Related to the Laptop USB GPS Antenna thread below I'm wondering if there are some advantages of using a computer for navigation other than the ones I have considered but really are not enough to push me in that direction, even as a back up.
Advantage Handheld
Size and weight - Most are considerably larger and heaver than a handheld.
Durability - I have dropped my hand helds on several occasions without a problem. Wouldn't want to do that with a laptop.
Waterproof - As far a I know unless you really go expensive the laptops are not waterproof while all GPS units I have owned are.
Simple / self contained - No extraneous antenna wires or power cords. Most hand helds have built in antennas and need the power cord only for charging which is often 6-8 hrs.
Ability to be used at the helm - There is a multitude of mounts for handhelds and their smaller size facilitates the mounting at the helm.
Power consumption - Much less with a handheld.
Advantage Laptop
Planning, entering routes and waypoints - It is much easier using a computer for setting up and managing routes and waypoints but after having used a variety of Garmin units for what might be pushing 15 years I have built up a large library of more than 600 waypoints. On occasion I'll enter a new one occasionally but it is not too often. I do most of my planning at home on the computer using Garmin's MapSource program but it is more along the lines of cleaning up un-needed routes and waypoints, eliminating duplicates. On the boat it is just a matter of picking what route I need.
Internet Access - No contest here, although where I cruise a wireless connection would seldom be available.
Ability to play DVD's - This is a little closer as I sometimes will take a long a separate portable DVD player (which are pretty cheap these days) but I'll give it to the laptop.
Screen size - Laptops in general larger so advantage but the color handhelds have great resolution for the most part.
GPS & Computer vs. Handheld GPS or Fixed Chartplotter.
Moderator: Jim Walsh
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Joe CD MS 300
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- Location: Cape Dory Motor Sailor 300 / "Quest" / Linekin Bay - Boothbay Harbor
GPS & Computer vs. Handheld GPS or Fixed Chartplotter.
Better to find humility before humility finds you.
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barfwinkle
- Posts: 2169
- Joined: Feb 6th, '05, 10:34
- Location: S/V Rhapsody CD25D
What you have
Joe I already have two laptops with Nav software so I am leaning on going with just teh GPS Mouse, which if the demonstration I saw Sunday PM was accurate, it is pretty stinking good.
All of your comments are very valid, and I certainly would not take the laptop into the cockpit, I would "afix" it to the nav table and do everything I could to protect it from spray.
Fair winds
All of your comments are very valid, and I certainly would not take the laptop into the cockpit, I would "afix" it to the nav table and do everything I could to protect it from spray.
Fair winds
Bill Member #250.
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tartansailor
- Posts: 1523
- Joined: Aug 30th, '05, 13:55
- Location: CD25, Renaissance, Milton, DE
Chart Book
Purchased a popular Chart Book for the Cheapeake, and along with this spiral bound assembly, came a CD with all sorts of tools
to plot courses, waypoints, markers etc.
I can see that to have a relatively large lap top screen some where in the confines of a dry spot in the cabin, one can navigate with relative ease and enjoy a cruise when conditions are ideal.
However!
More often than not when single handed and I REALLY need to know "Where Are We?" I'm in a panic and am sure to fumble the keys, loose the page, and waste valuable time.
Call me a dinosauer, but this humble sailor will stick to what he knows, and that is a table mounted paper chart under a clear plastic overlay in the cockpit with grease pencil and pelorus in hand.
Having a chart plotter as a back-up I suppose would be nice, but for the cost, I would rather have a new sail.
IMHO
Dick
to plot courses, waypoints, markers etc.
I can see that to have a relatively large lap top screen some where in the confines of a dry spot in the cabin, one can navigate with relative ease and enjoy a cruise when conditions are ideal.
However!
More often than not when single handed and I REALLY need to know "Where Are We?" I'm in a panic and am sure to fumble the keys, loose the page, and waste valuable time.
Call me a dinosauer, but this humble sailor will stick to what he knows, and that is a table mounted paper chart under a clear plastic overlay in the cockpit with grease pencil and pelorus in hand.
Having a chart plotter as a back-up I suppose would be nice, but for the cost, I would rather have a new sail.
