Pascal Goncalves wrote:

This is not my problem, because I have a GpsMap76 and a GpsMap
276C with BlueChart, but I have the folowing question for a friend:

"If I have a laptop PC and wish to use it to plan and navigate real
time using MapSource BlueChart and the new nRoute, but I have an old
Garmin Gps Receiver that is not a mapping unit, like the G12XL or the
old yelow eTrex, or if I have a old mapping unit like GIII+, all of
wich are not "BlueChart Compatible" in the sense that these units
cannot have Mapsource Blue chart maps loaded on its memory, it would
still be possible to buy a BlueChart CD, and unlock it to these gps
units? This will work?"

It will not work or most likely will not work. Refer him to the
MapSource User's Guide (page 12):

http://www.garmin.com/manuals/MapSou...UsersGuide.pdf

It says that in order to do real time tracking on a PC with MapSource
Bluechart you must do the following:

1 - Have a valid unlock code for your GPS unit installed in MapSource.

2 - Receive real time information from a Garmin unit that supports
locked maps.

3 - The GPS unit must be in Garmin transfer mode, not NMEA mode.

It also says that it will not work with older Garmin units.

The basic issue, as I understand it, is that Garmin backfeeds the PC
with data from the GPS only if it is "married" to the unlocked CD in the PC.

Garmin is probably not going to be remembered fondly for long term
support of some of their equipments and technologies. For example, they
just discontinued support for the G-Chart cartriges that preceeded the
SD chips currently in use.

Any investment I make in chart plotters or GPS equipment would look for
something that is a little more versatile with other families of
equipments and charting in the long run and does not hang its future on
the business decisions of a single company.

Jack

--
Jack Erbes in Ellsworth, Maine, USA - jacker at midmaine dot com