PC based navigation vs Apps vs Marine electronics

Pat, I'm glad you enjoy Coastal Explorer. It's a wonderful program. I assume most PC based programs can run standard formats such as the NOAA uses.

What I meant to say in the previous post is this. Proprietary software mapping such as Maptech, C-Map, Navionics and Garmin Bluechart all get there information from various government agencies. They don't do their own hydrographic surveys, but work from NOAA data (for instance.) They then reformat the data to their needs, add their own data, etc. and sell you the chips, files, whatever.

This means the a NOAA chart represents the best data available. It comes in raster (RNC) or vector (ENC) format to international standards. I assume the same is true for the Canadian Hydrographic Office.

And even with Coastal Explorer, you still have to pay for the Canadian charts.

Boris
 
At the USCG Aux. Weekend Navigator classes the instructor preferred CE on a dedicated laptop, integrated into auto-pilot. She particularly liked setting waypoints and routes at home, rather than in the midst of some of the challenges of the Inside Passage. She thought CE interfaces were far superior to most chart-plotters.

Paper charts were taught at the first set of classes. I bought and have used all the relevant ones for me.

My son and I discovered Deep Zoom for windows phones. It provides charts, tides, and currents. Downside is that it is cell-tower dependent, but that is OK on the Puget Sound.

Rodriguez (The Bitter End blog now facebook) at the 2015 Seattle Boat Show discussed electronics and suggested that chart-plotters were being challenged by phone, pad, and laptop programs. His advice was paper plus 2 or more electronic devices. And always extra batteries!
 
journey on":3dbzeux2 said:
And even with Coastal Explorer, you still have to pay for the Canadian charts.

Boris
Click to expand...

Boris, The price for the Coastal Explorer Canadian charts is considerably less than the CHS price. I looked up pricing at Fugawi. The CHS vector chart package for BC Is $1200 and the Raster package is $300. The CE price is $200 for each.

When I purchased the CHS digital raster charts, I paid over $350 plus a $50 customs charge, and after two weeks they did not arrive, so they had to reship. When they did arrive, the discs were loose inside the box and slightly scratched. I would NEVER go thru that again.

Updating the CHS charts is a real pain, whereas the CE updates are a one button click. CHS kept loosing my passwords requiring phone calls. Customer support at CHS is on Nova Scotia time, four and a half hours earlier than Pacific time. I would NEVER go thru that again.
 
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