Cheap GPS advice!

Zagato

Zagato

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I will be sailing around the Solent this year mostly in company with other boats but would like the back up and knowledge of my own GPS system.

I have completed mountaineering leadership training a while ago so know my way around a map but have never used a GPS. Any advice on a cheap system for South Coast waters - thanks
 
I find the Garmin 550 excellent for inshore waters sailing and have found it best mounted in the cockpit so that it can be removed when leaving the boat and the lead put inside to keep it dry.

Yoda
 
It depends wether you want a basic GPS and do your own plotting on a chart or a chart based one which shows all the area around you. A basic Garmin Etrex about £75 going towards a Garmin 72 with mapping about £300 approx or a full blown chart plotter from about £400 upwards.
 
Cheap Option Chart and:
ETrex,
Mobile phone (Short battery life if used constant),
Do you have bat powered sat nav that gives lat and long?

You are sailing you only need a position if weather goes to ****. Then not every 30 seconds.


After that I would spend the money on plotter type:

Garmin, Dakota, Montana or Oregon.

They can be used for all sorts not just sailing... AA batteries last atleast 1 day I normally get several as do not always have my Oregon on.
 
Zagato said:
I will be sailing around the Solent this year mostly in company with other boats but would like the back up and knowledge of my own GPS system.

I have completed mountaineering leadership training a while ago so know my way around a map but have never used a GPS. Any advice on a cheap system for South Coast waters - thanks
Click to expand...

Depends

Just for sailing around the Solent you dont really need a GPS at all.
Its well buoyed so with the aid of a chart you can see where you are.

Useful to have a basic GPS I guess so that you can plot a position on a chart if you are unlucky enough to find yourself in bad visibility. To which end one the basic Garmin handhelds such as the eTrex H at around £75, the eTrex 10 for about £100 or the GPS 72H for about £120 would suffice.

Personally I have managed around the Solent without a GPS for over 30 years so I reckon I'm not likely to need one now.
 
onesea said:
Cheap Option Chart and:
ETrex,
Mobile phone (Short battery life if used constant),
Do you have bat powered sat nav that gives lat and long?

You are sailing you only need a position if weather goes to ****. Then not every 30 seconds.


After that I would spend the money on plotter type:

Garmin, Dakota, Montana or Oregon.

They can be used for all sorts not just sailing... AA batteries last atleast 1 day I normally get several as do not always have my Oregon on.
Click to expand...
+1 - I have a very basic eTrax which for what it is is a fantastic piece of kit, but also have an Oregon with full charts for the whole of GB. Because of the screen size the Oregon has it's limitations but is a fine piece of kit.
 
VicS said:
Depends

Just for sailing around the Solent you don't really need a GPS at all.
Its well buoyed so with the aid of a chart you can see where you are.

Useful to have a basic GPS I guess so that you can plot a position on a chart if you are unlucky enough to find yourself in bad visibility.
Click to expand...

I really don't want to spend money if I have to but my main concern is poor visibility. For instance i am hoping to do my first adventurous single handed trip from Chi Harbour to Bembridge but would be buggered if visibility became poor :eek: I suppose the answer is to not venture out if the forecast is anyway near unsuitable but a GPS would give security and the forecast cannot be relied on....or am I being over cautious to a situation that shouldn't arise!
 
No its not overcautious to see the advantages a GPS can offer in less than perfect vis. Finding your way round a new cruising area, you're likely to learn faster and pay better attention to your navigation if you use a simple GPS to assist your chartwork, than spend out on a chart plotter and skimp on planning!

I have closed the French coast using Decca (old git!) in a dawn mist - the most important call to the skipper was distance off and any sudden jumps in the plot. Happily the mist cleared half a mile off the harbour - just as we were about to turn back and wait offshore, but we were very aware of the collision risk in the fog.

Rob.
 
I tend to agreewith VicS in that, other than in fog, you can normally see where you are and where you are going. Having said that I always have a Garmin 72 running. It's main use is to give me speed over the ground because the log is often US. Use of waypoints is often handy when crossing the tide to check that you aren't going to miss your mark.
If you think there's a possibility of seeing fog then go for a basic handheld and put in a set of waypoints (especially clearing points for the Brambles!). Brush up on tidal navigation.
 
Zagato said:
I really don't want to spend money if I have to but my main concern is poor visibility. For instance i am hoping to do my first adventurous single handed trip from Chi Harbour to Bembridge but would be buggered if visibility became poor :eek: I suppose the answer is to not venture out if the forecast is anyway near unsuitable but a GPS would give security and the forecast cannot be relied on....or am I being over cautious to a situation that shouldn't arise!
Click to expand...

It's wise not to venture out in poor visibility or fog but there can be times when you go out and run into bad visiblity unexpectedly.
I once left Bembridge in bright sunshine but within a mile was in something resembling pea soup. No GPS in those days, not even Decca ... Just RDF and guess what .... the RDF beacon on Chichester bar was out of action!
I eventually found myself off Hayling Island beach and followed a depth contour with the echosounder to find Chichester entrance.

Shipping, esp the one than came round Bembridge ledge just about the time I had reached the shipping channel, was the biggest concern.

GPS would have been helpful with the navigation but would not have helped with the shipping.

