On Nov 27, 2006, at 23:50, Don Van Valkenburg wrote:

> I'm thinking of asking Santa for a GPS, but there are lots out
> there to choose from, and my santa isn't rich, so any suggestions?
> I see some out there for under $500. What features should I look for?
> Don

Don,

        I see you like opening cans of worms! Asking "what GPS should I buy"
is a bit like asking "what boat should I buy?". Bottom line: all
boats float, all GPS units will tell you where you are within a few
meters. The devil is in the details.

        Some considerations: will you be using the GPS just to get your
location, and then using traditional paper charts for everything
else? If so, a $100 unit will work just fine, give you accurate lat/
long without the hassle of a sextant, and you're all set. With this
option, you might consider getting 2, using one, and keeping one with
lots of extra batteries in a waterproof bag as a backup in case the
first one goes swimming. Most of the basic units will also allow you
to enter waypoints and plot a course to them, have an emergency crew
overboard marker, etc.

        If you want to display your position on an electronic chart, then
the options multiply rapidly. There are lots of units with built-in
chartplotters, generally the larger the display, the more the cost,
and units that can be seen outside in bright sunlight are even more
expensive. Most of these have a crude base chart of the world built
in, but allow more detailed local charts to be added, either by
downloading from a computer or via plug-in cards. Again, the money
can multiply as rapidly as the options. Add even more money and you
can also display radar, depthsounder, and probably even the Simpsons
on the same screen at once. I'm not sure why you would want to, but
you could...

        If you have a laptop computer on board, (or even a non-laptop - I'm
told they still exist...) then there are even more options. The
computer already has a large (by GPS standards) screen, and if your
GPS can communicate with the computer (check the type of connection
necessary - serial? USB?) then with the addition of charting software
you can have a very nice display of your position and all sorts of
plotting options. There are several software packages available, I'm
not familiar enough with them to discuss their various merits, but
Fugawi sells a basic package for about $100 (at least when I bought
it a few years ago) that does all I've ever needed it to do.

        For what it's worth, I've sailed thousands of ocean miles on several
vessels ranging from 30' to a 200' three-masted clipper, and in all
cases used a simple GPS providing lat/long, and then plotted the
location regularly on plain old paper charts. If all the batteries go
dead (or something happens to the satellites), the paper charts still
show you where you were at the last fix, and you can dust off the old
sextant and keep right on sailing.

Happy holidays and happy sailing!

Chuck Yingling
Hinayana, Baba 30
Sausalito (but currently in Paris, France...)

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Received on Thu Nov 30 02:30:38 2006