Navigation Software for PC ?

[seattle sailor]

Gearing up for a cruise and am wondering what type of nav software you have for your PC's. Thanks.

[Wester]

OpenCPN on this forum cold maybe be a candidate, looks rely god so far.
But i have not tested it on water in the real world yet

Leif

[Hud3]

Hi, seattle sailor. Click on the link in my signature and do a little keyword searching. There's a ton of info in our archives.

[Factor]

GPS NAVX - Just brilliant. (For MAC)

[keyspc]

fugawi.
got to be the most user friendly thing out there! also has the benifit of copying to PPC(windoes mobile phons and PDAs). I've used it to steer a horseshoe bend in full dark.
that and a 35$ garmin usb18 antenna and a 22 inch moniter.

[Quads]

Fugawi or Coastal Explorer

[Meck]

Hi,

I'm in the market for PC navigation software as well. We are going to be cruising the Western Caribbean down to Columbia.

Does Fugawi support this region?

I heard that you can also do Google Earth Satellite image overlays with Fugawi, is that true?

That could come in really handy in some areas that have poor chart availability..

Thanks,
Meck

[Quads]

Any vendor will (should) support any area you cruise to. Purchase the charts based on the location in which you travel, not the application. Standard S75, Maptech, or other charts will work in Fugawi, Nobeltec, CE, and others.

Coastal Explorer as well many others, have overlay features if you have an internet connection.

[keyspc]

panama charts + raster - Google Search=

Geez theres a bunch of em!
what i like about it is all the US charts are free from NOAA.
dont know where i got all my cuba charts from but thats as far south as i dont go

[HobieFan]

I've used SeaClear II a bit. Don't have much experience with the alternatives. It imports the NOAA charts directly, but doesn't seamlessly integrate them, so you're using an electronic copy of the paper charts. Not ideal, but it's free!

:-)

[RTB]

We sailed from Florida to Cartagena, Colombia earlier this year using Maptech Offshore Navigator. Worked perfectly.

http://www.youtube.com/watch?v=D56krmI7EKY

[speciald@ocens.]

The best but not cheapest is MaxSea TZ. It is a sail routing program that uses gribs, and polars to tell you what direction to sail to optimize your course. It even tells you what sails to use.

[meyermm]

Maxsea not the cheapest your right there unbelievably expensive for the average cruiser

[RTB]

Originally Posted by speciald@ocens.

The best but not cheapest is MaxSea TZ. It is a sail routing program that uses gribs, and polars to tell you what direction to sail to optimize your course. It even tells you what sails to use.

Kinda takes the fun out of being the captain, and figuring what you need for your current weather/situation (observed). I'll stick with a basic nav program.

[meyermm]

Originally Posted by Factor

GPSS NAVX - Just brilliant. (For MAC)

I took your advice and did a little net research and came up with MAC ENC as well as GPS NAVX do you have any experience with to compare. I am just looking at a new notebook and the MAC is staring to interest me. Are there any drawbacks with the MAC as far as general boat/cruise programme compatibility. Many moons ago I had a MAC machine but programme availability and compatibility killed it for me.