nauticalsteve

I'm getting a gpsmap 76csx this week sometime, which I plan to use mainly for Puget Sound area navigation. I notice from the Garmin web site that the 2008 version of BlueChart CD-rom's has been discontinued. You can get them elsewhere, and they say they will continue to update them until the end of the year, but I am wondering if there is going to be something new comming soon that I should wait for. I want to be able to work with the maps on my pc so I guess the preloaded memory disks are not what I want. Anybody know what the best way to go is here? Thans in advance.
Steve

HumVee

nauticalsteve, I too have a Garmin GPSMAP 76CSx. I've only casually looked into purchasing water maps for it so far. I definitely recommend getting the CD/DVD based products over the other options. As you state, that gives you the ability to load and use the maps on a PC with MapSource as well as loading the maps to your GPS unit.

I think product you want is "MapSource BlueChart Americas". MSRP $151.65 (Garmin Part Number: 010-10317-00) from Garmin. You get one region unlock with the purchase, but can purchase additional unlock regions as desired (see the quote from the website below). The website does not show this product as being discontinued. I think you want Unlock Region AM-US022-13.

You could check to see if another version update is pending...but you can also ended up dithering forever or driving yourself crazy trying to figure that stuff out. If you contact Garmin Sales, maybe they can let you know. I hope that helps....

BTW...I see you're living on Whidbey Island! My wife grew up there, and we still go up to camp or visit several times a year. It's a lovely island - especially the Deception Pass area!

nauticalsteve

Thanks, HumVee. I have read most of the material on Garmin's website pertaining to the 76csx and BlueChart. I have also written to the cartography dept. to get clarification on what the deal is with discontinuing the cd-roms. You can't get them from Garmin anymore. You can still get them from places like Amazon. I've read some of the recent reviews on Amazon and it seems there were some issues with the 2008 charts. I understand what you mean about dithering, but I want to be clear about the state of affairs before I shell out over $100, which, by the way seems a bit outrageous to start with. I was hoping someone on the forum here had recently gone through all this and could relate their experience.
Yes, Whidbey is a nice place to live, and the humpies (pink Salmon) are running like you wouldn't believe right now. But it's fog season already and I need that GPS.

Steve

HumVee

Sorry I can't be more help (not being a boater). There are a handful of boaters who are members of the site. Hopefully one of them will see this thread and respond!

nauticalsteve

To anyone interested, here is the response I got from the Garmin cartography dept. to what was basically the same inquiry as above in this thread. It is a bit cryptic from my point of view, but the message seems to be, no matter what, buy the CD.

"At this point, for the PC functionality also, the CD is still the way to go—discontinued or not.
Because of the recall of G2 and G2 Vision cards we are actually back on the JUL 08 releases across the board anyway.
Once the recall stuff is over G2 on MicroSD is going to be what will be used with the 76CSx. But it is just card.
I can’t imagine Garmin will not come up with something for the PC functionality. It’s desired by a lot of people. I am pretty confident there will be something for that at some point, but I don’t know just what form it will be or when.
All I can tell you for sure is, at this point and moment, that CD is the only option for having all that."