Is a GPS map like the Garmin 176C a good alternative to carrying NOAA maps?
I live in the Chesapeake and would like to not have to carry large maps
around with me.

Worth the expense if I have the money?

David

C-Map EPROMS have a few inherent problems......

1 - What do you do if the unit or batteries fail? No chart to
plot.....Not good...

2 - You can't draw on a C-Map plug the location of that new sandbar
you found 500 milliseconds after the keel did. I suppose you could
put a few waypoints around it, though.....

3 - The damned things are like the paper chart, though, in that they
are way too expensive to update often.....(see 2).

4 - You can scan your buddy's C-Map plug into your laptop like you can
that new chart he got. Oops....we're not supposed to scan in the
charts WE paid to draw, are we. I've given away a secret...damn.

Yeomans work really neat with your GPS on that paper chart:
http://www.yeomanuk.com/home/index2.htm
It's as accurate as the width of your pencil lead.......even from a
cheap GPS.



On Fri, 17 Oct 2003 19:38:46 -0400, "David Ditch"
wrote:

Is a GPS map like the Garmin 176C a good alternative to carrying NOAA maps?
I live in the Chesapeake and would like to not have to carry large maps
around with me.

Worth the expense if I have the money?

David




Larry W4CSC

US Supports Apartheid! Vetoes UN resolution
condemning Apartheid Wall.
http://www.antiwar.com/hacohen/h052103.html
http://www.theage.com.au/articles/20...917478560.html
Can apartheid at home be far away?....
Apartheid NOW! Wall off Mississippi!

On Fri, 17 Oct 2003 19:38:46 -0400, "David Ditch"
wrote:

Is a GPS map like the Garmin 176C a good alternative to carrying NOAA maps?
I live in the Chesapeake and would like to not have to carry large maps
around with me.

I would say No.

I use BSB-format charts on a PC, and still want to have paper charts -
you can see a lot larger area on a paper chart than you can on a
computer screen - and the computer screen is much larger than the
screen on most GPS chart plotters.


--
Peter Bennett, VE7CEI
new newsgroup users info : http://vancouver-webpages.com/nnq
GPS and NMEA info: http://vancouver-webpages.com/peter
Vancouver Power Squadron: http://vancouver.powersquadron.ca

Keeping paper charts as a backup is a must. Electronic devices
can and will fail. Raster charts are just scanned paper charts so the
accuracy is pretty much identical. Keeping them both updated is
a chore. Vector charts (like CMAP) are digitized from those same
paper charts so the accuracy is also affected by the digitization
process. Our CMAP charts showed us going over land a few times
on the ICW and especially in the Bahamas. All in all, the convenience
of the electronic chart at the helm was very valuable. We would have
run aground quite a bit more often if we were using paper charts simply
because the immedeate feedback of having an electronic chart right in
front of us when at the helm is hard to beat. In our case the device is
a NAVMAN 5500.

Doug
s/v Callista

"David Ditch" wrote in message
...
Is a GPS map like the Garmin 176C a good alternative to carrying NOAA
maps?
I live in the Chesapeake and would like to not have to carry large maps
around with me.

Worth the expense if I have the money?

David

On Sat, 18 Oct 2003 02:38:16 GMT, (Larry W4CSC) wrote:


2 - You can't draw on a C-Map plug the location of that new sandbar
you found 500 milliseconds after the keel did. I suppose you could
put a few waypoints around it, though.....



You can do that without a C-Map chart. On an ordinary Garmin you can
move the cursor to the cusp on the dotted trail line and make that a
waypoint ("BAD1, BAD2, etc."). Then you don't go there again. DAMHIKT.


Rodney Myrvaagnes Opionated old geezer

Faith-based economics: It's deja voodoo all over again

I'm with Doug on all points. I still carry paper charts and probably
from old habits hard to die mold, a sextant etc as well. The charting
program I use plots sights etc so I incorporate both. Change is
happening though. Once the sextant and paper charts were first out but
now they have become the backup.
Regards - Fitzy

"Doug Dotson" wrote in message ...
Keeping paper charts as a backup is a must. Electronic devices
can and will fail. Raster charts are just scanned paper charts so the
accuracy is pretty much identical. Keeping them both updated is
a chore. Vector charts (like CMAP) are digitized from those same
paper charts so the accuracy is also affected by the digitization
process. Our CMAP charts showed us going over land a few times
on the ICW and especially in the Bahamas. All in all, the convenience
of the electronic chart at the helm was very valuable. We would have
run aground quite a bit more often if we were using paper charts simply
because the immedeate feedback of having an electronic chart right in
front of us when at the helm is hard to beat. In our case the device is
a NAVMAN 5500.

Doug
s/v Callista

"David Ditch" wrote in message
...
Is a GPS map like the Garmin 176C a good alternative to carrying NOAA
maps?
I live in the Chesapeake and would like to not have to carry large maps
around with me.

Worth the expense if I have the money?

David

I guess it's my training, but I'd be lost without a paper chart. I love my
electronic toys and even in San Diego Bay we practice using radar and often
have a GPS connected to it for a second display of position and waypoints.
But I always have my now worn and beat up chart folded to the right section
for quick verification of location, depth, distance etc.

"John Fitzpatrick" wrote in message
om...
I'm with Doug on all points. I still carry paper charts and probably
from old habits hard to die mold, a sextant etc as well. The charting
program I use plots sights etc so I incorporate both. Change is
happening though. Once the sextant and paper charts were first out but
now they have become the backup.
Regards - Fitzy

"Doug Dotson" wrote in message
...
Keeping paper charts as a backup is a must. Electronic devices
can and will fail. Raster charts are just scanned paper charts so the
accuracy is pretty much identical. Keeping them both updated is
a chore. Vector charts (like CMAP) are digitized from those same
paper charts so the accuracy is also affected by the digitization
process. Our CMAP charts showed us going over land a few times
on the ICW and especially in the Bahamas. All in all, the convenience
of the electronic chart at the helm was very valuable. We would have
run aground quite a bit more often if we were using paper charts simply
because the immedeate feedback of having an electronic chart right in
front of us when at the helm is hard to beat. In our case the device is
a NAVMAN 5500.

Doug
s/v Callista

"David Ditch" wrote in message
...
Is a GPS map like the Garmin 176C a good alternative to carrying NOAA
maps?
I live in the Chesapeake and would like to not have to carry large
maps
around with me.

Worth the expense if I have the money?

David