New Garmin charting chips

Anyone heard of the new "BlueChart" technology that Garmin has just released. I've been interested in getting a mapping GPS that's small enough to mount at the helm, waterproof, and portable. I initally looked at the GPSMAP 175 and passed but the new 176C looks really interesting, especially with this new BlueChart that combines the best of Raster and Vector charts.

The 176C is at http://www.garmin.com/products/gpsmap176C/

The new charting can be seen at http://www2.garmin.com/cartography/bluechart/

These are some shots of what the screens look like (at least on a high end display.) I'm not sure if the software supports both north up and course up options like a true vector chart would.





Any comments or suggestions would be appreciated.

Thanks,

Andy

I have a MAP76 with Bluechart. I don't know if it's still available, but they offered a $50 rebate a month ago. It does support North up and course up.

I'm pretty happy with it, although I don't know if Magellan was any better or worse. I'm in LA, so the chart that I bought off the CD is pretty extensive. It goes all the way from Just north of SF, down through Baja. I looked at the charts on around NY, and the areas offered get much smaller. The same is with the Pacific Northwest.

Here are the different charts: http://www.garmin.com/cartography/mapSource/bluechartAMERmap.html

You only get one with the CD. Then you have to buy additional ones. Spend a little time at West Marine and obsess for a few hours like I did.

I have a Garmin Map76 mounted on the grab rail. I bought one Blue Chart for the Long Island Sound area which covers the same area as the corresponding Maptech chart kit for the same area. The blue charts look identical to the paper charts I use and the digitally scanned charts from Maptech. All the features of depths, wrecks, contour lines, bottom types, etc. are present. Of course, the display is in shades of gray which is legible enough but not great. The Map76 supports north up, course up and track up with all map features right side up for viewing, unllike the digitally scanned charts where the chart features do not rotate with the view.

A good thing about the new Garmin units is the ability to store 50 routes instead of the usual 20 routes. In cruising Long Island, Block Island, Cuttyhunk, Newport, etc. this summer, I loaded in entrances to all harbors and then just chose the harbor with the best wind direction while underway. Magellan and earlier Garmin units typically have only 20 routes.

One important downside I discovered, however, is that once a Blue Chart is loaded into a specific Garmin GPS, it cannot be transferred to another Garmin unit! Even if you wanted to upgrade your Garmin GPS, you're stuck with having to buy new Blue Charts! Naturally, if you have more than one Garmin that accepts Blue Charts, you can't share them between units either. For me that's a big downside. Garmin controls loading onto a Garmin unit by requiring you to obtain a code from their website to unlock the Blue Chart that also requires you to input the code number of your specific GPS unit. One Blue Chart = One GPS usage.

Overall I'm pleased with the MAP76 and especially with the extensive programability of the displays. I'm sure the 176 would have the same programability. One very useful feature with the Blue Charts is the ability to see where you're at in real time as to depth as you tack back and forth across your course line when making headway against the wind (sometimes you just gotta go to windward!). The Blue Chart added confidence in chosing when to tack as you neared shore.

GPS PocketPC Bluetooth solution

It's amazing how technology has progressed in a couple of years. I was thinking of getting a Garmin unit, but not wanting to be tied to its proprietary and expensive BlueChart format, I bought the latest Dell Axim x50v PocketPC ($500 with a 1 gig SD card) which boasts an incredible VGA screen (twice the resolution of the Garmin 276c). Using OziExplorer and Maptech BSB charts, which I had already, I now have a very fast, high resolution plotter that can use any raster chart (often available for little or no money). The OziExplorer software is great and can zoom charts and find other charts at the cursor's location (like the Maptech laptop software). However, it does not stitch together charts as does the Garmin vector based software. The Axim has built-in Bluetooth (and WiFi for internet access) and can communicate with a Bluetooth GPS ($100), which can be located up to 30 feet from the Axim. (I see Garmin has just come out with a waterproof Bluetooth GPS, which you could leave on deck while reading the charts at the nav station, or wherever.) So the cost is about the same as the 276c, but you have tool that has many uses other than navigation.

I bought the non-colour version three years ago, and liked it - very user friendly, great dimming feature for night time use, and one chip covered all my local sailing area. I found the size of the screen was plenty adequate - others without a pilot's eyesight might want something larger.
Colour might be worth the extra money, the first time I went into Pensacola pass was at 1 am single handed, and picking out the buoys in colour might have made things easier.

This is an exploding field, where, especially if you cruise, a lot of options are available at very different prices, which is why I decided to go over to using a laptop for cruising, and keep the Garmin in a biscuit tin as a backup in case of lightning strike.

Gareth
Freyja E35 #241 1972

Biscuit Tins...

gareth harris said:

This is an exploding field, where, especially if you cruise, a lot of options are available at very different prices, which is why I decided to go over to using a laptop for cruising, and keep the Garmin in a biscuit tin as a backup in case of lightning strike.

Click to expand...

A *grounded* Biscuit Tin. Actually, something a bit larger, water proof and able to hold your "spare" VHF hand-held. And probably a whole bunch of Silica Gel packets...

(smirks)

I need to bend some wind *bad*...

Yes - it is big enough for my spare VHF, but no it is not grounded. It shouldn't need to be, if the strike follows the boat's grounding path, just a good enough conductor to keep the magnetic induction from the sensitive wiring. Good point about the silica gel, I will start keeping them from MREs.
G