February 5, 2009 10:37
Thanks for info. I'm not fond of Raymarine because of their heavy defense work, but they, like Furuno have ways to work both at the computer and chartplotter level.
I did check out the chartworld site. Interesting developments that I wasn't aware of in detail. Ironically, Chartworld has software (windows, of course) to help you find out what isn't covered by their ENCs. The pricing is higher than C-Map for their Mega products and probably less complete. But it is a solution to keep the navigation in the Mac world.
Is their some technical reason why no Mac charting SW can use C-Map?
I can buy three Canadian Hydro disks here that cover all of BC for CAD175 each. That's $525. Yet I can buy the C-Map Mega that covers all of Western North American, Central America and the Carib. for about CAD 300, and that includes all the Canadian charts.
Another issue is this: you can update any C-map card for US$89. Whether a Mega card or small local area. Same price. So if you need only a few cards, you can afford to keep charts up to date. It seem from Chartworld that you have to buy the charts all over again (or did I read that wrong?).
It would seem to me an ideal set up for a sailboat without a protecting pilot house would be a computer inside for planning and other work that a mouse and keyboard--with a big screen--do so well, plus a water resistant chartplotter (smallish) outside to provide minute by minute info used for steering to waypoints through tight, complicated areas using earlier determined paths.
Power consumption is also an issue. The heat from the MacBook Pro I'm writing on is considerable, not to mention the power cord box, so I know the drain is serious. I need to make up an AC cable with split wires so I can use a clamp meter to see current useage. But even small chartplotters draw 1 amp or so, approaching the refrigerator needs on the boat.
One interesting idea I've heard was to run windows navigation software on one of the mini PCs. According to Nobeltec, charting programs don't require heavy graphics processing. So you could buy at least a couple minis and treat them as throwaways--at least compared to a MacBook Pro! But there are rumors of a miniMacBook...
donal
I did check out the chartworld site. Interesting developments that I wasn't aware of in detail. Ironically, Chartworld has software (windows, of course) to help you find out what isn't covered by their ENCs. The pricing is higher than C-Map for their Mega products and probably less complete. But it is a solution to keep the navigation in the Mac world.
Is their some technical reason why no Mac charting SW can use C-Map?
I can buy three Canadian Hydro disks here that cover all of BC for CAD175 each. That's $525. Yet I can buy the C-Map Mega that covers all of Western North American, Central America and the Carib. for about CAD 300, and that includes all the Canadian charts.
Another issue is this: you can update any C-map card for US$89. Whether a Mega card or small local area. Same price. So if you need only a few cards, you can afford to keep charts up to date. It seem from Chartworld that you have to buy the charts all over again (or did I read that wrong?).
It would seem to me an ideal set up for a sailboat without a protecting pilot house would be a computer inside for planning and other work that a mouse and keyboard--with a big screen--do so well, plus a water resistant chartplotter (smallish) outside to provide minute by minute info used for steering to waypoints through tight, complicated areas using earlier determined paths.
Power consumption is also an issue. The heat from the MacBook Pro I'm writing on is considerable, not to mention the power cord box, so I know the drain is serious. I need to make up an AC cable with split wires so I can use a clamp meter to see current useage. But even small chartplotters draw 1 amp or so, approaching the refrigerator needs on the boat.
One interesting idea I've heard was to run windows navigation software on one of the mini PCs. According to Nobeltec, charting programs don't require heavy graphics processing. So you could buy at least a couple minis and treat them as throwaways--at least compared to a MacBook Pro! But there are rumors of a miniMacBook...
donal