Definitely a good next-generation follow-up to the Oregon, with bigger screen and better daylight viewability. However, be careful with it around the water, because I believe that it does NOT float. I never liked plotting routes on the Oregon - it's just too small. It's much nicer to plot on the computer and transfer to the handheld for use on the boat. I've done this with OpenCPN, and if Polar products will save in. However, it's not as simple as just copying the. You need to load it into Garmin PC software and use their software to put it in the device. I bought HomePort to do this, but I believe that their free BaseCamp software will do it also. Give yourself a couple hours to figure it out, because the user interface of all Garmin's PC software really sucks. If you're trying out free PC software, I'd recommend also trying OpenCPN in addition to PolarView. It has really advanced in features, and will be launching version 4.0 in a week or so. I like it so much that I installed it on a tablet that I mounted in my cockpit as my primary chartplotter. I still use the Oregon to record my tracks, and as a wet weather backup. If you have a leftover XP laptop that you want to repurpose, that's fine. If you're buying new, I'd suggest a Win8 tablet. Much lighter, better form factor, and tapping icons on a touchscreen is much nicer than moving a mouse cursor with a trackpad. Some of them have internal GPS, so you might not need to run Spanner. There's a whole lot of discussion of this over on the OpenCPN forum - and a few threads that I've posted here. It's too late for me to dig them up now.īy the way, OpenCPN can run my Autohelm in track mode. In my case it's done wirelessly via Bluetooth. There's a really geeky thread here telling how I did the hardware setup. I plot the route in OpenCPN, and the Win8 tablet sends the waypoint information to the autopilot. It can do a whole multi-point route, but more frequently I will just tap a location on the chart, select "navigate to here," and the autopilot will do a straight line route to the waypoint. In lumpy seas, the boat's heading seems to stay more stable in this mode than trying to maintain a constant heading, where the sea oscillations can cause the heading oscillations to get larger over time (despite adjusting the gain). The explanation is complicated, and gets into PID control theory.GPSMAP 721xs combination chartplotter/sounder allows for easy visibility, day or night. Whether it is flat-, flush- or bale-mounted, it will be the focal point of your helm.
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