Navigation Planner?
Hey guys,
Just wondering what everyone uses to backup and plan their trips/routes/waypoints .... etc
Do you spend some time on the boat the night before, with your plotter hooked up to the cradle, planning where you'll go? Do you run a PC/Mac program, and get it transferred to your Plotter? Or you just launch your boat, and head to your best spot?
Also how do you backup your waypoints, write them down manually ... etc? And last but certainly not least, how do you transfer your waypoints to a new unit that you just bought?
I know there where some topics posted before about this, and they go back to 2007, but just wanted to talk about the latest tech with this.
Options are NavPlanner (Navionics users only) .... $200+ for Oceania ... any feedback? http://www.navionics.com/MarineFeatures_NavPlanner.asp
What about C-Map? Any good? ...$230 (https://www.whitworths.com.au/main_itemdetail.asp?cat=114&item=45981&intAbsolutePage=1)
Do anyone run an Apple App (Navionics Aust/NZ) to plan their trip at home, on similar chart of what you've got on your boat?.... for $46!!!
I guess discussing this will help most of us, defiantly me, when it comes to reliability, safety and efficiency of rec fishing ...
Cheers
Hesh
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grayzeee
Posts: 2283
Date Joined: 09/07/09
Mine are backed up on another
Mine are backed up on another sd card and easygps
i'm fast running out of memory on my unit , but at the moment , it holds them all.
once i get to 1000 , the memory is used up
If I spent half as long fishing , as I do reading this bloody forum , I'd be twice the fisherman I am.
till
Posts: 9358
Date Joined: 21/02/08
You need navplanner2 to be
You need navplanner2 to be able to backup routes etc onto a card to pop into your sounder.
There is both the android and the ios version of the navioncs sw, but that will only sync with certain Raymarine units, but is apparently pretty awesome.
There is another version that they have online that was about 10 euro, but had no way to actually write to cards.
Mela_77
Posts: 300
Date Joined: 10/11/11
So you're saying that you can
So you're saying that you can only do this with the navplanner2 (US Coastal only), and not the navplanner, which covers Australia?
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till
Posts: 9358
Date Joined: 21/02/08
http://fishwrecked.com/forum/
http://fishwrecked.com/forum/online-depth-charts-and-contour-distinctions#comment-339507
There is, or was?, navionics navplanner2 for aus.
Mela_77
Posts: 300
Date Joined: 10/11/11
Good one, cheers ... pasted below
Posts: 7470
Date Joined: 21/02/08
memory map quick charts - free for iphone: http://memory-map.com.au/products/iphone-map-app.html
Navionics navplanner 2: http://www.navionics.com/MarineFeatures_NavPlanner2.asp
Navionics PC App via http://store.navionics.com/
Cmap pc planner: http://www.c-map.com/en-en/articles/pc-planner
The cmap offering, as with navplanner 2, require you to have a copy of the charts on some sort of storage media. The newer and cheaper PC App doesn't.
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Lucky Tim
Posts: 2536
Date Joined: 28/11/07
what brand GPS do you have?I
what brand GPS do you have?
I have a Lowrance GPS and have both NavPlanner and Navionics programs on my computer. Navionics is the same app/program that you can get on Ipads/phones. Great for looking at charts of Australia but offers NO waypoint management tools. I use this purely for looking at charts on my computer.
The NavPlanner program is good but needing to remove your chart card from the GPS and to your computer is a pain sometimes, and I know the day will come when I'll launch the boat only to find out I left the card with the computer at home. I never use the route planning features but instead use this program to manage my waypoints- change names, add comments etc. While this is nice to be able to do you need to ask yourself if this is worth nearly $300? The big bonus of this program is if I ever change brand of my GPS I can save my current Lowrance .usr file into another format that works on a lot of other brands of plotter. Might just save a hell of a lot of typing one day. NavPlanner also allows you to export your waypoints to a Excel spreadsheet or .pdf file if you are that paranoid and require a printed copy.
If I purely wanted to back up my waypoints I'd just run a SD card and save the file to this and my computer. You won't be able to access or change any info without the right program but at least you know all of your info is backed up. If the GPS shits itself at least you can plug the SD card back in and reload the file. If waypoint management wasn't important to me this is how I'd go and save the $$$.
In my research I also found a website that lets you convert your waypoints/track to a Google Earth .kmz file which opens in Google Earth- pretty cool viewing plus you can at least read the coordinates of your waypoints in Google Earth. There is no easy way to convert this back into a GPS friendly format but they are importantly backed up.
If $300 isn't a issue then go the NavPlanner. If you need to do it cheap just save the file to an SD card and live with not being able to view them on your computer. If you just want a chart program for your computer with next to no user input features get the Navionics program.
Hope that helps.
Mela_77
Posts: 300
Date Joined: 10/11/11
I've got HDS7 (combo), and
I've got HDS7 (combo), and it's good so far, to my use anyway ...
Thanks Lucky-Tim fot the info above info, highlighted some ideas to me, and I'm sure to others as well.
Anyone else got any more thoughts about what they use for planning their trip, or backup theit waypoints?
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JohnF
Posts: 2839
Date Joined: 07/07/10
What about the Free Raymarne
What about the Free Raymarne Planner.......anyone tried it??
I am currently tring to get it to work, I know another who has, and can back up waypoints to and from GPS.......requires a Raymarine GPS obviously.
Boston Whaler 235 Conquest......getting the flogging it was built for.