what about the Garmim 176c plotter

[zod550]

My Brother just got one and i am looking at the same, does anybody have any experience with this little plotter?

[Rene]

Hi

I have one.

Positive.
It's a very nice little plotter, it can do anything you want it to, and then a bit. The colors are great, and maps are very accurate, but a little expensive.

Negative.
The screen is very small. (Running at 25 knots i a little choppy sea you can't read the screen)

Colors are great, and I really like them, but if you don't have shade you need the backlight to be on at all times otherwise you can't read the display

My conclusion.
Se if you can borrow your brothers, and bring it out on the RIB.
I think you should go for the bigger one 182c if you like the colors. I would if I was to get a new one.
But I follow the sugestion from Garmin..........

Last note.
Be very carefull with the connection plug on the back side. mine is getting coroded very fast, ugly green color.

Hope this helps
Regards
Rene

[Andre]

Garmin 176C

I have got the Garmin 176C and agree with Rene's comments. Would like to add that the back plug keeps coming out so I have had to secure this with an elastic band and when travelling back from St Malo last September the bracket broke . However good old Garmin replaced this FOC and threw in some new leads as well
I got mine from www.thegpsstore.com and even after paying the UK VAT and delivery charge much cheaper then from UK dealer.

Andre

[JCW]

For Information.

I have a Garmin 176 (mono) and a Garmin 176C (US import).

My opinion of these units is good. The 176C in certain lighting conditions (eg the sun in your face behind the unit) can be difficult to view. The 176 has better readabilty in these conditions. I prefer the 176C as the colour representaions are identical to Admiralty paper charts, therefore it is easy to distinguish depth contours without having to look at the actual figures.

The screen updates very quickly and the sattelites aquire within seconds of switching the unit on.

The supplied mountings with the Garmin 176 is poor. I can recommend buying a 'Ram' mount !!Ram mounts


This Ram mount is very robust and has served me well in very bumpy conditons on both my small Rib and Sib. The mounting can aid in positioning the unit as close to you as you possible to make up for the small screen on the unt

I have had no problems with the electrical connections on either unit, maybe a dab of vaseline on the terminals could prevent corrosion?

An advantage of this unit over larger units is that it is portable, therefore it can be used in your car, Sib and all the passage planning / waypoints etc can be entered while at home.
Finally there is no external antennae to worry about.

If you have the space you can't beat a big screen, however the smaller units do have advantages

[Jelly]

May I suggest you use silicone grease instead of vasaline to protect the contacts and lubricate any 'O' rings as its non conductive and vasaline rots some rubber-like seals (no twisted thoughts please we're british )
Jelly

[Andre]

Ram-mounts

JCW

I have had a look at the ram-mounts web page and these look very good. As I have already experienced a Garmin GPS bracket breaking at sea and there is no saying that this will not happen again with the new bracket.

I see they have a few models but no reference to any specific GPS or are all of them the same just pictures taken from different angles.
Which particular one do you use for your Garmin 176 and can you get it in the UK or only from ram-mounts on the internet.

Andre

[mstacey]

Andre see

RAM-B-138-GA7

On Rammounts page

http://www.ram-mount.com/ramgps.htm

[JCW]

Andre,
as Martin suggests, the RAM-B-138-GA7. This can be purchased from the GPS warehouse in the UK. Price is £20.99
GPS warehouse

[Andre]

Ram-mounts

Martin / JCW

Many thanks. I had not seen that particular page when I first looked up ram-mounts.

I will now put this on my shopping list

Andre