NavMan GPS for laptop

lyle-t · Posted: Sat Nov 08, 2003 12:59 pm Post subject: NavMan GPS for laptop

Hi All,
For my birthday my Love

wife bought me a NavMan gps for pc. it works with my laptop so I can have it in my car or boat and use the 15 inch laptop screen to see where I want to go

and find my way back Mr. Green

. I loaded a picture of it in Scorpio album. It is so good it can show me when I change lanes on a four lane highway. It cost about $135.00 which is about the same as a small hand held that I cannot see well enough to use when driving. It is powered by hooking the laptop into a cigar lighter and the unit hooked it into the USB port. The unit attached to the windshield with a suction cup. Lyle-t

stevej · Posted: Wed Nov 12, 2003 9:27 pm Post subject:

Lyle I have the PCMCIA Navman and use "the Captn" navigation software. Love the big display also. Still working through a couple of bugs but think it's worth the effort.
check out http://gpsinformation.net/ lots of utilities and info

stevej

lyle-t · Posted: Wed Nov 12, 2003 10:38 pm Post subject:

Hi Stevej;
My Nav Man uses Rand Mcnally Delux street finder which also shows rivers, lakes and the sound. I have used it in the truck and plan to try it in the boat soon. In am still learning how to work with it but so far love the way it shows where I am. Thank you for that link to the GPS info. Tomorrow I am going to Hoodsport to play with the Chum salmon again. I brought a couple home a few dqys ago and smoked them. They turned out much better than I had expected. Now my sister and her family want MORE MORE. When the wind calms down here I am going out toward Nissqualy and try for the blackmouth that are supposed to be in there. Hope to see you out fishing soon.
Lyle

stevej · Posted: Thu Nov 13, 2003 9:50 pm Post subject:

I'm hooked on the electronic charts and chart plotting functions. I can plot routes review fishing drifts and play around any time by booting up the laptop.

Have not used it in the truck yet but will soon.

Salmon is over around here but we did have a great year. Never caught a chum before. Bought my boat from a gentelman in the hood canal area need to make a trip that way in the future.

Good luck with the weather and fishing

stevej

Mr. Fisherman · Posted: Mon Mar 14, 2005 4:36 am Post subject: Me too!

Well my wife bought me the Maptech Marine Navigator and I got a great deal on a used toughbook, I am almost in business!
I just need to decide on a GPS for the laptop and find a good mounting bracket for the truck and the boat.
Stevej has the Ram mount I think... What are you using Lyle? Stevej, what would you do different?
These charts are amazing and I can't wait to use them.

Pat Anderson · Posted: Mon Mar 14, 2005 9:18 am Post subject:

I have a little GPSMAP76, Garmin BlueChart software and the cable (unfortunately a serial cable rather than USB). You just click the button onscreen for realtime tracking, and voila. The BlueChart software is very cool, waypoints, routes, tracks, etc. Have hooked it up and played with it on land but never used it on the CD22 - the laptop did not really fit conveniently anywhere. I was also worried a bit about the laptop being on a hard surface while we took any pounding at all. So how do you deal with mounting and protecting the laptop? I really would like to use this as a backup to the Raymarine system I will have on the new boat, and I always have the laptop along anyway.

lyle-t · Posted: Mon Mar 14, 2005 2:12 pm Post subject: laptop

Hi Ray,
I do not mount my laptop on the boat but lay it on the berth and prop it up with my extra cloths and stuff. So far it has not moved or tipped even when hitting some pretty heavy wakes and waves.
I do not travel fast when useing it because there is usually
fog or it is dark when I really need it on. Also I want it to be able to just unplug the power and take it with me when I leave the boat to keep light fingers from walking off with it. Are you going to make it to Cathalamet? Hope to see you there,
Later Lyle

catdogcat · Posted: Mon Mar 14, 2005 7:03 pm Post subject:

I use Maptech Marine Navigator on my Ipaq PDA with a Navman 3450 antenna sleeve. Works great and mounts right on the dash. I do all my chartplotting on my PC at home and sync the routs before I leave.

Mr. Fisherman · Posted: Tue Mar 15, 2005 1:15 am Post subject:

catdogcat · Posted: Tue Mar 15, 2005 4:08 am Post subject:

Maptech makes great software and you can't beat the detail level of the NOAA charts. I love using it. My only complaint is that is a bit difficult to use the stylus while the boat is pounding. I do bring my laptop aboard with me as well but have not found a usefull place to put it to use it as a gps. If you guys find a high quality gps antenna that can be placed outside the boat, please let me know. Also I guess it would have to be USB or serial.

Pat Anderson · Posted: Tue Mar 15, 2005 11:05 am Post subject:

If this the The CAPN Mosaic, this puppy lists for $429 - and it appears the available maps don't include anything north of Puget Sound - is this what you have? Or is your software something different? Notice the lack of a "T" in CAPN Mosaic...

gljjr · Posted: Thu Mar 24, 2005 5:32 pm Post subject:

Hello,

First post here as I don't yet have a C-Dory. I've been looking at software to run with my work laptop since I picked up the MS Streets and Trips that came with the GPS puck from work. So far the software I think I will purchase for this task is from Rose Point Navigation and is called Coastal Explorer. This seems like pretty nice software from playing with the trial version. It works great with the free NOAA ENC charts. I'm amazed at the stitching abilities of it as well.

I've also downloaded Fugawi Marine ENC and have a trial of Capn. I can't get the Capn version to work. Every time I try to load a chart it crashes. The Fugawi is pretty simple to use and seems to be a good product but I like the interface of Coastal Explorer better. I've yet to actually get on the water with it but hope to this weekend.

For a decent looking antenna you might want to look at http://www.deluoelectronics.com/catalog/Deluo_Marine_GPS_SmartAntenna-p-71.html. BTW: They also sell the same item on EBay for considerably less than they are their main website. I haven't tried one of these but plan to when I make my specialized computer for the boat.

Now if I could just talk the wife into the CD 25 I would be set!

Pat Anderson · Posted: Fri Mar 25, 2005 9:44 am Post subject:

OK, the Rose Point package costs $300 but the charts are free, a pretty big plus compared to the others. Does any other computer software use these free NOAA charts? Is there a free reader program or something?

I guess I will download the Rose Point trial edition and give it a look-see...

Bluecrab · Posted: Fri Mar 25, 2005 11:31 am Post subject:

The Raymarine C80 is my normal plotter/nav setup, but I also have a laptop with Maptech Marine Navigator - it's terrific software. I usually use it with some other software for surveying, and wired a separate GPS feed out of the C80 for the laptop. When not in use, the cable is coiled up behind the dash, along with the rest of the wiring.

I kept the dash area in the center (above the entrance to the v-berth) free when rigging the boat, specifically for the laptop. Haven't yet figured out where to mount a compass as a result, but have a handheld just in case. Have done many hundreds of hours on this and other boats with the laptop - although we survey at slow speed, we get smacked periodically by large wakes, and of course run fairly fast through chop to get to survey areas. I usually just put the laptop on a towel or flotation cushion if necessary, and have never had any problems.

Will see if I can post a pic or two, if I can get a gallery set up.

TyBoo · Posted: Fri Mar 25, 2005 1:01 pm Post subject: