Garmin GPSmap 78sc chart purchase

[Lisa Longshadow]

Friends, i'm considering spending $149.99 and buying the Garmin chart for Central America & Caribbean.

Any feedback on buying the charrts, installing it, using it, etc?

[SV Pelagic Life]

We went all over that map for three years, it was very accurate. Easy to upload to the chartplotter and keep it updated with the ActiveCaptain app.

I think there's a newer layout, depending on where you want to go. Again, it was spot on going through the Panama Canal and on the west coast of Panama. This same newer chart includes the Galapagos. We're halfway there now.

[wholybee]

For the gpsmap 78sc? Don't bother.

I love the 78sc and bought a few of them so I'll have one when they discontinue them and I don't want a newer one. Charts are mostly unusable on it. The screen is too small and too low resolution. Get Navionics on your phone instead. Ten thousand times better, and cheaper.

Also, I did buy one chart for it quite a while ago. Garmin's process for authorizing a chart and loading into the unit is just about impossible. After working with support for a week, they gave me a refund.

I will load routes into the 78sc and can follow them, get trip data, and I even use it to run my autopilot sometimes. But for actually looking at a chart, I use something else.

[SV Pelagic Life]

I can't speak to how it would look on a 78sc, but I have two 721 that I wouldn't even try to load a chart on; I just use them as big displays for wind and depth.

Our main chartplotter is an 8616 and is fantastic.