Cards for handheld GPS

[dinghydreams]

Ahoy Folks,

I'm looking to get a handheld GPS to help with navigation on my small sailboat, to use in conjunction with paper charts. In the past I've used the Garmin Extrex 20 and found it beyond adequate!

However the owner of the device at one time had to buy a card for it, which was as expensive if not more than the device. I'm just kind of confused how this works. My boat is located on lake champlain where I plan to sail for a while before bringing her down the Hudson River and then eventually into the Atlantic (coastal cruising) and down the ICW...these are long term plans of course....but does anyone know how I would go about getting cards to cover the area? Is it one a time? Or one that might cover all?? Just not sure how the whole card thing works.

Any suggestions on where to look / best stores to buy from and ask questions, or what card to get would be greatly appreciated!!

Cheers!

[Stu Jackson]

You could go to the Garmin website and find out more out the cards or chips. They usually show coverage area on large scale charts.

You could also investigate other electronic charting options. OpenCPN is free nav software that runs on a laptop.

Panbo: The Marine Electronics Hub has lots of info, too.

I would guess that a Google search of electronic navigation would give you TMI, but a good start point.

Good luck. Nice plans.

[SantaFeTrailer]

Check out OpenSeaMap for open source charts you can use on a Garmin handheld.