IMHO
Dick
chartplotter
The chartplotter I bought a couple of years ago has been very useful. It was whatever basic, color chartplotter Garmin was offering at the time with preloaded coastal charts for around $700. Punching in waypoints is a pain -- the input is less sophisticated than the predictive text on my cell phone. However, I can't think of any real instance while singlehanding where a laptop would have been useful or practical for navigation over the course of the couple thousand miles on the chartplotter odometer. I got the chartplotter because I would find myself sailing along without a reliable autopilot in a seaway and the chart book pages are getting flogged by the wind, wet from spray and studying them too hard in a seaway brings on the mal de mer.
My chartplotter has failed to acquire satellites just enough to keep me paying attention to piloting most of the time, but plotting DR's and acquiring a running fixes while handling all the strings and things is out of my league.
Is there a good interface now between laptop and chartplotter? Can you just plug a USB cable into them and use Maptech or other software and download routes to the plotter? That would be cool, but otherwise can't see how the fragile electronics down below help much with on the fly navigation. Sounds like having the directions to the event in the trunk of the car...
Chase
My chartplotter has failed to acquire satellites just enough to keep me paying attention to piloting most of the time, but plotting DR's and acquiring a running fixes while handling all the strings and things is out of my league.
Is there a good interface now between laptop and chartplotter? Can you just plug a USB cable into them and use Maptech or other software and download routes to the plotter? That would be cool, but otherwise can't see how the fragile electronics down below help much with on the fly navigation. Sounds like having the directions to the event in the trunk of the car...
Chase
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Joe CD MS 300
- Posts: 995
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- Location: Cape Dory Motor Sailor 300 / "Quest" / Linekin Bay - Boothbay Harbor
Chase
Entering waypoints directly into a GPS can be a pain. I did it gradually over the years little by little usually early in the morning on the boat while the family was still sleeping for the days destination or during the winter dreaming about being on the water. Before having any electronic charts I'd take the lat and lon directly off paper charts.
It's much easier now. Depending on the model you have you should be able to connect your Garmin directly to your computer to upload waypoints and routes using MapSource. Aren't you using MapSource? If it is a fixed mount it would probably use a programmable data card to up load route, waypoints and updated software to the unit. One limitation might be units with preloaded charts. I never tried to download the preloaded charts to MapSource as I use prior versions of the Garmin CD BlueCharts when using MapSource to creat waypoints or routes.
Joe
Entering waypoints directly into a GPS can be a pain. I did it gradually over the years little by little usually early in the morning on the boat while the family was still sleeping for the days destination or during the winter dreaming about being on the water. Before having any electronic charts I'd take the lat and lon directly off paper charts.
It's much easier now. Depending on the model you have you should be able to connect your Garmin directly to your computer to upload waypoints and routes using MapSource. Aren't you using MapSource? If it is a fixed mount it would probably use a programmable data card to up load route, waypoints and updated software to the unit. One limitation might be units with preloaded charts. I never tried to download the preloaded charts to MapSource as I use prior versions of the Garmin CD BlueCharts when using MapSource to creat waypoints or routes.
Joe
Better to find humility before humility finds you.
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Neil Gordon
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- Location: s/v LIQUIDITY, CD28. We sail from Marina Bay on Boston Harbor. Try us on channel 9.
- Contact:
Re: Chart Book
Or maybe you'll get the BLUE SCREEN OF DEATH! Then what?tartansailor wrote:More often than not when single handed and I REALLY need to know "Where Are We?" I'm in a panic and am sure to fumble the keys, loose the page, and waste valuable time.
Fair winds, Neil
s/v LIQUIDITY
Cape Dory 28 #167
Boston, MA
CDSOA member #698
s/v LIQUIDITY
Cape Dory 28 #167
Boston, MA
CDSOA member #698
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Leonard Lookner
- Posts: 74
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- Location: Cape Dory 36 mariposa hull #3 Camden Maine
vs. lap top
I always figure the faster you go the bigger screen you need. In a sail boat our hull speed seems to give us enough time to look at a smaller monitor. disadvantage is not being able to plot long distances easy. But paper charts are good for that. In Joe's case he has a motor sailor that I am sure sails more upright than most Cape Dory hulls and certainly should make a lap top easier to use.
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Joe CD MS 300
- Posts: 995
- Joined: Jul 5th, '05, 16:18
- Location: Cape Dory Motor Sailor 300 / "Quest" / Linekin Bay - Boothbay Harbor
Neil,
I didn't think of blue screen issues but that's another item that ties into the general reliability of laptops vs. dedicated GPS units.
