GPS Devices Life

Magellan NAV6000 GPS Receiver Product nav 6000 Key FeaturesDesignationMarineForm FactorFixedMap capabilitiesInt...

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I have got two of these Magellan GPS units because I liked the first one so much and wanted an identical back-up unit as well.

That”s why I discovered that the new NAV6000 was much improved 1999 and I was even happier until:

Both (!) lost their screen backlighting and had to be sent to the Magellan service center for repairs. There is no advertised “upgrade” but I discovered that the “newer one” had a much faster more exact 12-channel satellite receiver vs. only 8-channel receiver inside the first one. The 12-channel GPS unit lacks the “position averaging” menu option (not necessary) and has a much needed “confirmation” routine at start-up. This new feature has saved many sets of six AA batteries because the on/off button is a push-button style switch and the zip-case is rather soft. Just about anything touching it up can start up the Magellan NAV 6000 unit inside the case, but the new one will fortunately soon close down again if “unconfirmed” within 10 seconds. I have improved on this by surrounding the start button with a “sausage” of adhesive self-curing acrylic as a “fence”. Make sure you don’t get an older 8 channel “donk” or you will also need a “safety sausage” desperately for power protection. Just push the start-button and see what happens!

I always use both units in my 40 foot 9 ton sailing yacht occasionally in offshore ocean conditions. I like the idea to have two well featured identical units that I can learn at home “in the comfort of my steady bed” instead of under very distracting conditions out at sea. I have met with sailors that only know how to turn on their fixed GPS and not much else at all.

With two side-by-side plotting GPS units you can have them at different map-zooms and just repeat the same keystrokes. It really makes you feel assured and in control with such identical tandem set-up. Sometimes I have one mounted up in the cook-pit at night and the other one connected at the nav-station below. Onboard both NAV 6000 unit are connected to 12 Volt ships power and one is also wired in to my instruments and provide course information via NMNEA sentences to all “networked” instruments such as my Autohelm 5000 autopilot. This satellite data transfer also makes it possible to display all GPS data on the autopilot display.

I often “sap” them of stored information when back at home with a computer that simply connects via cable and the downloaded track-points can then be overlaid (I’m using Fugawi mapping software for MS Windows) on a full color computer map or chart. It is amazing how similar the two units manages to track our course, except for the odd “wild-one” occasionally logged by the old 8 channel unit. Also you can upload waypoint information from both units and then edit them more simply on the computer, store it and also download it all back to the two NAV 6000. You can’t exchange information directly between them but that is not a limitation at all. Other uses are to store and download track-points so you follow exactly in “old tracks” at any time. The computer is capable of storing endless tracks but the NAV 6000 is limited to its small RAM memory. I have collected a “library” of tracks on my computer that covers most of my destinations.

I can also chose to use a computer onboard connected to a GPS receiver and have all information plotted “live on-line” along the course you travel, but I don’t fancy having unprotected laptop with me onboard out at sea. Sapping the two units and storing the tracks waypoint information on the computer is good fun, and always interesting. Another good use is to print a map with the tracks plotted and give it to friends as a “memento” from our outing together. Quite decorative actually with a bit of text and embellishment…

I reckon this is modern marine navigation at its best and I am disappointed that a new unit with a bigger TFT color screen is not yet available from Magellan. The portability and inbuilt back-up alkaline power plus 2-way PC connectivity makes it a far better and safer “navigator” then any “fixed” units. Unfortunately the “trend” today is (like most mobile phones etc.) to make mapping GPS units smaller and smaller. That is great news for “back-pack tracking” but an unfortunate trend for many boaters!

My NAV 6000 units has served me well and my life has depended on them during totally black nights out somewhere on the huge heaving ocean, no kidding. Once I passed through the infamous Port Phillip “Rip” without seeing more then a few flickering light houses (thanks to a big swell) and my Magellan NAV 6000 bluish illuminated C-map, and at that moment it was the center of my entire universe.

I really hope that the future will offer a choice of large BIG SCREEN fully self-contained portable chart plotters with broad connectivity. Well, no such thing right now is it, or…

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