On Thu, 17 Feb 2005 13:42:35 -0500, Jack Erbes
wrote:



For the most part, I would not buy hardware from Garmin because it would
mean I could use only Garmin's mapping/charting packages. Further, any
interoperability (automobile, marine, topo, etc.) would be limited to
what they wanted to market or allow and require additional purchases of
more Garmin mapping packages.

Almost all Garmin GPS receivers, like most other makes, will output
NMEA-0183 format data, which can be read by virtually all mapping
programs.

Garmin recievers only use the Garmin protocol for uploading and
downloading waypoints and routes, and for uploading Garmin's
proprietary maps or charts. Many non-Garmin programs can use the
Garmin protocol for waypoint and route transfers.

I don't have anything against Garmin, their marketing is simply not
aimed at me.

Jack

--
Peter Bennett VE7CEI
email: peterbb4 (at) interchange.ubc.ca
GPS and NMEA info and programs: http://vancouver-webpages.com/peter/index.html
Newsgroup new user info: http://vancouver-webpages.com/nnq