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Sandy.Herbert
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Group: Forum Members
Posts: 17,
Visits: 1
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I want to replace my existing navigation hardware and I am looking for advice on the state of the art.
My present system is 12 years old. It consists of two Garmin GPSmap 4008s, one at the chart table and one on the binnacle. They are networked and both can be used to display maps, follow routes, display AIS targets, control and display the radar and all the other stuff they do like display tides, show wind graphs etc. etc.
I use a PC and OpenCPN or Homeport to do routing and transfer the routes using SD cards ( no WiFi on these old systems). Up till now I have used a sat phone to connect to the Internet and to download grib files using Sailmail or similar. I use the PC and OpenCPN to display the grib files. I have a Vesper AIS which is also my WiFi hub.
This system does everything I want and has served me well.
However the GPSmaps are getting old and are classed as legacy devices by Garmin. I managed to update the OS recently which has prolonged their lives but I can see the end coming. The plotters don't support the most recent Garmin maps and can't read any other format. Also Garmin maps are fantastically expensive.
I am a bit out of the cruising network and I would like to know what people are installing now for long distance offshore cruising. Ideally I would like a system not based on a dedicated plotter. However, I do want a reliable system and if this means a brand plotter so be it. I would also like to know what people are installing for satellite communications and weather. Answers from real experience please rather than speculation.
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Simon Currin
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Group: Administrators
Posts: 1K,
Visits: 86
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Sandy,
No you do not import the Route into Windy. Use the Windy Hub App and it functions more like PredictWind.
I have just recorded a webinar with PredictWind and will post the recording here tomorrow. It was more of a Q&A webinar.
Simon
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Sandy.Herbert
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Group: Forum Members
Posts: 17,
Visits: 1
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+xSandy,No you do not import the Route into Windy. Use the Windy Hub App and it functions more like PredictWind.I have just recorded a webinar with PredictWind and will post the recording here tomorrow. It was more of a Q&A webinar.Simon Thanks. I saw the webinar on the events list but I was too late to participate
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Sandy.Herbert
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Group: Forum Members
Posts: 17,
Visits: 1
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+x+xSandy,No you do not import the Route into Windy. Use the Windy Hub App and it functions more like PredictWind.I have just recorded a webinar with PredictWind and will post the recording here tomorrow. It was more of a Q&A webinar.Simon Thanks. I saw the webinar on the events list but I was too late to participate I just listened to the webinar. Thanks for that. Very good. Predictwind sounds like a good system but the voices of cruisers was music to my ears The Kiwis do some impressive stuff. I have a Vesper AIS. The help was brilliant though I haven't really needed much since I installed it. Sadly Vesper belongs to Garmin now. I was surprised to hear people were still using Iridium Gos I have an Iridium phone I used during my circumnavigation between 2012 and 2017. Very slow and expensive. Some people were getting Gos. I was interested but something happened around 2013, 2014. Iridium stopped supporting it or maybe you couldn't get the software for Windows but whatever, suppliers stopped selling them and I never got one. I thought they had died long ago.
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Simon Currin
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Group: Administrators
Posts: 1K,
Visits: 86
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Sandy, From memory the IridiumGo only got launched in 2015 and overcame the expensive data issue by bringing with it an unlimited data subscription. It is still used but, as discussed in the PredictWind Webinar, it has been superseded by Starlink. We have retained ours as a tracking device and as an emergency Liferaft communicator but we only subscribe to the cheapest Iridium subscription to use it. Iridium brought out the successor to the IridiumGo a year ago called the Iridium Exec with a data speed of 20x the IridiumGo. Obviously, this is still much slower than Starlink and the hardware cost is approx 3x Starlink. It will be great when we have a device and network to compete with Starlink. Simon +x+x+xSandy,No you do not import the Route into Windy. Use the Windy Hub App and it functions more like PredictWind.I have just recorded a webinar with PredictWind and will post the recording here tomorrow. It was more of a Q&A webinar.Simon Thanks. I saw the webinar on the events list but I was too late to participate I just listened to the webinar. Thanks for that. Very good. Predictwind sounds like a good system but the voices of cruisers was music to my ears The Kiwis do some impressive stuff. I have a Vesper AIS. The help was brilliant though I haven't really needed much since I installed it. Sadly Vesper belongs to Garmin now. I was surprised to hear people were still using Iridium Gos I have an Iridium phone I used during my circumnavigation between 2012 and 2017. Very slow and expensive. Some people were getting Gos. I was interested but something happened around 2013, 2014. Iridium stopped supporting it or maybe you couldn't get the software for Windows but whatever, suppliers stopped selling them and I never got one. I thought they had died long ago.
