gps/laptop

[baggypipes]

hope this isn't a daft question & basic to some of you,
i want to try using imray charts on the laptop, (as well as paper charts). do you/can you buy a seperate gps to plug in usb or what. i have a garmin 120 XL which i asume cannot be connected to the laptop. many thanks for any advice

 

[Heckler]

my Garmin 12 will plug in to the laptop using an adapter, then Maptech charts interact with the GPS and show where you are etc.
Stu

 

[yoda]

Both are possible. USB GPS mouse can be had from many sources for very little. A quich search on google will tell you if Garmin make a data cable for the GPS but it will then need to be input to the computer which may present problems if you don't have a serial port. The USB GPS is probably the least problamatic route and leave you with 2 different position sources.

Yoda

 

[2nd_apprentice]

The advantage with using a "proper" GPS is that you can create and upload waypoints very easily. The disadvantage of relying on a USB GPS mouse: without laptop it's useless.
Most GPS want to talk to your laptop via serial connection so you'll need an usb adapter. No big thing. The Garmin 60 seems to use usb though.

 

[Danny]

The Garmin 120xl connects to a PC via a serial port so, if your PC only has USB ports, you will need a serial/USB converter.

Connect this way and you can transfer wps to/from the GPS and drive your chart program.

The 120xl has a 7 pin connector. You'll need to use the NMEA out, NMEA in and Ground pins. See the manual. If you don't have the required cable/connector you should be able to source one. Try eBay maybe.

Any problems with how to connect then ask here. There's a lot of us been through this exercise in the past.

 

[leomagill]

You can get a gps 'mouse' very cheaply off ebay with usb lead, if it's one with a little black box along it's lead you can usually open it and get a straight serial output as well for other uses.

 

[RobBrown]

Or you can get a bluetooth puck gps and connect with a bluetooth dongle. I already had the dongle , but they are only about £10-15 and bluetooth GPS from Hong Kong via Ebay was £29.99 inc postage. Have used this set up for 3 years with RYA Admiralty Chartplotter and Maptech Chart Navigator and latterly Imray DC, but have also linked up boat Garmin 128 via a serial USB convertor lead from Amazon (cost about £15) as added redundancy!

 

[Danny]

[ QUOTE ]
You can get a gps 'mouse' very cheaply off ebay with usb lead, if it's one with a little black box along it's lead you can usually open it and get a straight serial output as well for other uses.

[/ QUOTE ]Or alternatively (to USB and Bluetooth) a PCMCIA one for your laptop.

These are OK I suppose but I'd prefer to attach the 120xl and be able to manage its waypoints on the PC - and maybe have a h/h GPS with internal batteries as backup as this would not require the PC or the boat's 12v supply to be functioning.