We once did the entire trip from Salcombe to the Needles in fog without any electronic aids except RDF, Again it was not the navigation that was the problem. The Needles turned up just where they were supposed to be. It was the risk of bumping into other vessels that was the biggest worry.
 
Cheap GPS

My experience is with the Grmin Etrex.
For the price you would be crazy to go out without one but it does take some familiarity.
The first and easiest thing to do is to mark as a way point your mooring (home) then as you proceed on your voyage mark as another way point any breakwater end or nav mark you need to go around if approaching from the sea. Marking a way point is simply a matter of pressing mark button then OK. The waypoint will appear as a WP number. It is a bit more tedious with much button pressing to give it a name for permanent saving. These simple steps will always give you a direction and distance to home.

On your voyage you can at any time press the mark button and you will be given the Lat and Long of where you are at the time of pressing the mark button. This can then be transfered onto your chart. A bit tedious requiring you to concentrate on the chart. Boats don't stop and wait for you to do this.

For a small boat far better is to plot out your intended voyage on the chart before you go. Read off the Lat and Long of various turn points or stages of the voyage. Transfer these to the GPS and name them.
So now if you have a mental picture of the chart and route to be taken you simply go to the next waypoint.

You get speed over ground, direction you are moving, direction to the waypoint and estimated time to waypoint based on present speed. All from a little device hanging around your neck. You need it there because the figures are quite small. Although direction to WP and speed are reasonably big.I also have a patch of velcro stuck to the bulkhead and on the Etrex so it can be mounted for everyone to see.
Good batteries will last many hours but carry spares. I have a 12v supply cord but never use it.
Yes get one or similar and get famiiar with it. It could save your bacon if visibility goes bad and it is fun to know how far to go and how fast even in good visibility. olewill
 
Zagato said:
I really don't want to spend money if I have to but my main concern is poor visibility. For instance i am hoping to do my first adventurous single handed trip from Chi Harbour to Bembridge but would be buggered if visibility became poor :eek: I suppose the answer is to not venture out if the forecast is anyway near unsuitable but a GPS would give security and the forecast cannot be relied on....or am I being over cautious to a situation that shouldn't arise!
Click to expand...

If you have smart phone with GPS it should get you home.

Install marine AIS and you have the shipping side covered too... Buy a battery life extender type thing if your that worried (£10-£15?)...

To be honest its the route I would take, if you have the phone its cost free..

You have compass? Chart? Echo sounder/ Lead Line? You can guess your speed?

Basic DR should be enough agree that the ability to turn on GPS to get Lat and long to check once in a whilst is nice..

Doing this with your phone should last longer enough for any Solent passage.

Particularly if you turn 3G of...
 
onesea said:
If you have smart phone with GPS it should get you home.

Install marine AIS and you have the shipping side covered too... Buy a battery life extender type thing if your that worried (£10-£15?)...

To be honest its the route I would take, if you have the phone its cost free..

You have compass? Chart? Echo sounder/ Lead Line? You can guess your speed?

Basic DR should be enough agree that the ability to turn on GPS to get Lat and long to check once in a whilst is nice..

Doing this with your phone should last longer enough for any Solent passage.

Particularly if you turn 3G of...
Click to expand...

I agree that these days it's silly not to have a GPS of some sort, be it GPS-enabled mobile phone or a mountaineering GPS set (I think all can switch to showing lat/long and knots), though hundreds of thousands of people have found their way around inshore waters like the Solent without any electronics.

I don't think though that you should be suggesting people use mobile phone AIS - it's not actually receiving AIS signals. Quite apart from the link to the website going down, I strongly suspect that it is not always showing all the AIS signals that you might receive on a genuine AIS unit. Perhaps OK if you treat it with deep suspicion.
 
alahol2 said:
I tend to agreewith VicS in that, other than in fog, you can normally see where you are and where you are going. Having said that I always have a Garmin 72 running. It's main use is to give me speed over the ground because the log is often US. Use of waypoints is often handy when crossing the tide to check that you aren't going to miss your mark.
If you think there's a possibility of seeing fog then go for a basic handheld and put in a set of waypoints (especially clearing points for the Brambles!). Brush up on tidal navigation.
Click to expand...

+1 to all that... I also use a GPS72 and love it.. I loaded it with waypoints for all the marks in the Solent which you can find as a single download from here but they're also available elsewhere via Google....
 
I had a Garmin 72 on my last boat. Excellent bit of kit. Need to load the waypoints, either off the charts or as you pass them on your way out.

Don't waypoint exactly on, say, Chichester Bar. Pick a spot slightly South. You may just find out the hard way just how accurate your GPS is in fog, and everybody else will be going for the same spot.
 
Etrex

I would go with the extrex. It has all the capability you need to back up your chart based navigation and give you confidence that you do really know where you are. Like all electronics, I do not believe that it is a substitute for good navigation practice (know where you are at all times, not when you have a sudden doubt and start to work it out).
One of the things I like about the etrex is its track back function. Other GPS models may have similar functions. Its too useful not to have.

I note that you have Mountain experience, and marine navigation is no different in terms of planning and keeping track of your current position. Visibility on a mountain changes just as quick as at sea, sometimes quicker. On a plus note, the etrex will be a useful tool for your mountaineering if you still do it.
 
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