Are 4 and 5 inch GPS screens usable?

[swist]

I usually think a lot of Powerboat Reports/Practical Sailor but in a recent review of small cartographic color GPS they said that all the units were difficult to use in the sense that the screen was just too small to focus on and get any detail from while driving the boat.<br /><br />I'm sure you have all noticed that the price of such units seems to go up almost exponentially with screen size. But nevertheless the small units are still not cheap and I'd hate to spend money on something I need to stop the boat to study.<br /><br />What experiences do people have? Looking at one in the West Marine store is useless for giving a feel from a moving, pitching boat.

 

[onehunglow]

Re: Are 4 and 5 inch GPS screens usable?

I guess the answer comes down to how much will you be using the GPS to navigate with...<br /><br />Those large Lowrance color hi-res screens are really nice but they may be overkill when you are navigating in lets say a lake that you just want to mark your best fishing spot.<br /><br />However, if you are regularly on a large waterway such as the Great Lakes or Atlantic ocean, a GPS unit may become vital to keep you on track especially in fog and darkness or when you have to navigate through islands, inlets, etc.<br /><br />A GPS basically calculates your position on the earth and then shows it in relation to a map with known coordinates.<br /><br />I have navigated with as little as a Garmin etrek which just shows your position in relationship to known pre-set waypoints (no map data) and that works if you need to get to pre-set destinations but it won't tell you that between you and that point is a huge island. A mapped GPS will.<br /><br />And the larger the screens, the more detailed you can see the map without squinting especially from a standing position at the wheel.

 

[JB]

Re: Are 4 and 5 inch GPS screens usable?

I used a Garmin GPS12MAP for several years, SWIST. That screen (monochrome) is a lot smaller than 4" or 5".<br /><br />In color it would have been even easier.<br /><br />Some folks just get spoiled rotten. I've even heard some people say that 20" TVs are too small and hard to see.<br /><br />Get what fits your budget

 

[airman]

Re: Are 4 and 5 inch GPS screens usable?

I got a Garmin 72 without the mapping for just that reason. I use paper charts and the computer at home for the charting side of things. The screen is just too small to be really useful for displaying a chart underway. Typically I use point and click on my home computer to preplan my waypoints and routes. I copy those points over to the paper chart and upload them to the GPS. Others may think that's too much work but if my GPS ever quits I'll still be able to get home safely instead of parking myself on a noce rock.

 

[ThomWV]

Re: Are 4 and 5 inch GPS screens usable?

You can make use of the smaller screens but the thing that gets me is that when folks talk about the GPS they act like the Map screen is the only one it has. There are other views besides the Map view that do not suffer as much from small screen size and there's nothing that says you can't navigate using them. Generally for Highway type displays, Compass Rose pages and sometimes with Arrow pointers too, and then most machines also have a page of pure user selected numerical data. The smaller screens are fine for that sort of use.<br /><br />Thom

 

[airman]

Re: Are 4 and 5 inch GPS screens usable?

I agree with Thom. My screen is easily large enough for everything except the charting. To be fair, I find a 17" monitor a little small to be a really good chart. You have to do too much zooming in and out to get the detail you need while still keeping a good general idea of where you are. That's why I like paper.

 

[swist]

Re: Are 4 and 5 inch GPS screens usable?

This all seems to make sense. So it would seem the report is essentially true (it wasn't knocking the other screens, just the chart display one) - chart details like depth numbers or rocks are very hard to see unless you zoom in so close that you have no "big picture".<br /><br />I guess same reasoning with the good old huge NOAA charts. Unless you have a yacht with a "chart table", there is no place to open them up on a small boat, so you wind up folding them and having great detail onto a small area and no idea where you stand relative to what's beyond the next fold.