Stan Major
New member
Anyone have experience with this product? I like the dual purpose, GPS for your car and the boat.
Garmin GPSMAP 640
- Thread starter Stan Major
- Start date
Stan, I bought that Garmin last year when we decided to move back to Fl. We like it a lot, big enough to see clearly, good functions etc. You can go to "roads" & put an address in, go to "marine" & try & find the home by water, if you can't go back to roads & you can see where the house is vrs your location on the water. We were able to find all the homes we wanted to see in Cape Coral & surrounding areas & the canal system is confusing! Will be going to the Keys in a few weeks & will be able to check other functions. Haven't used in a car yet, but will buy an older truck soon to tow the boat, that's why we got the dual GPS. It comes with a marine mount & harness, car mount & harness, plug in cigarette adapter, & it has a built in re-chargeable battery. VERY happy with the purchase. Roy
Yes, it does do both and has some advantages that way. For the price, you can buy a 5" Boat GPS (which will show AIS, have a depth sounder etc--such as a 541S), plus a regular smaller car GPS--or even just use your I pad with Navionics and one of the street map programs which has the on board street maps.
Both of the chart systems used in the 640 are good. Is not the chart plotter easier to use?
Both of the chart systems used in the 640 are good. Is not the chart plotter easier to use?
Garmin -- Nice products, easy to use and (for the ones I have had) a good long life.
I got the GPSMAP640 early this spring, and like the easy remove feature. (Click and it goes with you from the boat to the truck.) It does have 2 mount brackets. One for the boat and one for the tow vehicle.
I found that mounting the unit into the vehicle mount, (has the sticky rubber pad on the bottom) in the boat and using the 12DC cigarette lighter power plug in the boat, for some reason locks the "Streets" program on. It took a while to figure out that by touching the little car symbol you could bring up the option to switch to marine cart use. (Not as intuitive as Garmin is usually). The 12DC cig plug has the speaker built onto the plug, which works great if you are wanting to use the anchor alarm for over night and not power your full electronics suite.
Fully charged it has 5 hours of stand alone battery life, and it has a dimmable screen that is sized to fit in a mounting under the dashboard and visible from the v-birth or from the helm.
I am thinking it is going to be a worth while investment in the boat. Good solid plotter capability, even with AIS display capability. AND it fits my 2 uses guidelines.
Harvey
SleepyC:moon
I got the GPSMAP640 early this spring, and like the easy remove feature. (Click and it goes with you from the boat to the truck.) It does have 2 mount brackets. One for the boat and one for the tow vehicle.
I found that mounting the unit into the vehicle mount, (has the sticky rubber pad on the bottom) in the boat and using the 12DC cigarette lighter power plug in the boat, for some reason locks the "Streets" program on. It took a while to figure out that by touching the little car symbol you could bring up the option to switch to marine cart use. (Not as intuitive as Garmin is usually). The 12DC cig plug has the speaker built onto the plug, which works great if you are wanting to use the anchor alarm for over night and not power your full electronics suite.
Fully charged it has 5 hours of stand alone battery life, and it has a dimmable screen that is sized to fit in a mounting under the dashboard and visible from the v-birth or from the helm.
I am thinking it is going to be a worth while investment in the boat. Good solid plotter capability, even with AIS display capability. AND it fits my 2 uses guidelines.
Harvey
SleepyC:moon
Stan Major
New member
Just received my Garmin 640. Lot to learn but looks like a really functional piece of equipment. Can't wait to get it on the boat! 