Nuvi 880 used for nautical navigation?

[Tarpon]

Can anyone tell me if I can use my Garmin Nuvi 880 for navigation on water from one navigation way point to another? I'm heading to Bahamas next year and would take it with me if it will work.

Thanks,
Tarpon

[Ed Pawlowski]

It will probably give you road directions to a ferry boat.

Marine charts are a little different that road maps. Not cheap, but
I'd either use paper charts or a Garmin built for marine use.
http://sites.garmin.com/combos/

[Ashton Crusher]

On Sat, 6 Apr 2013 18:39:04 -0700 (PDT), Tarpon
<jd_um...@rogers.com> wrote:

I don't see why not. if you put in coordinates you should be able to
navigate to them. As long as you can get satellite reception.

[Ed Pawlowski]

On Sat, 06 Apr 2013 20:55:52 -0700, Ashton Crusher <de...@moore.net>
wrote:

How does it navigate between them? How will it know about shoals,
sandbars, shallows?

The program is designed to take you over roads from point A to point
B. Just as you are in a parking lot the Nuvi will say "drive to the
highlighted area", it is going to be lost on the water until you get
to a boat ramp by a road.

[Mike Coon]

Ed Pawlowski wrote:
> How does it navigate between them? How will it know about shoals,
> sandbars, shallows?

It may not have that data, but the OP mentions waypoints, which presumes
that he has taken hazards into account, hopefully from an up-to-date
nautical chart, which may or may not be marked to WGS84 datum..

So it depends on what displays the device offers, and I cannot be bothered
to download the manual just to do the RTFM on the OP's account. I think it
is not uncommon for satnavs to default to a simple destination pointer if it
has no local roads in its database. But how can you enter that destination?

Mike.
--
If reply address is Mike@@mjcoon.+.com (invalid), remove spurious "@"
and substitute "plus" for +.

[Ashton Crusher]

On Sun, 07 Apr 2013 01:35:54 -0400, Ed Pawlowski <e...@snet.net> wrote:

>On Sat, 06 Apr 2013 20:55:52 -0700, Ashton Crusher <de...@moore.net>
>wrote:
>
>>On Sat, 6 Apr 2013 18:39:04 -0700 (PDT), Tarpon
>><jd_um...@rogers.com> wrote:
>>
>>>Can anyone tell me if I can use my Garmin Nuvi 880 for navigation on water from one navigation way point to another? I'm heading to Bahamas next year and would take it with me if it will work.
>>>
>>>Thanks,
>>>Tarpon
>>
>>I don't see why not. if you put in coordinates you should be able to
>>navigate to them. As long as you can get satellite reception.
>
>
>How does it navigate between them? How will it know about shoals,
>sandbars, shallows?

Obviously it won't. It's no different then if you use a GPS in an
area where there are no roads. All it needs to do is draw a straight
line between where you are and the coordinates you put in. If a
regular car GPS can do that then it can be used on water the same as
on land.

[Ed Pawlowski]

On Sun, 07 Apr 2013 11:56:16 -0700, Ashton Crusher <de...@moore.net>
wrote:



>>>

>>>I don't see why not. if you put in coordinates you should be able to
>>>navigate to them. As long as you can get satellite reception.
>>
>>
>>How does it navigate between them? How will it know about shoals,
>>sandbars, shallows?
>
>Obviously it won't. It's no different then if you use a GPS in an
>area where there are no roads. All it needs to do is draw a straight
>line between where you are and the coordinates you put in. If a
>regular car GPS can do that then it can be used on water the same as
>on land.

But the arrow may just point to the nearest roads because it assumes
you are going to drive to the requested destination. It is programmed
to do that. "Please drive to the highlighted area"

If you want to cross miles of open ocean like that, be my guest.

[Sunshine]

Every Garmin GPS that I've seen has a 'walking' mode, completely eliminating
the objection you've raised.

[Sunshine]

Agreed. It should work fine. I would switch to pedestrian or walking mode,
of course. I would also make a serious effort not to drop it off the side of
the boat, as it probably won't tolerate water as much as the marine units
might.

[Ed Pawlowski]

On Mon, 08 Apr 2013 00:45:51 -0500, Sunshine <suns...@none.invalid>
wrote:

>>
>>But the arrow may just point to the nearest roads because it assumes
>>you are going to drive to the requested destination. It is programmed
>>to do that. "Please drive to the highlighted area"
>>
>>If you want to cross miles of open ocean like that, be my guest.
>
>Every Garmin GPS that I've seen has a 'walking' mode, completely eliminating
>the objection you've raised.

You can walk on water?

Show me the evidence it will work on open water first.

