Garmin Chip prices

[stnick]

I have a Garmin 741 touch screen and i just found out Garmn has Just raised the price of the chips for charts to 350.00 per chart.! I remember 150 !
I understand Garnin has just purchased the navonics company and the new Garnin chip will work on both units. But not yet !
I think 1K for the unit and 350. per chip is Trying to take advantage of sailors.
Some will just buy Explorer charts instead of chips ?
I just dont think its fair and semi honest doing price control

 

[terry_thatcher]

pretty outrageous. in mexico, Navionics had much better charts than Garmin.

consider getting Navionics for a tablet. I used an IPad (which is not without its apple problems, but that is another story). got the charts from iNavX. used a dongle from Bad Elf to give me GPS location on the chart.

 

[jimcleary]

Terry
When we first entered the world of sailing, we realized there was a whole new language to learn in order to be proficient. As the years went on and our sailing skills advanced, the new language became integral to the process. With new innovations there comes new words to be added to the sailing language that we have to absorb. But you will have to excuse me if I ask the question: what the hell is a "dongle from Bad Elf" ?

Jim

 

[mpearson]

Jim - I got a good belly laugh on that one. A totally fair and hilarious question: what the hell is a “dongle from a Bad Elf”?

No, it’s not a medical term.

Some iPads (cellular versions) have a built in GPS. Other iPads (WiFi versions) don’t have GPS. To get GPS coordinates on iPad apps that don’t have GPS, you can attach Bluetooth or cabled ‘external’ GPS devices that feed their coordinates to the iPad. Also if you need highly accurate coordinates some external GPS devices have more elaborate GPS receivers so they can get better accuracy than the iPad’s built in GPS.

‘Bad Elf’ is a manufacturer of external GPS devices. They are really well made and they have different accuracy models with increasing price for increasing accuracy, up to ‘survey grade’. I think even their lower end unit is plenty accurate enough for boating.

https://bad-elf.com/pages/marine

I used to have a Bad Elf but I lost it someplace. Or it escaped back to Santa’s workshop at the North Pole?

For my Bad Elf replacement, I decided to “cheap out”. It’s the only inexpensive thing I’ve ever put on the boat (!), but it’s really a backup for Zia’s B&G GPS & Chartplotter. One of several backups, actually. So I had problems rationalizing spending more.

https://www.amazon.com/gp/product/B006M49G80/ref=ppx_yo_dt_b_asin_title_o00_s00?ie=UTF8&psc=1

If it was my primary system I would get a Bad Elf.

A ‘dongle’ is a small device that can be attached to, and used by a computer. Because Terry said ‘dongle’, I’m guessing he has the kind of Bad Elf that plugs directly into the iPad instead of a Bluetooth model.

How’s that for a long answer?!

Cheers,
-Mark

 

[dave_a]

So how's your dongle, Cleary?

 

[terry_thatcher]

And please know that I can use these words only because my 22 year old son has taught them to me. He runs the sat phone and lap top by which we can obtain offshore weather. Had he not been aboard on our Pacific voyage, I would have been computer (and weather) blind.

 

[jimcleary]

OK, I can see that this summer I'll have to enlist the assistance of Ella, my 9 year old Granddaughter, to see if she can sweet talk the Bad Elf into doing me a dongle so I can find my way in the world.

Jim

 

[jimcleary]

On a more serious note. As we enter a harbor, is it proper to dangle our dongle from the port or starboard spreader?

Jim