Garmin GPSMAP 276 - anyone any experience of them?

[gerry99]

I am considering the purchase of one of these to keep in the cockpit when sailing, but also remove down below or at home when not in use. Does anyone have one of these devices and if so what are your experiences and comments? All feedback welcome. Cheers

 

[Captain Haddock]

Hi!

I've got one and I love it, easy to use and easy to update. I bought mine of ebay for £300 quid so I love it even more! :-D (The seller made a mistake and I won the bid at the price so he honoured the deal).

I have mine down below connected to my NASA DSC radio. I also bought the map cartridge for the east coast of the UK.

Yes you can use the cartridge writer thingy for updates, however I figured as I use the 276 to give me a rough idea of where I am I'm not worried about any updates to the on screen chart. My charts are what I use for my updated accurate information.

Hope it helps.

 

[Gunfleet]

The best bit about it is that you can instantly get the nearest tide station up on your screen, so you're looking at a charted depth, you think, I wonder how much water is there now, you press the soft button for tide stations, and hey presto, you know. I know you can do it by hand from the curve in the almanac or from a bit of software on a pda but it's a lot quicker to have it all on one machine

 

[[2068]]

It's the best piece of kit I have ever purchased. Daylight viewable, easy to use, accurate, robust, lasts for about 10 hours on a charge if not plugged into 12v.

My only quibble with Garmin stuff is their policy on Bluecharts. Although realistic and mostly accurate, they only "unlock" to two GPS units, and updates (corrections) are expensive. It's just about manageable if your cruising area is covered by only one "region", if not, prepare to sell Grandma to keep your charts up to date.

You need a PC of some sort to get the best out of it, e.g. to browse around the charts, plan routes, load updates, etc.

Oh, and don't waste your money on the cartridge writer thingy like I did: you can "cook" cartridges while they are sitting in the GPS unit itself by just connecting a USB cable between the unit and a PC.

For Sale: Garmin Cartridge writer thingy. Offers ?

dv.

 

[BrendanS]

I've had both the earlier 176c and the newer 276c. Great bit of kit. Not a lot to say against it

 

[DepSol]

yup I sold one to a client recently who went to St Malo he then left the boat there and hired a car and went on tour round brittany using the extra card he purchased. Need to to find a shop in rennes the plotter took him right to the door of the shop even after he had left the car.

 

[Birdseye]

Bit short on memory for the road maps. BMW currently supply their Garmin clone with 1GB of memory to cover just roads in W Europe. Doesnt the 276 have something like 128k? Prob OK if you arent going too far but...............

Oh and I think the memory cards are Garmin proprietory items ie expensive.