Len,
You are right about the MS300 sailing more "on its lines" as the original brochure stated. It starts to get a little squirrley when heeled too much. But there would be plenty of room for a laptop in the pilothouse. After reading all of the comments I'm thinking that if I was still building a database of waypoints and routes that it would probably push me to using a laptop primarily for creating waypoints and routes and as a backup for navigation. Because of the reliability issues I'd still have another GPS as a backup. And then as a last resort I could resort to paper charts
.
I still find that paper charts are the best way to get the big picture, gauge and measure distances. There is a lot of info on a big chart that can be scanned quickly that you just can't do on either a GPS or laptop.
Joe
I didn't think of blue screen issues but that's another item that ties into the general reliability of laptops vs. dedicated GPS units.
Len,
You are right about the MS300 sailing more "on its lines" as the original brochure stated. It starts to get a little squirrley when heeled too much. But there would be plenty of room for a laptop in the pilothouse. After reading all of the comments I'm thinking that if I was still building a database of waypoints and routes that it would probably push me to using a laptop primarily for creating waypoints and routes and as a backup for navigation. Because of the reliability issues I'd still have another GPS as a backup. And then as a last resort I could resort to paper charts
.I still find that paper charts are the best way to get the big picture, gauge and measure distances. There is a lot of info on a big chart that can be scanned quickly that you just can't do on either a GPS or laptop.
Joe
Last edited by Joe CD MS 300 on Mar 4th, '09, 11:20, edited 1 time in total.
Better to find humility before humility finds you.
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Carter Brey
- Posts: 709
- Joined: Feb 5th, '05, 12:02
- Location: 1982 Sabre 28 Mk II #532 "Delphine"
City Island, New York - Contact:
GPS vs laptop
Just speaking for myself, I would never bring my laptop aboard a small sailboat. The electronics are too susceptible to humidity and salt spray. I know lots of folks do this without problems, but I don't have a dedicated chart table.
I got a low-end Garmin fixed mount unit (a 172C), mounted it on the binnacle, and connected it to my wheel pilot as well as my DSC VHF. It's been great; it fits perfectly inside the binnacle guard and can swing to any orientation for easy legibility. After use, it's a snap to disconnect and carry below. It uses regional data cards that slip into a slot in front. I can program it to navigate to a waypoint and it compensates for cross track error. Haven't run into any interposed islands yet. It also provides useful tide and celestial information (moon phase, sunrise, etc), by the way. Once you figure out how to enter waypoints, it's not too tedious a task.
I also keep a handheld chartplotter (a Garmin eTrex) and lots of batteries as backup.
Despite the self-adulatory rush I got from installing all this gadgetry and seeing it at work, I use printed charts at least as much if not more; the electronics are a convenience. One point at which the gadget and the paper chart intersect nicely, however, is they way in which the SOG from the GPS is much more useful than the speed-thru-water from the paddlewheel knotmeter in dead reckoning.
Carter Brey
s/v Delphine (Sabre 28 MkII #532)
(on the road, and with several Maptech waterproof charts in my backpack for daydreaming and trip planning during plane rides)
I got a low-end Garmin fixed mount unit (a 172C), mounted it on the binnacle, and connected it to my wheel pilot as well as my DSC VHF. It's been great; it fits perfectly inside the binnacle guard and can swing to any orientation for easy legibility. After use, it's a snap to disconnect and carry below. It uses regional data cards that slip into a slot in front. I can program it to navigate to a waypoint and it compensates for cross track error. Haven't run into any interposed islands yet. It also provides useful tide and celestial information (moon phase, sunrise, etc), by the way. Once you figure out how to enter waypoints, it's not too tedious a task.
I also keep a handheld chartplotter (a Garmin eTrex) and lots of batteries as backup.
Despite the self-adulatory rush I got from installing all this gadgetry and seeing it at work, I use printed charts at least as much if not more; the electronics are a convenience. One point at which the gadget and the paper chart intersect nicely, however, is they way in which the SOG from the GPS is much more useful than the speed-thru-water from the paddlewheel knotmeter in dead reckoning.
Carter Brey
s/v Delphine (Sabre 28 MkII #532)
(on the road, and with several Maptech waterproof charts in my backpack for daydreaming and trip planning during plane rides)
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Maine Sail
- Posts: 839
- Joined: Feb 8th, '06, 18:30
- Location: Canadian Sailcraft 36T
I really must ask...
I really must ask an honest question?
Considering that the wind NEVER goes where I want to I find I am rarely if ever on the exact course I set out on or the one I plotted (38 years of this).
