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Differentiating Among Marine GPS Systems

From its original conception as a military project, gps (global positioning system) can now be applied for both military and civilian use and is now widely recognized as a dual-use technology. In the last decade and a half we have seen this technology become more accessible to the average consumer, which can be witnessed with the ever-increasing number of portable handheld gps devices, as well as on-board car gps navigation systems that are either optional on purchase, or a standard feature on new cars. This increased accessibility is especially significant for marine navigators who wish to take advantage of the digitally precise velocity and orientation measurements that marine gps systems are known to provide. These specialized marine units are available in a variety of sizes ranging from portable handhelds all the way to large, station-mounted fixtures. The wide array of availability can make the search for an ideal marine navigation system a headache. It can be easy to differentiate performance when comparing different gps navigation systems. If you are a casual fisherman, a hobbyist that prefers to kayak in area waters, or prefer to navigate smaller boats close to shore or in a lake, a portable marine gps handheld will typically suffice. Make sure that the model of interest is waterproofed as these mobile devices will take more punishment than your average gadget that you’d find lying about in your pant pockets. It’s also hard to find a handheld that is geared specifically to marine market, although many of them allow for optional marine chart software to be downloaded if it isn’t already pre-installed. Using the unit at night will require a high-contrast display and back-lighting. While the convenience of the device’s portability can be appealing, it is important to remember that these are not full-fledged navigation systems that you will typically find on larger ships that are designed to go greater distances and will not be ideal for such use. Larger navigation systems that are fixed-mounted and designed to be affixed to your boat’s navigation station have larger screens and more features. These are ideal for fisherman who prefer to do their work further offshore, or for people who take their boats over larger distances, port to port. With these larger scale marine gps systems ease of use can become an issue. Defining your needs (and managing the impact to your wallet) becomes even more important as you will have to consider keeping or losing such features like MOB functions (Man Overboard) and navigate-to-track functions. Your choice of location for installation of the unit will be affected by its size at this point. Even larger boats may not have enough space to accommodate larger units.

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