No Preloaded navigation aids on Garmin GPS72H

[rs1]

Hi all,

I carry a Garmin GPS 72 (no longer made) as a backup to my chartplotter. I had problems with keys falling off the keypad, and Garmin have replaced it with a GPS 72h. The 72 was preloaded with nav aids (lights and so forth), but the 72h has nothing. Garmin say they've stopped loading this information as it was out of date, and they would now have to pay for this data. They suggested I might get similar information from a third party supplier, but after a couple of hours trawling the web the will to live is dwindling. Has anyone else come across this? I know out of date information is unreliable, but I always use paper charts/almanacs etc to confirm anything important, and it's nice to have something loaded as a guide.

 

[Fantasie 19]

Hi all,

I carry a Garmin GPS 72 (no longer made) as a backup to my chartplotter. I had problems with keys falling off the keypad, and Garmin have replaced it with a GPS 72h. The 72 was preloaded with nav aids (lights and so forth), but the 72h has nothing. Garmin say they've stopped loading this information as it was out of date, and they would now have to pay for this data. They suggested I might get similar information from a third party supplier, but after a couple of hours trawling the web the will to live is dwindling. Has anyone else come across this? I know out of date information is unreliable, but I always use paper charts/almanacs etc to confirm anything important, and it's nice to have something loaded as a guide.

Where do you sail??

 

[rs1]

Bristol Channel mainly, but also around Plymouth.

 

[Amulet]

Spend £50 on these charts for your computer - the whole UK. You can then draw the points and routes you care about on the screen and download them to the 72.

(This, in my opinion, is not very good software if you want to use it to navigate, but £50 for all UK charts ain't bad.)

 

[rs1]

Spend £50 on these charts for your computer - the whole UK. You can then draw the points and routes you care about on the screen and download them to the 72.

(This, in my opinion, is not very good software if you want to use it to navigate, but £50 for all UK charts ain't bad.)

Ermmm... which chart software?

 

[Sandy]

I use a Garmin 60CSx for all sorts of things and have been very, very dissapointed in Garmin's mapping offerings, i.e. way out of date and no update path, thankfully there is an Open Source Project that allows you to both edit and download maps.

There is an Open Source Charting Project, but it looks in its infancy. I would follow Amulet's advice and buy the charts and down load what you need onto the GPS.

 

[Fantasie 19]

Hi all,

I carry a Garmin GPS 72 (no longer made) as a backup to my chartplotter. I had problems with keys falling off the keypad, and Garmin have replaced it with a GPS 72h. The 72 was preloaded with nav aids (lights and so forth), but the 72h has nothing. Garmin say they've stopped loading this information as it was out of date, and they would now have to pay for this data. They suggested I might get similar information from a third party supplier, but after a couple of hours trawling the web the will to live is dwindling. Has anyone else come across this? I know out of date information is unreliable, but I always use paper charts/almanacs etc to confirm anything important, and it's nice to have something loaded as a guide.

So what you are looking for is a list of buoys/lights that you can load into the GPS?

Do you have a data cable for the GPS - without that it won't talk to anything so I'm assuming yes....

What kind of plotter do you have??? Can it export data to an external source ie. a PC???

Thinking the easiest thing will be to transfer your waypoints from the plotter to a PC, and then load that file into the GPS72....

In the Solent where I am there are a number of sites that will give you huge lists of buoys as a downloadable GPX file (for the racers) - but I can't see anything for your area...

 

[ProDave]

I have an old Garmin without charts that I use really as just a GPS rather than a plotter.

But I have, using OpenCPN marked all bouys and other useful navigation points simply as waypoints and downloaded those to the Garmin.

 

[rs1]

So what you are looking for is a list of buoys/lights that you can load into the GPS?

Do you have a data cable for the GPS - without that it won't talk to anything so I'm assuming yes....

What kind of plotter do you have??? Can it export data to an external source ie. a PC???

Thinking the easiest thing will be to transfer your waypoints from the plotter to a PC, and then load that file into the GPS72....

In the Solent where I am there are a number of sites that will give you huge lists of buoys as a downloadable GPX file (for the racers) - but I can't see anything for your area...

In reality, I can spend a few winter evenings with charts and almanacs loading the waypoints and lights which are relevant to my (current) cruising areas - I do have a data cable and I've found a bit of free software which will let me do this more easily on a laptop and download to the 72h. I think I'm just a bit miffed that Garmin have withdrawn the preloaded data facility. Going on the maxim that suspect data is worse than no data at all, perhaps they've done me a favour......

My chartplotter (also Garmin) sadly doesn't have a port suitable to transfer out my waypoints.

 

[Amulet]

Ermmm... which chart software?

This.

What a dipstick - forgot the link!

 

[rs1]

This.

What a dipstick - forgot the link!

Not at all - I am most grateful for the help!

 

[Fantasie 19]

Same thing from visitmyharbour.com but for £30 - suitable for using with SeaClear...

Load that on the PC, plug your GPS in and transfer... seemples....

B.t.w, I bought my GPS72 about two years ago I think - and it wasn't preloaded either... I have loaded up a set of free waypoints from one of the Solent racing web sites, but as per ProDave I use it purely as a GPS, navigating from waypoint to waypoint and cross referencing to a (paper) chart when I need to...

 

[misterg]

I think the preloaded information in the GPS72 was limited in its usefulness, but can still be downloaded from Garmin:

http://www8.garmin.com/support/download_details.jsp?id=228

Can this be transferred the the 72H?

Andy

 

[rs1]

I think the preloaded information in the GPS72 was limited in its usefulness, but can still be downloaded from Garmin:

http://www8.garmin.com/support/download_details.jsp?id=228

Can this be transferred the the 72H?

Andy

Thanks, Andy. Not sure about this - the Garmin site has several warnings that loading the Point of Interest database to the wrong unit may render it inoperable, and then it would need to be sent back to them for reprogramming.... I started this thread because I didn't like having lost something when the unit was repaced, but I am now questioning what I actually need and use the GPS it for. This leads me to the conclusion that it's better to load only the specific waypoints and lights/buoys which are relevant to me and my cruising areas - I can then update them when I make changes to my charts, and feel confident they are accurate and reasonably in date.

I am grateful for the excellent advice everyone has come up with.