Winnipesaukee Forum - View Single Post - New to boating looking for advice on GPS's

Orion · 03-04-2016, 08:56 AM

I have to say that I would by far prefer a GPS to a map if I had to pick. The GPS includes the chart and tells you where you are on it. Of course constant visual and depth confirmation are used to cross-check the GPS whenever I go out. Navigating this lake at night without GPS is very difficult. Heck, navigating this lake in daytime can be difficult, and we won't even talk about fog (if you're an islander, you'll encounter this). I do have paper charts in both boats and my cell phone also has the Navionics app (which is excellent, and I sometimes hand off to a passenger when night navigating to back me up). As for my background, I was a trained U.S. Navy navigator, and navigated across the ocean using a sextant and LORAN. Give me a modern GPS any day!

03-04-2016, 08:56 AM	#18
Orion Senior Member Join Date: Feb 2003 Location: Cow Island Posts: 914 Thanks: 602 Thanked 193 Times in 91 Posts	respectfully disagree with some I have to say that I would by far prefer a GPS to a map if I had to pick. The GPS includes the chart and tells you where you are on it. Of course constant visual and depth confirmation are used to cross-check the GPS whenever I go out. Navigating this lake at night without GPS is very difficult. Heck, navigating this lake in daytime can be difficult, and we won't even talk about fog (if you're an islander, you'll encounter this). I do have paper charts in both boats and my cell phone also has the Navionics app (which is excellent, and I sometimes hand off to a passenger when night navigating to back me up). As for my background, I was a trained U.S. Navy navigator, and navigated across the ocean using a sextant and LORAN. Give me a modern GPS any day!