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Old 01-12-2016, 06:25 AM   #28
Donsan
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City: Satsuma FL
Vessel Name: No Mo Trawla
Vessel Model: Hurricane SS188
Join Date: Jul 2014
Posts: 2,300
Quote:
Originally Posted by FF View Post
Does anyone think just an I pad or similar would be a reasonable nav method , or would a GPS for an old lap top be a better nav tool?
If you buy a cellular iPad, you know the GPS will work and provide reasonable navigation location with one of the well known marine navigation apps.

If you try to marry up a GPS dongle or puck to an old laptop, it might work but then it might not depending on how old the laptop is and what version of Windows you have. Also, keep in mind you will need a navigation software package for the laptop which can be fairly expensive and the old laptop might not have the horsepower (disk space, CPU power, and/or RAM) to drive it. OpenCPN of course is free but it is kind of a resource hog IMHO. The only way to tell is looking at all the specs for the GPS dongle/puck, the navigation software and the old laptop. Also keep in mind, the graphics displays on old laptops are quite substandard compared to an iPad and the graphics can also be quite slow. There is no easy answer on the old laptop approach. If it all works together, you have a cheap navigation system but unless you are quite knowledgeable on PCs, the screw you get might not be worth the screw you get. I would recommend if you want a laptop navigation system to go with a new or newer laptop and not the el cheapo models.
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