On Wed, 28 Oct 2009 07:20:27 -0700 (PDT), Frogwatch
wrote:

First, the Bluechart plots on my PC are crappy with really badly drawn
outlines of the land. If real charts were that bad we wouldn't buy
them. Then, buying charts for more regions are really expensive.
Next, the download onto my GPS is almost useless with tiny things I
need a magnifier to see and an awful interface to change the level of
detail. It does not display water depth and if it did the display
would be too crowded to read.

Well, I'm sure it does - you need to expand the zoom level. I'm not
all that familiar with the 76 series handheld, but I'm sure I've seen
it on the same software.

Quite frankly, I see no reason for the chartplotting feature of this
small GPS.

Yes and now. I have an RC-400 Raymarine and it's a full function
handheld chartplotter. The screen is big enough to see though and
that may be the difference.

Now, some consideration of how i use GPS: basically as a knotmeter
and rarely using the coordinates, I tend to know where I am without
using the GPS because I always have a chart beside me and my hand
compass around my neck and constantly take bearings. Out of sight of
land I do use GPS but still find DR to be more useful.

To each their own. I'm the exact opposite - I use the GPS as the main
tool and keep the charts and hand compass handy in case I don't have
the GPS. I will occasionally turn the GPS off and run into unfamiliar
waters just to keep myself sharp with chart and compass, but it's
foolish to keep using the chart and DR skills when you have the
electronic tool available.

Besides, you never really know where you are with DR - it's always an
approximation.

"Wayne.B" wrote in message
...
On Wed, 28 Oct 2009 18:46:59 -0700, "Bill McKee"
wrote:

Wondering if one of the tablet PC's would be a better choice than some of
the new expensive GPS units. A lot cheaper than paying for the same NOAA
maps in propriatary format.

It is now possible to buy a brand new laptop for well under $500, some
with a built in GPS. With free software and charts it really doesn't
get much better than that. I did several Newport-Bermuda sailboat
races a few years back with a laptop wrapped in Saran wrap. It
worked just fine.


I was thinking the tablets would not take up the space of a folding laptop.

On Thu, 29 Oct 2009 11:26:31 -0700, "Bill McKee"
wrote:

It is now possible to buy a brand new laptop for well under $500, some
with a built in GPS. With free software and charts it really doesn't
get much better than that. I did several Newport-Bermuda sailboat
races a few years back with a laptop wrapped in Saran wrap. It
worked just fine.


I was thinking the tablets would not take up the space of a folding laptop.

In practice it doesn't seem to be that much of an issue. I've used my
laptops on boats as small as 24 ft with no problem, keeping the cover
folded down when not actually using it.

On Fri, 30 Oct 2009 08:53:44 -0400, Wayne.B
wrote:

In practice it doesn't seem to be that much of an issue. I've used my
laptops on boats as small as 24 ft with no problem, keeping the cover
folded down when not actually using it.

I spilled coffee into the keyboard of a brand new Sony. I held it
upside down until it quit dripping, wiped it off with a damp rag, and
that was that.

What is unbearable is the OV, operating virus. Vista is malware. They
should ship these things with a blank drive, and you have the store
install the virus of your choice. When I used 3.11 I had the reformat
and reinstall everything down to 45 minutes.

Casady

"Richard Casady" wrote in message
...
On Fri, 30 Oct 2009 08:53:44 -0400, Wayne.B
wrote:

In practice it doesn't seem to be that much of an issue. I've used my
laptops on boats as small as 24 ft with no problem, keeping the cover
folded down when not actually using it.

I spilled coffee into the keyboard of a brand new Sony. I held it
upside down until it quit dripping, wiped it off with a damp rag, and
that was that.

What is unbearable is the OV, operating virus. Vista is malware. They
should ship these things with a blank drive, and you have the store
install the virus of your choice. When I used 3.11 I had the reformat
and reinstall everything down to 45 minutes.

Casady


Windows 7 is much, much better so far. I've got it installed on one comp.
but only looked at it for a short while.

--
Nom=de=Plume

On Fri, 30 Oct 2009 16:24:41 GMT, (Richard
Casady) wrote:

What is unbearable is the OV, operating virus. Vista is malware. They
should ship these things with a blank drive, and you have the store
install the virus of your choice. When I used 3.11 I had the reformat
and reinstall everything down to 45 minutes.

Vista works fine on a quad-core desktop with at least 2 GB of main
memory. Anything less than that should be running XP in my opinion.

On 10/30/09 3:39 PM, Wayne.B wrote:
On Fri, 30 Oct 2009 16:24:41 GMT, (Richard
Casady) wrote:

What is unbearable is the OV, operating virus. Vista is malware. They
should ship these things with a blank drive, and you have the store
install the virus of your choice. When I used 3.11 I had the reformat
and reinstall everything down to 45 minutes.

Vista works fine on a quad-core desktop with at least 2 GB of main
memory. Anything less than that should be running XP in my opinion.




Your opinion as what? A knowledgeable computer expert? Please.

There's no question VISTA likes 2 gigs of RAM, but you sure as hell do
not need a quad core CPU to run it.

RAM is dirt cheap.

"Richard Casady" wrote in message
...
On Fri, 30 Oct 2009 08:53:44 -0400, Wayne.B
wrote:

In practice it doesn't seem to be that much of an issue. I've used my
laptops on boats as small as 24 ft with no problem, keeping the cover
folded down when not actually using it.

I spilled coffee into the keyboard of a brand new Sony. I held it
upside down until it quit dripping, wiped it off with a damp rag, and
that was that.

What is unbearable is the OV, operating virus. Vista is malware. They
should ship these things with a blank drive, and you have the store
install the virus of your choice. When I used 3.11 I had the reformat
and reinstall everything down to 45 minutes.

Casady


Problem with drinks spilling is the additives. Plain Coffee is OK. Soda
and coffee with sugar will weld things in to a fixed position.0