[bobetter]

Spending close to $100 on chords to hook up a Garmin to MacENC is pretty ridiculous if you ask me.

Huh? you need to look a little harder...for CORDS I mean.

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!

Well, I for one don't really have any suggestions for you other to hit up your "Sailing Community" sources that are supplying you with illegal copies of Nobeltec....maybe they can help }