View Single Post
Old 09-16-2016, 07:29 PM   #20
Seevee
Guru
 
Seevee's Avatar
 
City: st pete
Vessel Model: 430 Mainship
Join Date: Sep 2016
Posts: 3,502
Quote:
Originally Posted by MYTraveler View Post
If, by "GPS plotter", you mean "chart plotter", it does tell you the direction you are headed if it is getting heading information from a GPS-based sat compass.
MYTraveler,

Just for clarification, the vast majority of chart plotters have NO heading information in them at all. They show position, track made good (history) and desired track to get where you're going (if you set up a route). Some have other fancy features that are handy, but for heading, one needs a compass which can be a fancy remote one with a flux gate and be pretty accurate but for HEADING, not track. And heading is magnetic, not true. We rarely need true, but it's probably a thought to understand the difference, especially if one lives in California. Here in FL and the midwest the difference is minimal. (variation).

Track is the thing that gets us where we are going, not heading. Now, FWIW, they are identical if there's no current, wind or tide, which is not likely.
__________________
Seevee
Seevee is offline   Reply With Quote