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GPS - which one to buy?


Terry B

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Has there been a thread on this? I searched but didn't come up with anything..................

 

I'm taking my very ugly (but I luv her) 25 foot Noeleda (ever heard of them?) trailer sailer away for 3-4 weeks in March in the gulf and maybe as far as BOI (alright, alright, it's not that far.....). Just cruising - sick of having to worry about how far you go on Friday 'cause you gotta be back Sunday. I'm going where ever the weather suits!

 

So I'm doing a Coastguard GPS course at the moment (never owned/operated one) to see what the little beasties can do. I know, you can't believe I know nothing about them - but I don't - charts and local knowledge and a lack of adventurous spirit meant I never needed them.

 

I'm going to places I've (mostly) been before - but not all as skipper. So I want the GPS as a back up to charts, for unfamiliar waters, for crappy nights when you have to shift in unfamiliar bays and you can't see 100 metres ahead etc, etc. Basically a back up system, a security blanket. For cruising, not racing.

 

Don't think I need a chart plotter, and the GPS must be hand held. And under $20 - no, just kidding on that - I'm happy to spend what I need to to get the right one. Within reason.............

 

Any thoughts, suggestions, derogatory comments etc??

 

Cheers Terry B

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Gidday Terry,

 

Sounds like you have some fun times ahead of you!

 

I can't remember the topic having been approached from the perspective of "which handheld is best?". However, there was one model listed for sale in the classifieds - which I also have as well - which seemed to get the thumbs-up from a fair few people here.

 

Have a look at this thread for a start anyway:

viewtopic.php?f=5&t=11491

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I've had a Garmin GPSMap76S for years and use it both when boating and flying. Love it to bits. Clean simple with more than you need. Has a screen, knot massive, but it can be loaded with Blue Charts (Garmins lectronic ones which are bloody good) or Jeppson ones of airspace and airfields, all though I've put in neither and only use the, very basic, pre loaded one.

 

Reasonable size, about 1 ciggy pack wide by 1.5 long. Only gray scale screen but after having a play with a mate colour screen version I think I'd say grey scale as the colour was just so busy on the eye. Good battery life, fast acquisition, does 'differential' when available, floats (tested it a few times by mistake), ext ariel input if you like, truck loads of waypoints space, software updates via interweb (and your computor).

 

I would happily recommend those. They are still a current model last time I sussed which would suggest they are popular as the 1st one came out decades ago if talking electronic equipment usual life span. $200 odd last I looked which is about 25% of what I paid for it about 6 years back.

 

There's one review for you.

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Good on ya Terry. Go for it and enjoy yourself.

Once you have had a Plotter, you wouldn't go without one and you can now get H/H's with charts on them. Lowrance ifinder for instance. Garmin do probably the best simple GPS unit called Etrex.

Have you a compass??? One good thing to do, is that a bearing of the way out of the bay you have entered. If you need to evacuate in the Dark, you know where to head. A GPS has to be moving first and it can take a wee while to give you the direction and even a big bay can suddenly feel small in the Pitch black.

105283492_full.jpg

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Good on ya Terry. Go for it and enjoy yourself.

Have you a compass??? One good thing to do, is that a bearing of the way out of the bay you have entered. If you need to evacuate in the Dark, you know where to head. A GPS has to be moving first and it can take a wee while to give you the direction and even a big bay can suddenly feel small in the Pitch black.

 

If you want to use the GPS to give you an escape route that is clear of hazards load a waypoint into the GPS that will take you from your Anchored position clear of dangers.

 

I have had the GPS set up with an anchor alarm and if I need to exit the bay I use the goto function and load the exit waypoint, just remember if you have dragged a significant distance the safe exit waypoint may lead you across dangers, proper prior planning.....

 

The handheld I have is no longer available but I would recommend the brand (a Uniden/Magellan product, H/H VHF and GPS combined) based on how well it has worked, water proof and I have tested that a few times, good battery life, good clear screen (mono), screen displays can be modified to have really large numbers so that the screen can be easily read from a distance if needed. Is now 7years old I think.