I quit route planning, other than on paper charts, years ago when point & shoot plotters came out. If I need a plotted course I simply pull out my marked up charts and pick one of the hundreds I created over the years before plotters or when fog was due.
Sailing is a free spirited journey and we often change destinations as the wind changes, Often times we will have six or seven "destinations" we are working towards throughout a day and we always wind up at one other than we intended. This is part of the fun of sailing to me. I have a buddy, who really is not too much for "spur of the moment decisions" because he ALWAYS sails to his pre-plotted destination and has a "won't vary" personality/policy.
It takes me all of about 5-10 seconds to find a new mark and hit "go to". When I get to the next mark I hit the next one into teh plotter and hit "go to" again. There is no way I am going to sit down and plot every mark on the Maine coast, cause often our marks are spot soundings not can or nuns..
The ONLY times I plot an actual course in my plotter is if it's 4:00 p.m. and we want to know if we'll make Isle Au Haut by dark or if the fog rolls in then I plot to destination from where we are. Again, this takes me all of about 30-60 seconds wile standing at the helm. If I was off a "pre-planned" route due to wind or other factors I would still need to do this, while at the helm, for an accurate ETA so why do it twice?
Am I alone in my simple & easy course plotting style here?
Before anyone slams me over being totally dependent on a GPS I am fully capable of DED/DEAD reckoning and course plotting and my compass is professionally calibrated with deviation card. I sailed these waters for 25 years before using any sort of electronics for navigation..
IMHO plotting a pre-planed route is not entirely necessary with new plotters. I have sailed from Nova Scotia to MD & beyond without doing so.
I hear lots of talk of folks plotting courses on computer and I just don't get it? Personally I love the ability to not have to pre-plan a route and the ability to do this on the fly and sail where and when i please without the constrains of a pre-planned route...
So as not to hijack this thread I do own a computer w/nav and multiple plotters and all I can say is this..... PLOTTER!!!!!!!
P.S. I purchased one of the first hand held plotters to hit the market back in 1997 a Garmin GPS MAP 175. My plotters are on & at the helm when I am sailing ALWAYS. In the 13+ years I have been using on board GPS I have yet to lose a signal and we put on a minimum of 1000 nm each season and many seasons it is more than that. This is a fairly good reliability record. While I'm sure loss of signal can happen I have yet to see it...
Considering that the wind NEVER goes where I want to I find I am rarely if ever on the exact course I set out on or the one I plotted (38 years of this).
I quit route planning, other than on paper charts, years ago when point & shoot plotters came out. If I need a plotted course I simply pull out my marked up charts and pick one of the hundreds I created over the years before plotters or when fog was due.
Sailing is a free spirited journey and we often change destinations as the wind changes, Often times we will have six or seven "destinations" we are working towards throughout a day and we always wind up at one other than we intended. This is part of the fun of sailing to me. I have a buddy, who really is not too much for "spur of the moment decisions" because he ALWAYS sails to his pre-plotted destination and has a "won't vary" personality/policy.
It takes me all of about 5-10 seconds to find a new mark and hit "go to". When I get to the next mark I hit the next one into teh plotter and hit "go to" again. There is no way I am going to sit down and plot every mark on the Maine coast, cause often our marks are spot soundings not can or nuns..
The ONLY times I plot an actual course in my plotter is if it's 4:00 p.m. and we want to know if we'll make Isle Au Haut by dark or if the fog rolls in then I plot to destination from where we are. Again, this takes me all of about 30-60 seconds wile standing at the helm. If I was off a "pre-planned" route due to wind or other factors I would still need to do this, while at the helm, for an accurate ETA so why do it twice?
Am I alone in my simple & easy course plotting style here?
Before anyone slams me over being totally dependent on a GPS I am fully capable of DED/DEAD reckoning and course plotting and my compass is professionally calibrated with deviation card. I sailed these waters for 25 years before using any sort of electronics for navigation..
IMHO plotting a pre-planed route is not entirely necessary with new plotters. I have sailed from Nova Scotia to MD & beyond without doing so.
I hear lots of talk of folks plotting courses on computer and I just don't get it? Personally I love the ability to not have to pre-plan a route and the ability to do this on the fly and sail where and when i please without the constrains of a pre-planned route...
So as not to hijack this thread I do own a computer w/nav and multiple plotters and all I can say is this..... PLOTTER!!!!!!!
