Charting softwares - Cruisers beware!

[Norlamin]

Inquire about newfangled copy protections of some new charting softwares not advertised before you buy, which make them risky for many cruisers. Some of these schemes needs a "dongle", a piece of harware to plug-in to your Laptop, and if it gets damaged or lost, your are stuck and your investment is gone. Others want you to call-in for registration, if the software gets damaged on your hard disk and you want to reinstall it. Calling from oversees or from the middle of the Ccean is not simple, which makes them also high risk investment.

[Gisle]

I have a "dongle" (hardware lock) for my navigation system, and it's not cheap to buy an extra for safety.

[Norlamin]

That is why I bought NavPak-Pro from Globenav.com which doesn't have these problems and have much better customer support. I am happy with it and have no worry when I am offshore.

Norlamin

[Gerald Simons]

Likewise. I too am happy with NavPak and their support. They have a new user group which you can get to from their website @ www.globenav.com They've added this forum to their link section as well as a mention in their last newsletter. Maybe people who belong to nautical themed newsgroups etc could do similar? Best to all, Gerald