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The 478 ROCKS. It is an advanced unit and therefore, will take a novice a bit of experience to work through all the sophisticated functionality vs. The XM Weather feature is outstanding, which I use both on the boat and motorcycle. Also, the 640 regrettably removed the critically important Tracks Saving/Routing function, which the 478 has). This is the best Sea to Land to Road GPS I have found and certainly the best GPS I've ever owned (and I've had many). I seamlessly use the 478 on my Sailboat, Motorcycle and Car. some of Garmin's mass market-oriented products like the Zumo or Nuvi, but there is no other device that can do everything that the 378/478 units can do, so it's absolutely worth the extra learning curve.Garmin's new 640, which is apparently aimed as a new replacement/upgrade for the 478, is a major DOWNGRADE in functionality - so do not be fooled into buying the 640 (XM only with Marine mode, not Automotive mode.
It's probably better to use the marine system when on the water. I'd recommend sitting down before hand and learning the unit before venturing out into the great unknown sipping a cold one and watching another episode of "Lost". I use the WAAS system for vehicle navagation. I get weather and warnings off my VHF system.
That can be changed easily when flipping to the setup menu.( the jury it still out on that issue)If the unit had some type of touch screen (like the Nuvi's) would help "dragging" new way points for marine navagation. On the "automotive side" you get voice prompts and directions like the nuvi's.Overall: I gave the unit a strong 4 out of 5 considering its cost and wide use. You can zoom to a 2' accuracy which shows movement when anchored.Just a personal preference, I chose not to hard wire the unit on the boat since the battery provides 7-9hrs of charge depending on screen brightness-more than enough time for a day venture. I have used magellan and Lowrance units in the past. The coastal maps show only natural lakes-ponds and canals(bayous).Man made oilfield canals and accesses are not shown.So in some instances, your route will be highlighted through land areas.Disadvantage: In remote areas of the marsh the unit WILL loose satellitecommunication if the WAAS is enabled. Navagating though Louisiana coastal marshes with its maize of cuts and islands is quite challenging.Before going on the water, I made navagational waypoints through established canals and bays easily.There is a good variety of icons you can use for specific routes and then use different ones,labeling for fishing spots along the area.
I did buy an extra battery for $21 to provide extra power if needed. In the marsh there is no cover like trees to inhibit the signal.Having it mounted on the console,in my humble opinion should not affect the signal either. But considering the price -the lack of that feature-"you get what you pay for".Other features: You can set several tide stations to view -sunrise/sunset data. Garmin seems to be more user friendly. I chose the Garmin 478 chartplotter because I needed a portable unit for my truck and bayboat. You could easily use the charger with the 12v system onboard-but because of water and rain issues-didn't want that extra concern.
I don't subscibe to the XM system.
The crossover marine vs land is a great feature.screen clear even in bright sun.programs easily (with a little practice).first time Garmin users may need to read the manual.but don't admit it.very happy with this unit
The unit is ready to go out of the box and the preprogrammed G2 Coastal Maps are helpful on the water. All wiring and mounts are included, very happy with the purchase. lowest price and fast shipping, best deal out there. With only a few connectors from the hardware store I piggy back wired it to the existing fish finder.
The product is very user friendly and ocean maps are detailed very nicely this gps allows to have all of us coastal maps for one flat rate instead of geting the ocean map cd and being limmited to only one section of a map and this product allows you to use many more aditional features to coinside with it such as depth finder, weather tracking and xm radio.The only drawback to this product is i figured it would have more of a land topo for hiking on it instead you have to buy the cd for 79+ dollars and be limmited to only so many maps for what your data card is capable of holding another draw back is the data cards are way to much for what you get max data card is 512 mb for 120+ dollars when you can buy a 2g sd memory card for 8-15 dollars.Depending on your specific needs for the gps their are other options garmin offers for coastal map gps that are more reasonable price and accept aditional featers such as memory cards and pre-loaded topo memory cards at a more reasonable price.
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