P.S. I purchased one of the first hand held plotters to hit the market back in 1997 a Garmin GPS MAP 175. My plotters are on & at the helm when I am sailing ALWAYS. In the 13+ years I have been using on board GPS I have yet to lose a signal and we put on a minimum of 1000 nm each season and many seasons it is more than that. This is a fairly good reliability record. While I'm sure loss of signal can happen I have yet to see it...
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Joe CD MS 300
- Posts: 995
- Joined: Jul 5th, '05, 16:18
- Location: Cape Dory Motor Sailor 300 / "Quest" / Linekin Bay - Boothbay Harbor
Maine sail,
Rather than being alone, I'd guess that there are probably more that use the point and shoot method going from mark to mark than those that use a full route. The entering of routes and and waypoints is no where near as fun as sailing but when you are lusting for being on a boat when you can't it is a little bit of a fix.
I use the routes a lot for determining options for the days final destination, often moving closer and closer as the crew sleeps later and later. When sailing I'll typically have a route active (it may have been created 15 years ago) but it is just a general guide and will often skip waypoints when the wind isn't cooperating. I do use the estimate of the ETA a lot, especially going west. I hate dodging the lobster pots heading into a setting sun late into the day.
You are right about sailing being a free spirited journey.Unfortunately living so far from my boat (450 mi) I often do not have the luxury of unlimited time. It's better than when I was chartering up in Maine. A week was never long enough, often looking forward to the next trip as soon as one ended and entering waypoints in between.
Joe
Rather than being alone, I'd guess that there are probably more that use the point and shoot method going from mark to mark than those that use a full route. The entering of routes and and waypoints is no where near as fun as sailing but when you are lusting for being on a boat when you can't it is a little bit of a fix.
I use the routes a lot for determining options for the days final destination, often moving closer and closer as the crew sleeps later and later. When sailing I'll typically have a route active (it may have been created 15 years ago) but it is just a general guide and will often skip waypoints when the wind isn't cooperating. I do use the estimate of the ETA a lot, especially going west. I hate dodging the lobster pots heading into a setting sun late into the day.
You are right about sailing being a free spirited journey.Unfortunately living so far from my boat (450 mi) I often do not have the luxury of unlimited time. It's better than when I was chartering up in Maine. A week was never long enough, often looking forward to the next trip as soon as one ended and entering waypoints in between.
Joe
Better to find humility before humility finds you.
Using a laptop
I hope I can write this out in a understandable manner, but here goes:
I use a laptop as a matter of routine when sailing. Especially when going into a jetty channel at night. The laptop gives me a Heading Made Good line that I use along with a good set of binoculars to find the actual buoys. The laptop gives me all the details of a paper chart, and I can update my charts quickly and free or nearly free. Now of course I keep paper charts onboard, along with a handheld GPS for backup. But the handheld GPS gets as much backup work as the sextant.
I work on Tug boats, and the same style of navigation (laptops) has been the norm for years on small tugs (less then 400 tons) While we often lay out paper charts, no one really looks at them when entering the channel. Now, one of the main reasons for using the laptop is we have them hooked up to the AIS for data entry. If you ever worry about getting run down by a commercial boat, I can tell you that AIS, especially if you have the full system that transmits, is a excellent way to relieve that worry. On the commercial tugs, we use the AIS as one of the main tools for collusion avoidance
On my personal boat, I keep the laptop bungeed down on the chart table. I then just stick my head in the cabin and see how I am doing on the course made good line. About the only big problem that I have seen with laptops either on a sailboat or commercial is dimming down the light level at night. Most of us use a piece of window tinting that we either velcro or tape over the screen at night. Personally I always go to twilight mode at night and just use a dark tint for the screen cover. I am not a big fan of night mode for most of the Nav programs I have used, I feel to much detail is lost when the screen is all red.
For me, the laptop is a inexpensive way to have electronic charting with its course made good, speed, next buoy and so on... With the laptop I get up to date charts whenever I want without spending a lot of money, Now of course, if you have all the time in the word, you could keep your paper charts up to date with the Notice to Mariners, for me though doing updates is still a lot of work, and is to much like work, for whenever I come on hitch, it always seems my relief did not do the paper updates and I have a month of updates to complete.
I hope I have not butchered the written language too badly, needless to say I never went for a English major.
Ocean31
I use a laptop as a matter of routine when sailing. Especially when going into a jetty channel at night. The laptop gives me a Heading Made Good line that I use along with a good set of binoculars to find the actual buoys. The laptop gives me all the details of a paper chart, and I can update my charts quickly and free or nearly free. Now of course I keep paper charts onboard, along with a handheld GPS for backup. But the handheld GPS gets as much backup work as the sextant.
