Michael;
FWIW, I have a Garmin 541 at my helm – not the latest technology by any means. It automatically changes to Garmin’s night mode at local twilight. I have not noticed any reduction of night vision when sailing at night, and in fact have wished I could keep it in the brighter day mode longer so it would be easier to see when it is not yet fully dark. I’ve had experience with Garmin, Magellan, and Lowrance handheld GPSs and plotters over the last 20 years or so, but only once with a Raymarine plotter on a boat I was helping to move. I’ve been thinking about upgrading to Garmin G2 Vision chart data before I leave for extensive cruising. The basic Bluechart G2 data that comes on the plotter is what you would see on a NOAA chart, and I really don’t see there is significantly more data on G2 Vision. But there are a couple of things that intrigue me. One is the ability to see a 3D perspective view of the depth information. So instead of seeing the depth data on a 2D chart, you see the underwater contours as hills and valleys ahead of you. Not a forward looking sonar image; but a translation of the bottom data to a 3D view – sort of like looking at a Google Earth picture of a mountain seen from an angle. The other feature is something I know has been available on some Garmin automotive GPSs for a while, and is derived from the routing software used for commercial vehicles. If you have a GPS intended for installation in an over the road truck or a bus or motor home, you put in data about the rig and the routing software will set your route to avoid low bridges, narrow roads, pavement not suited for the weight, turns that are too sharp, and so on. Garmin has applied this to my marine plotter using the G2 Vision data. I can put in draft and air draft data about the boat. When I select a set of waypoints for a route, the software will bend the course line around land and underwater areas too shallow for the boat, and keep you from going under overhead obstructions like bridges and powerlines that are too low for the boat. When steering towards a waypoint, I understand it also adjusts your recommended heading to compensate for cross currents, taking the boat speed into account. I think that could be a really cool tool to have. Has anyone had experience with this sort of functionality on a Garmin or Raymarine plotter? It looks like it would be about an $150 upgrade to the Bluechart data I already have. Is the additional ability worth the extra money? Rick Brass From: CnC-List [mailto:cnc-list-boun...@cnc-list.com] On Behalf Of Michael Brown Sent: Thursday, February 20, 2014 12:18 PM To: cnc-list@cnc-list.com Subject: Re: Stus-List Marine systems I was also interested in the night mode. From my experience mounting a chartplotter at the helm and using it at night quickly affects my night vision. Even with the screen switch to black / white or black / red ( full color at night is not very useful ) with the night reverse mode on ( background dark ) looking at it for a few moments causes a very noticeable reduction in night vision. Michael Brown Windburn C&C 30-1 Date: Thu, 20 Feb 2014 09:18:32 -0500 From: "Marek Dziedzic" <dziedzi...@hotmail.com> To: <CnC-List@cnc-list.com> Subject: Stus-List Marine systems Message-ID: <blu177-ds7884458f7c35670c42734ce...@phx.gbl> Content-Type: text/plain; charset="utf-8" Steve, I think that the big issue is that the dedicated device is a much better controlled environment. For recreational boaters, this may not matter that much, but if you are a commercial boat skipper, you may want to have confidence that this particular instrument won?t go suddenly into a BSOD only because you installed an app for watching movies or playing music. So it is a question of controlling the environment well. >From what I have seen, I don?t think Garmin and al develop their own OSs. More >than likely they get commercially developed OSs (like the Blackberry?s QNX) >and modify it slightly (or more than slightly) to fit their needs. Having said all of the above, I fully agree with you. Marek
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