T&T: The Garmin, Mapsource & Nobeltec saga is almost at an end...

[Garrett Lambert]

Several of you have been helpful in replying to my questions about my Garmin
Chartplotters. Here's the denouement.

The challenged started with a couple of Garmin 2010C chartplotters that were
on a boat I recently purchased. I've been struggling with their clunky cursor
interface, because setting up routes on them is time-consuming and
frustrating, and each has to be done separately. OTOH, Nobeltec on a laptop
makes routes easily and intuitively.

Solution: interface the laptop to the GPS units and upload the routes
directly. (Nobeltec even provides a Garmin-Garmin protocol.)

However, the 2 chartplotters are already interfaced to the 2 autopilots, the
VHF, and, I think, the radar. Despite several attempts I couldn't get the
laptop to communicate with them. I asked a marine electronics shop if they'd
do it for me, and the answer was negative: "We don't recommend it because our
customers' experience has been that the information transfer is usually
garbled."

Whether that was true or not, I decided to buy Garmin's 'Marine Trip and
Waypoint Manager Kit' comprising a Cd with software that's also downloadable
free from the Garmin site, a USB data card reader/writer, and a 16 MB Garmin
data card. (The newest kits come with 32 MB cards and Garmin sent me one
separately at no cost.) The idea now was to do the routes in Nobeltec and
write them to the data card for uploading to the GPS.

Oops. Garmin insulates itself against all competitors, and although the data
card shows up by name in Control Panel's device manager, it is not available
to any non-Garmin product, including Nobeltec, and cannot be accessed directly
by the laptop. PITA. Tech Support says no work-around.

However, the Marine Data Management CD contains a copy of Mapsource software
and a base map. It allows the creation of routes on the PC for transfer to the
chartplotter. Since I was tired of switching the single pre-programmed Blue
Chart card between the two chartplotters, I decided to spend some more money
at Garmin - proving absolutely that their sales strategy works - and order the
Mapsource Bluechart CD. For the purchase price, it comes with a code to unlock
a single region that may be installed on two Garmin devices only. Note that if
you cannot interface the devices to the laptop you must manually enter their
serial numbers in order to download the maps the computer. (That ties each
unlocked download to a specific unit.)

So far so good. The unlocking went well, and I was very pleasantly surprised
to discover that the Mapsource area coverage is significantly greater - factor
of ~2 - than that of the BlueChart chip, and with equal detail. At first
glance, the cartography appears to be different, but it could be simply the
colours.

The Mapsource software displays the unlocked maps and provides the means to
create map sets - all or some - for transfer to data card(s) for use in the
chartplotter(s). It also enables - small hurrah! - the insertion of waypoints
and the creation or routes. Unfortunately, the tools are not so intuitive nor
easy to use as those in Nobeltec, and the documentation is, in typical Garmin
fashion, opaque and inadequate. I was able to create a route, but unable to
move any of its waypoints. Nothing - including the rudimentary manual - would
budge them. So, once again I called Garmin Tech Support, and after the usual
15-10 minute hold, got the usual excellent service. However, although the tech
rep recalled having answered this question once before, he couldn't remember
how, and had to seek help. After 10 minutes or so, he returned with the
answer. Whereas in Nobeltec it's simply a matter of click and drag on any
waypoiny, in Mapsource it's right click the route to turn it yellow, then
right click the waypoint to bring up a menu box, select "  ", then left click
and drag. None of this is in the manual. And, so far at least, the start and
end waypoints have proved impervious to any attempts to move them. Mapsource
also seems to treat waypoints created with the route tool differently than
those created with the waypoint tool.

However, progress has been made, and I'm hopeful that I will soon be able to
check this "To-Do" off my list.

Cheers, Garrett