I work on Tug boats, and the same style of navigation (laptops) has been the norm for years on small tugs (less then 400 tons) While we often lay out paper charts, no one really looks at them when entering the channel. Now, one of the main reasons for using the laptop is we have them hooked up to the AIS for data entry. If you ever worry about getting run down by a commercial boat, I can tell you that AIS, especially if you have the full system that transmits, is a excellent way to relieve that worry. On the commercial tugs, we use the AIS as one of the main tools for collusion avoidance
On my personal boat, I keep the laptop bungeed down on the chart table. I then just stick my head in the cabin and see how I am doing on the course made good line. About the only big problem that I have seen with laptops either on a sailboat or commercial is dimming down the light level at night. Most of us use a piece of window tinting that we either velcro or tape over the screen at night. Personally I always go to twilight mode at night and just use a dark tint for the screen cover. I am not a big fan of night mode for most of the Nav programs I have used, I feel to much detail is lost when the screen is all red.
For me, the laptop is a inexpensive way to have electronic charting with its course made good, speed, next buoy and so on... With the laptop I get up to date charts whenever I want without spending a lot of money, Now of course, if you have all the time in the word, you could keep your paper charts up to date with the Notice to Mariners, for me though doing updates is still a lot of work, and is to much like work, for whenever I come on hitch, it always seems my relief did not do the paper updates and I have a month of updates to complete.
I hope I have not butchered the written language too badly, needless to say I never went for a English major.
Ocean31
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Ray Garcia
- Posts: 258
- Joined: Apr 27th, '05, 22:08
- Location: 1981 CD27 #212 "Spirit" Huntington, NY
- Contact:
This months Masthead
Hopefully my article will make this months (Feb/Mar) Masthead newsletter. I describe setting up your own chart plotter on a low cost laptop. If you already own a Windows* laptop it's cheaper than you think. That was my unbashful attempt to get you to read the article.
Maine Sail:
Good point. I would agree most of us, me included are using the point and shoot method. Like yourself when the sun goes down, bad weather, or I take an extended cruise to unfamiliar waters everything gets plugged in. I also keep a log writing down my time, lat/lon, speed, and direction on long trips even though the GPS is already taking care of this. I always carry paper charts just in case anything fails. Using a chart plotter makes everything so convenient. No writing, no plotting, no time=distance/speed, it's all there in front of me immediately. The best part you can follow that same line back to where you came from. How many of you without radar have traced back your route in the fog? I know I have.
As far as the power goes; I don't keep the laptop open with the display on when I have it aboard. I change the advanced power setting to "Do nothing" when I close the laptop lid. It keeps the program(s) going when the lid is shut, but turns off the display thus saving power. When I return below to check my progress, I open the lid, the display comes on, and there is my information. Most laptops have a 12 volt adapter available for purchase that will connect to your boat or car.
[img]http://www.cd27spirit.us/images/board/window.jpg[/img]
*I am not biased to a "Windows" machine. I actually love my Macintosh better, but there is a very limited choice of navigation software available for Macintosh. Maybe because Macintosh machines are used to do "real" work on a computer.
Maine Sail:
Good point. I would agree most of us, me included are using the point and shoot method. Like yourself when the sun goes down, bad weather, or I take an extended cruise to unfamiliar waters everything gets plugged in. I also keep a log writing down my time, lat/lon, speed, and direction on long trips even though the GPS is already taking care of this. I always carry paper charts just in case anything fails. Using a chart plotter makes everything so convenient. No writing, no plotting, no time=distance/speed, it's all there in front of me immediately. The best part you can follow that same line back to where you came from. How many of you without radar have traced back your route in the fog? I know I have.
As far as the power goes; I don't keep the laptop open with the display on when I have it aboard. I change the advanced power setting to "Do nothing" when I close the laptop lid. It keeps the program(s) going when the lid is shut, but turns off the display thus saving power. When I return below to check my progress, I open the lid, the display comes on, and there is my information. Most laptops have a 12 volt adapter available for purchase that will connect to your boat or car.
[img]http://www.cd27spirit.us/images/board/window.jpg[/img]
*I am not biased to a "Windows" machine. I actually love my Macintosh better, but there is a very limited choice of navigation software available for Macintosh. Maybe because Macintosh machines are used to do "real" work on a computer.