Can an in-car navigator be used in a boat?

[SgBFish]

Can an in-car navigator (GPS) be used in a boat?
Are they the same as a marine one?
If they have a slot that will take a chart card is this a cheaper option?
The in-car systems seem to be much cheaper.

What’s the difference between a Navman or Garmin system for in-car verses marine systems?

Thanks for the feedback.

[Noelm]

I guess in a word, yes sort of, but not too many street names out there (in the Ocean) and I don't think most car ones give lat and Long, they are designed for land use, but if there was a model that just has Position on earth, then the answer will be yes!

[SgBFish]

Noel most of them have a card slot so do you think they would take a navionics or the like card?

[Noelm]

you could try the makers of the unit and see what they say.

[ozlongboarder]

https://buy.garmin.com/shop/compare....areProduct=402

[tunaticer]

You could use it in your boat however opening the doors on your car bill be hard cuz they will hit the gunnels.

Jack.

[SgBFish]

Jack that's funny...

[finga]

Too bad if you forget to swap the cards back over again and find yourself in the middle of the Bay up to your armpits in briney water whilst your sitting in the family trucksta

[onerabbit]

I would work if you saved your marks to your Favourites list, dont think they are very waterproof though.

Muzz

[Fishin_Dan]

Salt air might not be too good for em

[Haji-Baba]

Hi! Scott.

Why not just put floaties on the Bishi and then you could tow the boat out to your spots. Wouldn't even need to take it off the trailer.

Have fun Haji-Baba

[Marlin_Mike]

Wouldnt that be great if they worked like that:

"In 50 metres turn to starboard...... in 100 metres turn to port. In 100 mts you will be at Brennans Shoal...... or Spot X."....................... hahahahahah


Mike

[SgBFish]

Yes Mike but in a sultry Italian voice.
Haji-Baba hey. What are you doing lurking outside the freshwater forum??
Forecast is ordinary this weekend dad.
May have to take the kids to see the Kitty Hawke.
Scott

[ShMiCk]

Yes, if you don't already have an incar GPS, then I suggest grabbing a PDA with inbuilt GPS. Asus, HP etc have these. Then buy the road software for your PDA such as TomTom, and there are heaps of programs out there that utilise the GPS ariel of the PDA so you can map out waypoints.

That's what I use.

[SteveM01]

Most will work ok in the boat but you can't save waypoints on the water. It gets confused and just looks for the nearest road.

I have a Garmin Zumo 550 which I use in my car, bike and boat. It's designed to be used mainly on a bike and can be set to off-road use. This means you can actually save waypoints anywhere, including on the water.

It has a base map and river, lake etc detail isn't bad. About as good as the base map on most nautical gps. I can use it to cruise around lake Monduran and see exactly where I am. Can also program in reefs etc as it accepts coordiantes.

It won't accept nautical charts though.