GL: Charts Again

[allen]

Charts in electronic form are a perennial question, and I'm guessing the 
answers keep changing.

With the cost of digital data dropping for most applications, I'm wondering 
if there is much progress in marine navigation charts.  I just spent some 
considerable time on the Garmin site and, besides being a massive puzzle and 
runaround, the prices and restrictions are simply unreasonable for anyone 
who plans to cover a lot of ground (well, water really) and never return.

For those who sail the same waters over and over, the cost is not too 
prohibitive, but for others the costs can quickly get into thousands of 
dollars.  Not only that, but the charts need regular updating and the prices 
are only a little less than purchasing the original access.

Since the Garmin chart licenses are attached to specific devices, there is 
the hazard of loss, malfunction, and theft or obsolescence, not only of the 
device itself, but of the chart licenses as well!

I'm totally fed up with Garmin.  Although they make nice devices, to me 
their licensing and upgrade procedures and costs are sufficiently 
ridiculous that I would be delighted if I never had to deal with them again.

I'm sure most on this list must feel the same if they have been through the 
gauntlet.

Can anyone pass along URLs for site which discuss alternatives or 
workarounds for those of us who would like to have access to the data that 
we have already paid our governments to collect without being subject to the 
bands who distribute it?

I am specifically interested in the east and west coasts of Canada and the 
US, the Great Lakes, and some of the Caribbean.

TIA.