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Panasonic Laptop GPS Chartplotter for Marine Use


bluemarlin

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Just seen one of these on ebay- Panasonic Laptop GPS Chartplotter for Marine Use. Anyone know if they are they any good? what they are worth? are there any problems running them from a boat battery ,where the charging is by Alternator? Any other pitfalls/disadvantages compared to a conventional Plotter/chart combo?

YIS Gary

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Just seen one of these on ebay- Panasonic Laptop GPS Chartplotter for Marine Use. Anyone know if they are they any good? what they are worth? are there any problems running them from a boat battery ,where the charging is by Alternator? Any other pitfalls/disadvantages compared to a conventional Plotter/chart combo?

YIS Gary

 

Not really sure bluemarlin,

 

My mate has a PDA with an external TomTom antenna that we use sometimes, its loaded with charts and is very good, he also has a plotter onboard though so its really only a back up. And i'm not quite sure about charging it either, he hasn't got a 12v socket, and his PDA munches the battery.

 

Scott

No Luck This Time..............Roll On Next Time

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try asking on the Practical Boat Owner forums. Laptops are becoming quite popular with yachties as they often need more than a simple plotter.

The general concensus is that PC based plotters don't last anywhere near as long as proper plotters, and are more subject to crashes and other software issues. They do offer the ability to use very powerful plotting software like MaxSea, or Olex, and you can also put other stuff on them. In a big boat they make sense, in a Nab 17 they're a liability.

Like Fresh coffee? www.Bean14.com

 

 

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Hiya,

 

I use mine plugged into the 12v power outlet via a 240v inverter, this works fine for me as I'm only using the Laptop while the engines are running.

 

The only downside of the system is the laptop screen aint bright enough if you have a sunny day and even in a cab you can struggle to make out detail.

 

Cost wise.. I picked my Laptop up for 50 quid, GPS module was 40 quid off E bay and I already had the cd with all the CMAP charts of the world on it.

Davy

 

"Skate Anglers Have Bigger Tackle"

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I bought a 12v to 15v to 24v plugin adaptor for my lap top off ebay for about £12 (my fujitsu needs 19 volts in) has all the plugs to change polarity and shape :) I ran Navigator 4 for road use and i beat the living day lights out of my pda running same :lol:. My pda will run flat after 2 or 3 hours if not pluged in when running tomtom 5 :angry:

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