I would like to hear some opinion's on the latest GPS's

I am about to purchase one, maybe the Garmin 72 or 76
It has to be able to plug into a Laptop.
I will be using it on a Cape Island style Lobster boat of 36' long. Won't be
going far this year but would like to travel down the Nova Scotia coastline
next year.

Thanks for your time

Gus

Will you be using it primarily with the laptop running software such
as The Cap'n? If so, maybe a better way to go is to get a more
accurate GPS with the money instead of an extra display you wouldn't
use much, like the Raystar 120 NMEA, which is a Satellite Differential
GPS receiver, NMEA output data, built right into the antenna pod.....

http://www.raymarine.com/raymarine/P...oduct _id=147

WAAS/GPS is so accurate if you waypoint a bouy you'll run right over
it. We're using the Raystar 120 SeaTalk for primary navigation with
the Raymarine SL70CRC Plus radar/chartplotter display and 2KW radar on
a ketch. Secondary GPS is a Garmin 185 with the chart plugs in it.
You can see the Garmin's inaccuracy from the radar's chart most any
time. For serious navigation in the fog, WAAS-GPS is the way to go,
now......3 meters worst case....usually much closer.



On Sat, 6 Sep 2003 09:32:44 -0300, "Duke-it"
wrote:

I would like to hear some opinion's on the latest GPS's

I am about to purchase one, maybe the Garmin 72 or 76
It has to be able to plug into a Laptop.
I will be using it on a Cape Island style Lobster boat of 36' long. Won't be
going far this year but would like to travel down the Nova Scotia coastline
next year.

Thanks for your time

Gus




Larry

Extremely intelligent life must exist in the universe.
You can tell because they never tried to contact us.

In article , Larry W4CSC wrote:
Will you be using it primarily with the laptop running software such
as The Cap'n? If so, maybe a better way to go is to get a more
accurate GPS with the money instead of an extra display you wouldn't
use much, like the Raystar 120 NMEA, which is a Satellite Differential
GPS receiver, NMEA output data, built right into the antenna pod.....

http://www.raymarine.com/raymarine/P...oduct _id=147

WAAS/GPS is so accurate if you waypoint a bouy you'll run right over
it. [... stuff deleted ... ]
For serious navigation in the fog, WAAS-GPS is the way to go,
now......3 meters worst case....usually much closer.

Forgive me for saying so, but I think this is crazy. For serious navigation
in the fog, a BRAIN is the way to go, backed up by whatever electronic
marvels may amuse you. But 3 meters vs 10 meters vs 50 meters shouldn't
matter.

Don't get me wrong ... I have a GPS, I love it, and I use it often.

But I cannot imagine putting myself and my boat into a situation where
I had to trust an electronic device for 3-meter position accuracy as a matter
of safety.

I maintain my boat fairly well, but I *have* screwed up once in a while. Back
when I first got it, I ran down the batteries because an alternator connection
worked loose .. and then my Loran (OK, it was sa while ago!) didn't help a lot
as I approached Portland ME with a fogbank rolling over me. My charts, on the
other hand, were pretty useful :-). And I've known my laptop to go sneakers-up
just because it happened to feel like it. So I try to be sure not to lure
myself into any situations where a dependence on electronic devices is
essential.

I know Maine isn't Nova Scotia, but there tend to be some pretty good approaches
to dealing with thick fog. One is to anchor: by the time the wind comes up,
the fog's often gone (and if your anchor doesn't reach the bottom, you're
probably in deep-enough water). Another is to shut down the engine, listen,
and think. Sometimes you can even hail another boat whose GPS *is* working
and ask for a position. But the saddest thing I see in Maine is the guy
swearing at himself, his wife, his boat, the electronics maker, and everyone
else, because without a collection of devices that are far more complex
than the ones that took astronauts to the moon, he can't get to the next
harbor.

So here's the dirty little confession about my GPS: I mostly have it read
lat/lon; I record the position in my logbook, and on the paper chart. Shocking
but true.

-John

If you think you will be doing all of your waypoints and navigation on your
laptop, you might consider using a GPS module. It is about half the size of
a pack of cigarettes, doesn't require a external antenna (unless your boat
has a metal cabin top). I use one and just double-back-tape it to the
overhead over the nav station.

Here is a eBay listing that give all the specs.
http://cgi.ebay.com/ws/eBayISAPI.dll...ategory=46 68

I still have a couple old Apelco handhelds but have found I seldom ever use
them.. The only time I find them useful is when I want to watch my progress
in the open sun of the cockpit where the laptop would 'wash out'.


--
My opinion and experience. FWIW

Steve
s/v Good Intentions

Thank you for all the info, time to do some reading......







"Duke-it" wrote in message
...
I would like to hear some opinion's on the latest GPS's

I am about to purchase one, maybe the Garmin 72 or 76
It has to be able to plug into a Laptop.
I will be using it on a Cape Island style Lobster boat of 36' long. Won't
be
going far this year but would like to travel down the Nova Scotia
coastline
next year.

Thanks for your time

Gus