Garmin Nuvi with Nautical Charts

For those who still have time, even if the West Marine store is out of stock, they will sell the Nuvi 200W for the $119 today, and have the unit sent out on the next truck--the warehouses still had hundreds this PM.

We got 2. Our older units are still working, but we like the larger and brighter screen and some of the features--but don't need the Blue tooth, photos and other features of the more expensive units.

I'll put one of the older units on the boat--Marie is always asking what highway we are going along or bridge we are going under--such is boating on the ICW!
 
thataway":3s7k9ltb said:
For those who still have time, even if the West Marine store is out of stock, they will sell the Nuvi 200W for the $119 today, and have the unit sent out on the next truck--the warehouses still had hundreds this PM.

We got 2. Our older units are still working, but we like the larger and brighter screen and some of the features--but don't need the Blue tooth, photos and other features of the more expensive units.

I'll put one of the older units on the boat--Marie is always asking what highway we are going along or bridge we are going under--such is boating on the ICW!
Click to expand...

For those who like the Bluetooth feature, the discontinued Garmin 360 is available through buydig.com for roughly $169. No sales tax...no shipping.

Good price from WM for the widescreen. I nailed the smaller version for $97 at Walleyworld and gave it to my mom. She loves it. Very simple interface. I like knowing that she knows where she's at.

-Greg
 
Lots of good info on the Garmin Nuvi. I have the 760 or 670 in the car and use it for audiobooks on the boat too. However, the Lowrance iFinder H20c is very cheap and you can buy the water charts discs for the entire continent for a hundred bucks. The iFinder has all the stores, coffee shops, fuel stops, etc. for shore use and also most of the major buoys, etc., on the water. I use the iFinder as a backup all the time on my boat even though I have two Raymarine E 80s. The E 80s have had fuses blow and lost satellites in storms, but the little iFinder has never missed a beat!

John
 
I finally got the Nuvi 500 loaded with Bluecharts. I bought the CD from Boaters World and the installation was straightforward although I had to install Windows Vista on my Mac since Garmin doesn't seem to support MapSource on the Mac. For that matter, it doesn't seem to work all that well on Vista as it always crashes when trying to create routes. Also, anyone know if I can use the Nuvi to provide GPS data to MapSource and use my laptop as a plotter? I don't think I can, but since I've already paid for all of this stuff it would be a nice benefit, perhaps one of you guys knows...

As far as actual performance of the Nuvi is concerned, it works OK. I wouldn't want it as my primary plotter, but it does show what is necessary for safe navigation, although the screen is cramped.
 
I have the XOG but have to wait before putting the test in the boat.
I will make a report when that happens. Its pretty simple and for now
just used it in the pickup. I have the card so just waiting for a bit of a
thaw in the winter. Bob Heselberg Eatonville Wa
 
What card did you get? I just picked up one yesterday at Bass Pro and got the Navionics card which cover the Gulf of Mexico and inland to the Great Lakes. The other option was NavTeq which was the coastal US. I was told that the Navioics had better detail?? Not sure.

K5GAB aka Herb Stark
 
I think my card is called Vancouver Island and Puget Sound. It came
with my C70 and then I upgraded to Western States when they came
out with the bigger cards. On buying the cards I had Puget Sound
Instrument in Fife Wa make me a card and they had the best price
but that was over a year ago.

Bob Heselberg Eatonville Wa
 
Walmart has an Internet special on the Garmin Nuvi 760 with the 4.3" screen at $246. It is reportedly being replaced with the Nuvi 765 series GPS units. Previously, this unit sold for about $500 list price. See:

http://www.walmart.com/catalog/product. ... id=7958704

West Marine has a special going on currently for the Garmin Colorado 400C handheld marinized GPS, down from $600 to $340. This unit has coastal charts preloaded, and can be loaded with topographic maps and automotive maps via its memory card slot. It is reportedly being replaced in the Garmin lineup by a unit with a touch screen interface. It can use 12VDC input via a mini-USB interface. The two AA alkaline battery compartment is the default, and reportedly lasts about 12-15 hours. See:

http://www.westmarine.com/webapp/wcs/st ... reId=10001

I bought the Garmin Nuvi 760 about a month ago, and it works very well indeed. It will even lock on to the GPS satellites whilst I am indoors, something my old Garmin eTrex Venture GPS could not do. It is quite fast, usually taking less than 15 seconds to get a fix outdoors, and sometimes much faster than that.

I bought the Garmin Colorado 400C a week ago. It works well, but it could not lock on to the GPS satellites whilst I was indoors the first time I used it. I just fired it up indoors after having it turned off for a day, and it did lock onto the GPS satellites, although it took more than a minute to do so. It is much faster outdoors with an unobstructed line of sight to the sky. The default cartography included with it seems to include the major surface streets and highways in Ventura County, California, where I live, as well as marine coastal charts.

I hope this helps.

Regards,
 
Do the NUVI (other than the 500 series) run the marine charts? I have a 660 that I got when they first hit the streets (read that as $600) and really like it in the RV, and would like to use it in the boat but don't want to split with the $$ for a card that won't work in the unit
 
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