How many GPS devices on your boat?

[LittleSister]

Indeed, the proliferation of them on Ariam is not some kind of obsessive 10-fold backup idea. It's just how things have worked out as a result of cheap and ubiquitous GPS chips.

I read that once upon a time electric motors were fairly expensive, so in a home workshop you might have one motor and a dozen attachments (drills, saws, sanders, etc) you could use with it.

I'm not knocking the number of them that other people have - good luck to them. Just explaining our situation, and that it's not (yet) universal to have loads.

The situation with lots of power tools driven from one motor may also be in some cases a hangover from steam power, where they all would have been driven by a system of belts from a single stationary steam engine. When the steam engine was eventually consigned to the dustbin, it would have been easier (and cheaper) to replace it with a single electric motor, rather than replace all the tools.

 

[JumbleDuck]

Indeed, the proliferation of them on Ariam is not some kind of obsessive 10-fold backup idea. It's just how things have worked out as a result of cheap and ubiquitous GPS chips.

A chap I know was recently commissioned to design a new and very slightly smart reversing light switch for goods vehicles. Had to do something different on a short push and a long push, as I recall. The cheapest way to do it was to use an ARM-based SoC (system on chip). An entire computer to control one light cost about a third of the price of discrete components.

 

[Bi111ion]

As part of equipment of boat:
Matsutec HP33A AIS/GPS
USB GPS stick on Navigatrix nav computer
BR-355 Puck feeding VHF/DSC
BR-355 Puck feeding SSB/DSC all three above use SiRF Star III chipset I think
Built in GPS in Standard Horizon hand held VHF/DSC
Old Magellan Hand held GPS in grab bag.
Mcmurdo AIS MOB beacon.

I also typically carry a Samsung Tablet and two Samsung S4 phones and a waterproof camera that has a GPS in it.
And usually crew members' phones have a GPS too. A certain oftentimes first mate uses his own old hand held GPS when on watch with a comprehensive collection of way points.

Interestingly only the Samsung Phones are GLONASS compatible, and typically the most accurate, followed by the Matsutec

 

[prv]

A chap I know was recently commissioned to design a new and very slightly smart reversing light switch for goods vehicles. Had to do something different on a short push and a long push, as I recall. The cheapest way to do it was to use an ARM-based SoC (system on chip). An entire computer to control one light cost about a third of the price of discrete components.

Not especially surprising that a microcontroller would be cheaper than a custom logic circuit, but I'm surprised he went all the way up to ARM. This job seems made for one of the smallest varieties of PIC.

Pete

 

[JumbleDuck]

Not especially surprising that a microcontroller would be cheaper than a custom logic circuit, but I'm surprised he went all the way up to ARM. This job seems made for one of the smallest varieties of PIC.

He considered PIC, but ARM was cheaper. 40p each, I think he said, might have been 80p.

 

[KellysEye]

Jane and I did over 10,000 nms with one fixed GPS, one handheld GPS, a spare handheld in the grab bag and a sextant with tables. No chartplotter, no AIS, and no DSC radio we didn't need them and thought a chart plotter was a waste of money because we had to carry charts in case it broke.