Garmin blue chart cd

djchaser · 01-18-2006, 09:01 AM

I have a Garmin gps map 76 and was wondering if anyone has gotten the upgrade cd for there's and if it is worth it. Do you get as much detail as the full size gps?I want to make sure its worth it before spending the $$$

bait boy · 01-18-2006, 01:03 PM

I have the blue chart for my 76s. I think it has exactly the same level of detail as the charts. It is however harder to see the depth contours while zoomed in due to small screen size. worth it? heck yeah considering I loaded the whole oregon and washington coast and a great deal of the columbia in it.

jimh · 01-18-2006, 02:24 PM

Definitely worth it to me with the tide information and boating resources...launches etc. I have the 76 CS.

tracker · 01-18-2006, 03:41 PM

I also have the chips with the blue chart info. Now the way it was explained to me was that you still have to pay for each chart that you load into your plotter even though you already have the CD. So I bought the chips. Great detail. Very accurate!

bait boy · 01-18-2006, 04:20 PM

buy the cd and unlock the region and load charts at will.

Aqua-Holic · 01-18-2006, 04:30 PM

dj.....if we're talking about the same upgrade, I looked at the items upgraded and didn't think it made alot of difference out of Newport.....so, didn't pay the $75.

treegolfer · 01-18-2006, 04:35 PM

With my Blue Chart CD, I am only able to load a maximum of 2 different machines. Maybe they have changed this since I bought mine, but I doubt it.

treegolfer

Reelentless · 01-18-2006, 06:02 PM

You can still only download to 2 GPS units, but you can unlock an entire region and download as much of it as you want. The region for this area extends from Vancouver BC to south of the Bay Area.

Much better deal than the preloaded cards. Plus you can upgrade the software, use your computer to plan routes and waypoints, then download it all to your GPS unit.

djchaser · 01-18-2006, 07:58 PM

Guess maybe I'll put it on my list of things to spend some boat bucks on.

Jet Drifter · 01-19-2006, 10:10 PM

This is a screen shot example zoomed into Depoe Bay using Garmin Blue Chart CD Software called MapSource which is used to build and store Waypoints and Routes on this Chart background and upload Chart and Data to Garmin GPS's.

And zoomed out a bit over Astoria for example

EDIT: It looks just like this on my handheld Garmin GPS (only in monochrome on my Garmin 76S

)

Jet Drifter · 03-09-2006, 12:07 PM

More information to share with others about Garmin Blue Chart CD. I�m a simple end user and not affiliated with anything Garmin, or Blue or Chart like at all. I was PM�ed some of the same questions I had about GPS Devices and GPS Data, so I thought I�d share my reply with others with similar questions.
How do you transfer data from the Blue Chart CD to your GPS Device?
I bought Garmin Blue Chart which contains the map data and software to view the maps on your Home Computer. The software that comes with Garmin Blue Chart is called MapSource and gets loaded onto your home computer �automagically� during the normal Garmin Blue Chart CD Setup. On your home computer, MapSource displays the map data from Garmin (points, lines, polygons and attributes) and displays other information you feed it (input data) from the keyboard, mouse, and from the Garmin GPS Device to take outdoors fishing. My remote GPS Device is a Garmin 76S handheld I take fishing. I bought the Garmin 76* because it has a input/output port to plug in an optional accessory called something like a "Garmin 110V Power/Data Cable", which is used to communicate to my Home Computer through an available Comm Port or USP Port on the back of my Computer. I transfer data to and from my Computer and to and from my handheld GPS Device with the optional accessory Data Cable designed for specifically for a Garmin 76*. This works for me because my GPS Device is portable. I don't know what the users do if they have a non-portable GPS Device. They probably use transfer media like some kind of chip. When/if I can upgrade to a Garmin 172? or Garmin 182? I will need to make sure it can still communicate with my desktop computer somehow. So I plug my handheld GPS Device into the Garmin Data Cable at my desktop computer and I can upload/download waypoints, tracks and routes using MapSource Software Program. Then on the Desktop Computer using MapSource, I can store, edit, organize and view waypoints, tracks and routes I collected outdoors while fishing and download them back onto the GPS Device when I want that information fishing. For example, I've collected a bunch of points where I hooked fish and tracks where I've trolled in Odell Lake over the past two years. Well I don't really need that data when I fish the Willamette River, but I do want that information when I return to Odell this June. So I use Garmin Blue Chart CD which includes MapSource and the optional accessory Garmin Data Cable for communicating between my Computer and my Garmin Handheld GPS Device. I guess it all depends on what GPS Device goes fishing with you whether a data cable or a chip or a card is used to transfer data.