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Gidday

 

I'm with KM :shh: I've got a Garmin GPSmap76 as a backup and it's a fantastic little unit.

 

I need a new chart platter and I'm wavering between a Lowrance HDS-5 and one of the AdvanceSea units.

 

SHANE

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It may all depend upon your age. Old eyes and squinting at small screens in emergency situations is not good.

 

The bigger the screen the better. Once you have used a chart plotter vs just Lat Long SOG COG etc numbers, you will always want a plotter version. I have used a plotter attached to a small washboard and have therefore used that same GPS/plotter on several different boats with only a 12DC outlet (Cigarette / car type) needed. Easy to mount, relocate on a boat and you can teach crew in the rain inside a dry car!

 

Different makes & models all work differently.

 

Features I consider important:

 

The bearing to your next waypoint MOVES as your boat moves so shows what your course should be NOW!

vs some models that you have to move a cursor back to the waypoint where you want to go, and then click again to see the current bearing. (One brand/model was a real pain, but in fairness I had not read the very large A4 x 35mm thick manual.)

 

 

Software that allows you to use the same waypoints in many different routes.

Otherwise you will need to have say 20 different waypoints at the same location of "Just west of Rangitoto Light", Navy Buoy in Tiri Passage, Gannet Rock etc so that all your different voyages or race courses can be loaded in advance e.g. to have all Gold Cup, Simrad, Coastal Classic, and some cruising races + a few cruising routes preloaded.

So the 1,000 waypoints sounds great but you may easily use 200 to 500 waypoints just putting in some popular race courses.

 

25 Routes or 50 routes does not even allow you to enter all the Squadron + Ponsonby + Richmond Courses, but then again some will argue that using a GPS in harbour racing is a waste of time; against which you can see tidal set and drift. Others use GPS to compare water speed to SOG all the time. Your choice.

 

Take prospective demo models for a drive in the car around an empty carpark to try out the MOB functions. The park south of westhaven office is often empty, no through traffic and close to sea level.

 

Good Luck

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for a smaller boat (which I have), you can't do better than the Garmin GPSMap76S, good detail on nautical maps, easy to use, doesn't chew thru batteries, can plug into normal cigarette lighter point and has all the extra features you can use.Also if you have the urge, you can buy chip with road maps and use in your car.

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I have a Garmin Etrex, which is the basic entry level unit.

3 things that it is not great at are;

The size of the characters mean that someone with poor eyesight may as well not turn it on.

Entry of characters to enter waypoints etc is via the up/down buttons, so there is much scrolling going on. Coupled with the first problem this leads to very slow data entry.

Mine is an older unit with very poor signal retention. It won't pick or hold the satellites if you go in the cabin with it. This has been sorted with the newer apparently.

 

I've had a play briefly with a Garmin 72 model, which had none of the issues above. They don't cost much more now either, so would advocate one of these units as a preference.

I got the Etrex to talk to the free Seaclear charting system on my laptop eventually, but if you were interested in going down this "route" a USB GPS aerial would do the job fine as well.

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Hi

There was a thread on this a while back.

I know the Noeleda well. There were a lot of them in BOP when I was growing u.

Good entry level Garmin GPS 72 - non plotter - late 200s

If you want a colour plotter get the 76 or 60. Both are very good units. The 60 is a later model and seems to be more popular than the 76 but the 76 floats. Look for the CX models, as altitude isn't that necessary on a TY. Priced around $600 but you also need the SD card for the Chart - about another $160

email me or give Safety at Sea a call. 09 3099 111

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I have found with the GPSMap76S that the Barometer/Altitude (they sort of work hand in hand) function really needs to be fired up about 30-40mins before you want to use them to give them time to settle and sync sort of thing. Once you've done that you can go back and see which waves you went over were the biggest :) No idea why you would want to though.

