"Bill Kearney" wrote:

Anyway, it's less brainwork for me to treat it like a paper chart than to
constantly remind myself that it is reorienting. I'm sure it's different
for others and there's nothing wrong with using heading or course up

I agree. I find N-up preferrable, both on the water and in the car. The
wife likes Heading-up. Both systems allow easily making the swap.

For radar I only use Heading-up as it would be a bit more 'brainwork' to
make sense of it when in conditions that really required using radar. And
even in those situations I generally still keep a N-up chart visible in a
split screen view.

If I had to guess I'd say it has a lot to do with how people learn to
navigate. If you've spent a lot of time plotting courses using N-up maps
I'd think it would certainly affect your choice for chartplotter displays.

We don't have a chart plotter. We do have a radar (which we use) and
computer charts.

Bob certainly learned to navigate planes and boats before much
electronics was available, and I always set the computer charts course
up for him. If it isn't course up, he complains. I don't like it
either, although I started out with electronic charts on the computer
and not back in the dark ages when he did.

If it was just me and other people's wives, I would say that it was a
sex linked thing because on land, men often remember routes and women
remember landmarks. Bob absolutely can't understand how I can look up
and know that I'm on Route 301, but not know whether I need to turn
right or left to get to where I want to go.

I also cannot switch between wheel and tiller. Since our boat has a
wheel, I refuse to take the helm on a boat with a tiller as it will
mix me up. I can't steer by the compass either. Must be a glitch in
my brain.

I wouldn't call either method right or wrong. It's a matter of personal
taste and if one mode allows you to navigate more reliably then, by all
means, stick with using it.