt O.

On Tue, 03 Apr 2007 15:39:40 -0600, sd.sded wrote:

Or maybe they dumped me? Has anyone else been faced with the problem
that Nobeltec VNS is unusable and downright destructive on a Vista
system-and that Microsoft has forced their vendors to only offer Vista
now on new computers. Nobeltec appears to be unique in the charting
software world by simply refusing to deal with it. Since it finally
bit me, I sent them the email below, although I don't really expect
anything from them. I use charting software for planning and
replanning trips, and had continued to use VNS for many years because
it has most features and I was comfortable with its foibles. Now
forced to go to Plan B. Just a warning to others using VNS.

Why I am dumping Nobeltec "I am a long time user of Nobeltec VNS since
the original Navtrek days. We are currently in Mexico, preparing to go
back to California. Have been using VNS 8 under Windows XP, with only
some minor glitches (like unable to download routes and waypoints from
a Raymarine). Had a computer die, only replacements available run
Vista OS. Nobeltec does not run at all under Vista-most of your
competitors do. Tried installing, got error messages. When I removed
it completely, it took a lot of other (non-Nobeltec) programs with it,
so I had t spend time reconstructing stuff. Ordered a copy of Maptech
Chart Navigator Pro (Vista compatible), which someone will carry from
the states to me. In the interim, using a free program called
SeaClear, which works fine under Vista, processes AIS, but lacks the
planning tools of the majors. Things like OziExplorer, Fugawi, etc.
Also run fine under Vista. Nobeltec abandoned us in Mexico, so time to
find someone else. If you still have your support files, you will find
this is not the first major support issue I have had with Nobeltec.
Fool me once, shame on you; fool me twice, ... "

I've been running Nobeltec since before it was Nobeltec. It was
originally Chart View until It was bought out. I have run versions 4 to
the current version 9 and haven't had it freeze up my computer. I run
Windows 2000 NT Professional OS.

Matt O'Toole wrote:

I had enough problems with previous versions of Nobletec to make me say
"enough is enough." The show-stopper was, the program would freeze
occasionally, completely freezing the computer. After shutdown and
rebooting, Nobletec would not run unless it was completely removed and
reinstalled. This happened about once a week.

It's a shame, because otherwise it was a pretty nice program. If only
they bothered to work out the bugs...

Matt O.

I don't have a boat or use a navigation software full time but I've
twice loaded the trial version of Rose Point's Coastal Navigator and I
really liked that software. It is very easy to master in use and does a
very good job with the NOAA free charting, both vector and raster. It
is worth taking a look at.

I had a couple of experiences with other people's installs of it it was
troublesome to say the least. On one, we spent most of the time using
my Garmin handheld to cover the lapses in the primary navigation system
and making sure it was on track and doing good.

In the meantime, SeaClear II is arguably the best freeware navigation
software in the world, a truly generous donation to the public domain.

Jack

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

I don't have a boat or use a navigation software full time but I've
twice loaded the trial version of Rose Point's Coastal Navigator and I
really liked that software. It is very easy to master in use and does a
very good job with the NOAA free charting, both vector and raster. It
is worth taking a look at.

Maptech private labels this and resells it with a dozen US waters DVDs
(maps, pix, depths, info) and calls it "Chart Navigator Pro". I picked it
up for $350 online. An *excellent* package and quite a bargain since it
includes nearly all US navigable waters.

In the meantime, SeaClear II is arguably the best freeware navigation
software in the world, a truly generous donation to the public domain.

SeaClear is worth the price paid; ie nothing. It's just nowhere near
friendly to use. My time is worth more than the hassles of using it.

On Thu, 05 Apr 2007 18:35:29 -0500, Jack Erbes wrote:

Matt O'Toole wrote:

I had enough problems with previous versions of Nobletec to make me say
"enough is enough." The show-stopper was, the program would freeze
occasionally, completely freezing the computer. After shutdown and
rebooting, Nobletec would not run unless it was completely removed and
reinstalled. This happened about once a week.

It's a shame, because otherwise it was a pretty nice program. If only
they bothered to work out the bugs...

Matt O.

I don't have a boat or use a navigation software full time but I've
twice loaded the trial version of Rose Point's Coastal Navigator and I
really liked that software. It is very easy to master in use and does a
very good job with the NOAA free charting, both vector and raster. It
is worth taking a look at.

I had a couple of experiences with other people's installs of it it was
troublesome to say the least. On one, we spent most of the time using
my Garmin handheld to cover the lapses in the primary navigation system
and making sure it was on track and doing good.

In the meantime, SeaClear II is arguably the best freeware navigation
software in the world, a truly generous donation to the public domain.

I've used all the major brands -- Nobletec, Maptech, The Cap'n, and one or
two others, and several versions of each. The owner of the boat I sail on
was Maptech customer #3 (mid-80s), and is always looking for the latest,
easiest setup. Of all this software, the easiest to use, most
useful, and most reliable has been Maptech 1.0 for DOS. We still have it
and use it occasionally, when our current setup is acting up. (Now we use
Pocket Navigator on an iPaq.)

I've been tempted to write reviews of all this stuff, but I've never
gotten around to it. Since we've started using Pocket Navigator, which
we've been pretty happy with, a lot of the other brands have improved
their software a lot, plus new things have come out. So I'm not really up
to speed on what's come out in the last 3-4 years. I'd like to try some
of the new stuff, but we're happy with what we're using now.

Back to Nobletec, every other user I know has had problems similar
to mine. That's a bunch of folks -- at one point Nobletec had about 50%
market share. To be fair, all the other programs have glitches that
are as annoying as Nobletec's bugs.

I'd really like to see nav software written for something other than
Windows -- Linux, MacOS, etc.

Matt O.