 

I use the altitude tracking to see just how good or bad I'm holding heights in the circuit when flying sometimes. It's surprisingly accurate so if you do wobble a bit I found it's best knot to play it back while the CFI (Chief Flying Officer) is looking over your shoulder. They sort of like smaller tolerances than can happen if you are a bit sloppy :?

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Just recently got a Magellan Triton 300

Really great but cannot seem to get it to talk to the PC for NZ Mapping, the Garmin would have been better

 

Have a look for an application called GPS port checker, it searches all your serial ports for a GPS.

 

Either that or use a terminal program like Hyper-term, shouldn't be too hard.

 

Good luck

 

SHANE

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Hey all, thanks heaps for the advice. And note to self "Don't start a thread on Friday arvo when you're not going to be near a computer over the weekend to answer everyone!"

 

I know nothing on GPS but I use charts and I do have a compass and I use it for everything (including bearings when anchored for a night exit if needed).

The Coastguard course (and I've only done day 1 of 3) has brought up most of the issues you all raised - but not advice on which to buy (not their job is it). Hence the thread, thought I would think about your comments as the course goes on.

 

The screen size is an issue, old(er) eyes unfortunately. I like the wash board idea. And all the other thoughts.

 

Thanks all.

 

Terry

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Now I am probably going to be flamed profusely for this.. but for sailing around Tamaki Strait/Hauraki Gulf I use my iPhone for GPS (waits for KM's explosive rant :lol: ).

There are really good updated Navionics NZ marine maps that can be loaded on. You don't even have to pay for them if you go about it the right way :wink:

You can set the iPhone to only use the GPS receiver for pinpointing locations and disregard triangulation using the cellphone towers etc so it's just as good as any other GPS unit in terms of accuracy.

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Now I am probably going to be flamed profusely for this.. but for sailing around Tamaki Strait/Hauraki Gulf I use my iPhone for GPS (waits for KM's explosive rant :lol: ).

 

And I bet you put bloody coke in ya Mt Gay as well, bloody heathen!

 

Knot so much the Iplod but I could go off on the subject of 'Getting lost in the Tamaki River, just how much do you have to drink to do so?'

 

Akl Coastguard this is Vin ZMT1234, copy

Vin - CG, here, how can we help?

CG - Vin, I think I'm lost, can you help?

Vin - CG, What were your last known Co-ordinates?

CG - Vin, 0800 SLAPPER East by 03 6060842 South or was that http://www.bigwobblyknockers.com East and a email from Grandma South????? Sorry CG stand by one while I download Google Earth, sync with my Outlook so I can buy an App from iTunes.

 

10mins later -

CG - Vin, Sorry CG my OS crashed, battery went flat and Telecon just capped my speeds due to excessive boat porn (cough cough) downloads. Don't have a phone I could borrow do you? I'll ring home and see if anyone can row out with a GPS.

Vin - CG, We suggest you ring AA about your drinking issue and put that fecking Iplod down! By the way we looked out the window and that building 100mts to your Port is BBYC, Ya dick!. CG Out. :lol: :lol:

 

Use your Iplod if you like but just humour me and at least go buy some ginger ale and limes ;)

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Garmin 60CSX Jono mentioned is awesome - got all the nice marine functions and a biggish screen for a handheld. Battery life is around 36hours in reality not the 24 they quote.

 

Nice units.

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Now I am probably going to be flamed profusely for this.. but for sailing around Tamaki Strait/Hauraki Gulf I use my iPhone for GPS (waits for KM's explosive rant :lol: ).

 

http://www.bigwobblyknockers.com East and a email from Grandma South????? Sorry CG stand by one while I download Google Earth, sync with my Outlook so I can buy an App from iTunes.

;)

 

Ye gods! How do you know my internet browsing history! :shock:

To be honest I do see your point about a device being made to do one job and do it well, and if I was going somewhere where I would actually NEED a GPS I would probably look at buying a real one, but for my rather limited usage the iPhone does well :thumbup:

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