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Sandy.Herbert
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Group: Forum Members
Posts: 17,
Visits: 1
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+xSandy, From memory the IridiumGo only got launched in 2015 and overcame the expensive data issue by bringing with it an unlimited data subscription. It is still used but, as discussed in the PredictWind Webinar, it has been superseded by Starlink. We have retained ours as a tracking device and as an emergency Liferaft communicator but we only subscribe to the cheapest Iridium subscription to use it. Iridium brought out the successor to the IridiumGo a year ago called the Iridium Exec with a data speed of 20x the IridiumGo. Obviously, this is still much slower than Starlink and the hardware cost is approx 3x Starlink. It will be great when we have a device and network to compete with Starlink. Simon +x+x+xSandy,No you do not import the Route into Windy. Use the Windy Hub App and it functions more like PredictWind.I have just recorded a webinar with PredictWind and will post the recording here tomorrow. It was more of a Q&A webinar.Simon Thanks. I saw the webinar on the events list but I was too late to participate I just listened to the webinar. Thanks for that. Very good. Predictwind sounds like a good system but the voices of cruisers was music to my ears The Kiwis do some impressive stuff. I have a Vesper AIS. The help was brilliant though I haven't really needed much since I installed it. Sadly Vesper belongs to Garmin now. I was surprised to hear people were still using Iridium Gos I have an Iridium phone I used during my circumnavigation between 2012 and 2017. Very slow and expensive. Some people were getting Gos. I was interested but something happened around 2013, 2014. Iridium stopped supporting it or maybe you couldn't get the software for Windows but whatever, suppliers stopped selling them and I never got one. I thought they had died long ago. I must have got my wires crossed with the GO. Do you have enough experience with Starlink to comment on the coverage?
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Simon Currin
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Group: Administrators
Posts: 1K,
Visits: 86
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Sandy, I’ve been using Starlink since October’ ‘22 and it has worked flawlessly and continuously between Annapolis and Tahiti. It also worked well for OCC boats in the North West Passage this summer although I think it struggles beyond 80 degrees north. Simon +x+xSandy, From memory the IridiumGo only got launched in 2015 and overcame the expensive data issue by bringing with it an unlimited data subscription. It is still used but, as discussed in the PredictWind Webinar, it has been superseded by Starlink. We have retained ours as a tracking device and as an emergency Liferaft communicator but we only subscribe to the cheapest Iridium subscription to use it. Iridium brought out the successor to the IridiumGo a year ago called the Iridium Exec with a data speed of 20x the IridiumGo. Obviously, this is still much slower than Starlink and the hardware cost is approx 3x Starlink. It will be great when we have a device and network to compete with Starlink. Simon +x+x+xSandy,No you do not import the Route into Windy. Use the Windy Hub App and it functions more like PredictWind.I have just recorded a webinar with PredictWind and will post the recording here tomorrow. It was more of a Q&A webinar.Simon Thanks. I saw the webinar on the events list but I was too late to participate I just listened to the webinar. Thanks for that. Very good. Predictwind sounds like a good system but the voices of cruisers was music to my ears The Kiwis do some impressive stuff. I have a Vesper AIS. The help was brilliant though I haven't really needed much since I installed it. Sadly Vesper belongs to Garmin now. I was surprised to hear people were still using Iridium Gos I have an Iridium phone I used during my circumnavigation between 2012 and 2017. Very slow and expensive. Some people were getting Gos. I was interested but something happened around 2013, 2014. Iridium stopped supporting it or maybe you couldn't get the software for Windows but whatever, suppliers stopped selling them and I never got one. I thought they had died long ago. I must have got my wires crossed with the GO. Do you have enough experience with Starlink to comment on the coverage?
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Sandy.Herbert
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Group: Forum Members
Posts: 17,
Visits: 1
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+xSandy, I’ve been using Starlink since October’ ‘22 and it has worked flawlessly and continuously between Annapolis and Tahiti. It also worked well for OCC boats in the North West Passage this summer although I think it struggles beyond 80 degrees north. Simon +x+xSandy, From memory the IridiumGo only got launched in 2015 and overcame the expensive data issue by bringing with it an unlimited data subscription. It is still used but, as discussed in the PredictWind Webinar, it has been superseded by Starlink. We have retained ours as a tracking device and as an emergency Liferaft communicator but we only subscribe to the cheapest Iridium subscription to use it. Iridium brought out the successor to the IridiumGo a year ago called the Iridium Exec with a data speed of 20x the IridiumGo. Obviously, this is still much slower than Starlink and the hardware cost is approx 3x Starlink. It will be great when we have a device and network to compete with Starlink. Simon +x+x+xSandy,No you do not import the Route into Windy. Use the Windy Hub App and it functions more like PredictWind.I have just recorded a webinar with PredictWind and will post the recording here tomorrow. It was more of a Q&A webinar.Simon Thanks. I saw the webinar on the events list but I was too late to participate I just listened to the webinar. Thanks for that. Very good. Predictwind sounds like a good system but the voices of cruisers was music to my ears The Kiwis do some impressive stuff. I have a Vesper AIS. The help was brilliant though I haven't really needed much since I installed it. Sadly Vesper belongs to Garmin now. I was surprised to hear people were still using Iridium Gos I have an Iridium phone I used during my circumnavigation between 2012 and 2017. Very slow and expensive. Some people were getting Gos. I was interested but something happened around 2013, 2014. Iridium stopped supporting it or maybe you couldn't get the software for Windows but whatever, suppliers stopped selling them and I never got one. I thought they had died long ago. I must have got my wires crossed with the GO. Do you have enough experience with Starlink to comment on the coverage? Thanks for the information
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