March 28, 2008 17:23
Recently bought the Colorado 400c, but took it back. You have to hold the bloody thing level all the time in order for it to properly navigate on the compass page - a hiking GPS is what it should be marketed for, not sailing.
Spending close to $100 on chords to hook up a Garmin to MacENC is pretty ridiculous if you ask me.
The USB GPS is a nice way of going about it, but if your computer fails due to lack of battery power/inverter failure etc., the USB GPS becomes completely obsolete.
Either a) Garmin needs to get with it and allow NMEA data to be sent via USB, or b) a better GPS with NMEA protocol via USB needs to be talked about on this forum so that potential buyers of MacENC don't have to continue in circles trying to figure out a solution to using their Mac onboard for navigation.
Personally, I'm almost at the point where I'm going to just buy a crappy PC laptop for $200 and install Nobeltec along with all charts for the US and Cda for free (as Nobeltec is so easily accessible through the sailing community). That way my Mac doesn't get wrecked onboard, and it doesn't end up costing me hundreds of dollars!
I'm all ears for suggestions for the budget minded sailor!
Spending close to $100 on chords to hook up a Garmin to MacENC is pretty ridiculous if you ask me.
The USB GPS is a nice way of going about it, but if your computer fails due to lack of battery power/inverter failure etc., the USB GPS becomes completely obsolete.
Either a) Garmin needs to get with it and allow NMEA data to be sent via USB, or b) a better GPS with NMEA protocol via USB needs to be talked about on this forum so that potential buyers of MacENC don't have to continue in circles trying to figure out a solution to using their Mac onboard for navigation.
Personally, I'm almost at the point where I'm going to just buy a crappy PC laptop for $200 and install Nobeltec along with all charts for the US and Cda for free (as Nobeltec is so easily accessible through the sailing community). That way my Mac doesn't get wrecked onboard, and it doesn't end up costing me hundreds of dollars!
I'm all ears for suggestions for the budget minded sailor!
what do you want heere?