Best replacement for Garmin 128 GPS

najsmith

najsmith

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Ok team,

I'm opening a canon worms here, but my 128 has given up the ghost. Never remembers its settings - despite soldering a new battery into the back per some earlier recommendations.

It seems the world wants us to buy chart plotters but all I want is to put a GPS receiver in place of the 128.

I'm not a complete Luddite, but a 152 seems a backward step as Arial is internal and technology looks ancient.

I want an affordable main unit that I can send NMEA to VHF/DSC, auto helm and possibly a digitalYachts gizmo so I can use the ipad for chart referencing below decks.

Thoughts?!
 
If I remember correctly the 152 also comes without an internal aerial. I think the 128 was a better gps than the 152, certainly easier to use, so why not just get another one if it's just the signal you need, they come up on Ebay regularly for about £50 - 70.
 
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Mine no longer remembers settings but I assumed it just needed the internal battery relaced again? (Last done in 2007).

It still works but forgets all waypoints and the NMEA setting to talk to the cockpit repeater.

There's a 128 on Ebay just now, starting at £50 + £7.50 postage, whic seems a little exorbitant. How can I know whether it has the same problem? I owjld imagine it is an age trelaetd thing, and these uints are all pretty ancient now surely?

- W
 
Do any of the cheaper Plotters have navscreens where they just display the Position COG SOG?
Then you can ignore the plotter function and just have a larger screened colour GPS?
 
najsmith said:
Ok team,

I'm opening a canon worms here, but my 128 has given up the ghost. Never remembers its settings - despite soldering a new battery into the back per some earlier recommendations.

It seems the world wants us to buy chart plotters but all I want is to put a GPS receiver in place of the 128.

I'm not a complete Luddite, but a 152 seems a backward step as Arial is internal and technology looks ancient.

I want an affordable main unit that I can send NMEA to VHF/DSC, auto helm and possibly a digitalYachts gizmo so I can use the ipad for chart referencing below decks.

Thoughts?!
Click to expand...

Define affordable. The Garmin 451/551 small plotters are, in my mind, excellent value will take an external aerial and allow you to import and export data to VHF, Laptop, AIS etc. Never regretted buying mine.

Yoda
 
The world has moved on from the early Garmins so I would follow Yoda's suggestion for the 4xx/5xx from Garmin which can then show AIS etc.

Our 555s is dead simple to use so it is always turned on first before the Raymarine C80.

Pete
 
najsmith said:
Never remembers its settings - despite soldering a new battery into the back per some earlier recommendations.
Click to expand...

Surprised it has not cured the problem. Are you certain that the new battery is correct type/good condition? . I have never needed to replace mine (15yrs), but read elsewhere that it is a '2032 type'. I would imagine that it is a RECHARGEABLE 2032 (such as ML2032). It may be necessary to leave the unit on for a considerable time (days) for the cell to charge adequately.
 
najsmith said:
Ok team,

I'm opening a canon worms here, but my 128 has given up the ghost. Never remembers its settings - despite soldering a new battery into the back per some earlier recommendations.

It seems the world wants us to buy chart plotters but all I want is to put a GPS receiver in place of the 128.

I'm not a complete Luddite, but a 152 seems a backward step as Arial is internal and technology looks ancient.

I want an affordable main unit that I can send NMEA to VHF/DSC, auto helm and possibly a digitalYachts gizmo so I can use the ipad for chart referencing below decks.

Thoughts?!
Click to expand...

Replaced my 128 with a 152 & very happy with it. You can choose an internal or external aerial version. Personally I prefer the internal as it means no wiring other than a 12v supply - connects to my DSC/VHF with no problems. Also I can take it home to update waypoints etc just powered from a 12v supply. FWIW, my chartplotter also is the internal aerial version for the same reason.
 
webcraft said:
.
Mine no longer remembers settings but I assumed it just needed the internal battery relaced again? (Last done in 2007).

It still works but forgets all waypoints and the NMEA setting to talk to the cockpit repeater.

There's a 128 on Ebay just now, starting at £50 + £7.50 postage, whic seems a little exorbitant. How can I know whether it has the same problem? I owjld imagine it is an age trelaetd thing, and these uints are all pretty ancient now surely?

- W
Click to expand...

He could buy mine, save me the bother of putting it on eBay...
 
Daydream believer said:
Hook it up to one of your beloved windmills:p:p
Click to expand...

It already is hooked up to one
icon_moon.gif


- W
 
mjf107 said:
These come with preloaded charts for UK, Ireland, Northern France and the Netherlands, does anyone know how detailed they are compared to Visit My Harbour charts
Click to expand...

VMH use Admiralty charts. Plotters use one of several vector systems, where no human being has actually laid out the chart, instead the plotter has a big list of items and their positions, and it displays them on the screen according to which area you're looking at. This can give a cluttered look at large scales (though you can turn off some of the kinds of items to simplify the view) which I'm not all that keen on. In theory at least, I believe all the items on an Admiralty chart should be in the plotter's list, but I don't know Garmin specifically.

Pete
 
.
You are all missing the point. The thread is about the Garmin 128.

I have a Garmin 400 in the cockpit, but most offshore work is done with the 128 and cockpit repeater. No point in wasting juice on the colour screen, charts and all that loveliness in the middle of the oggin.

- W
 
I like to have an old non-chart style gps for providing basic nav information and DSC input at low current consumption. Some of you may have seen my post elsewhere about the oversensitivity to wave motion of the Garmin 152 (internal antenna) which replaced my dead 128. I have trawled the manual and all the menus on screen seeking a damping constant adjustment that was kindly advised by another forumite, but to no avail. In the absence of any other solution I am now considering a means of ballasting the unit with some lead fixed to the base and placing it in a gimballed bracket. I wonder has anybody else managed a more elegant solution?
 
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