[Keith]

On Mon, 08 Apr 2013 00:45:51 -0500, Sunshine wrote:

>
> Every Garmin GPS that I've seen has a 'walking' mode, completely
> eliminating the objection you've raised.

My Garmin will use paths and ignore restrictions on one way streets while
in walking mode, but it still insists on using known ways. When
travelling across what it thinks is a field (there's a new bypass near
here that isn't on the map I have) it just shows the direction one is
travelling, not the direction to the destination. I've never used it in
pedestrian mode in that situation.

I would suggest - try it before you rely on it. You can be a long time
dead if it goes wrong. And drowning is not a nice way to go! 8-(

Keith

[Earl Grey]

It will "work" anywhere on earth it can see three or more satellites and
give the precise latitude, longitude, and altitude. That's what a GPS
does after all.

As for the maps inside it and route planning, that's an entirely
different function. The software uses the location info and plans the
route. Some of the people posting in this thread seem to have lost sight
of the two very separate functions the device performs.

In the middle of the ocean, the device will still give you your exact
location and direction of travel but the mapping and route planning
won't be too useful if all you've got are land maps. If you're in the
middle of the Atlantic Ocean and want to go to New York, well just head
west. If OTOH you want to go Europe, head east. Got it now?

[Yeff]

On Mon, 08 Apr 2013 08:50:52 -0400, Earl Grey wrote:

> In the middle of the ocean, the device will still give you your exact
> location and direction of travel but the mapping and route planning
> won't be too useful if all you've got are land maps. If you're in the
> middle of the Atlantic Ocean and want to go to New York, well just head
> west. If OTOH you want to go Europe, head east. Got it now?

Spit-ballin' here (GPS is out in the car) but would going into settings
and putting the navigation mode into off-road use give you an
as-the-crow-flies direction?

--

-Jeff B.
zoo...@fastmail.fm

"Excuse me.
I don't mean to impose,
but I am the Ocean."

~ The Salton Sea

[Mike Coon]

Earl Grey wrote:
> It will "work" anywhere on earth it can see three or more satellites
> and give the precise latitude, longitude, and altitude. That's what a
> GPS does after all.
>
> As for the maps inside it and route planning, that's an entirely
> different function. The software uses the location info and plans the
> route. Some of the people posting in this thread seem to have lost
> sight of the two very separate functions the device performs.
>
> In the middle of the ocean, the device will still give you your exact
> location and direction of travel but the mapping and route planning
> won't be too useful if all you've got are land maps. If you're in the
> middle of the Atlantic Ocean and want to go to New York, well just
> head west. If OTOH you want to go Europe, head east. Got it now?

Your arrogance is impressive! You are of course right about separate
functionality, both in the underlying capability and data, and in what is
displayed to the user. And no-one in the middle of an ocean would be
depending on a satnav. Navigation is much more interesting as you approach
land!

Just because the GPS determines the current location that does not mean that
it will display that to the user. If you know how to make a Nuvi 800 do so,
please tell us. (I don't know why the OP does not RTFM!) Ideally it should
show the datum in use and allow the user to alter it (as marine GPSs do).
But that seems much more unlikely. And then there is still the matter of
entering a destination location, with the same caveats. Similarly a real
marine GPS would show a choice of true or magnetic bearing to waypoint by
having an internal map of world-wide magnetic variation/declination. That
seems vanishingly improbable for a mere satnav.

[Gene E. Bloch]

If it doesn't float, the waterproofness won't matter much :-)

--
Gene E. Bloch (Stumbling Bloch)

[Earl Grey]

On 4/8/13 10:22 AM, Yeff wrote:
> On Mon, 08 Apr 2013 08:50:52 -0400, Earl Grey wrote:
>
>> In the middle of the ocean, the device will still give you your exact
>> location and direction of travel but the mapping and route planning
>> won't be too useful if all you've got are land maps. If you're in the
>> middle of the Atlantic Ocean and want to go to New York, well just head
>> west. If OTOH you want to go Europe, head east. Got it now?
>
> Spit-ballin' here (GPS is out in the car) but would going into settings
> and putting the navigation mode into off-road use give you an
> as-the-crow-flies direction?
>

On my nuvi, direction of travel is shown in the bottom left of the map
screen.

Alternatively, do Tools/Where am I/ and watch the lat.long numbers in
the display change as you move every few yards.

Lat/long/altitude is also displayed in the screen that shows satellite
number and location (press and hold the signal strength-- not the
battery strength-- icon).


--
The second amendment wasn't written so we could go hunting. It was
written so we could shoot at the government if it was ever taken over by
tyrants.
--Judge Napolitano

[Earl Grey]

At the risk of sounding arrogant again, on my nuvi, direction of travel

is shown in the bottom left of the map screen.

Alternatively, do Tools/Where am I/ and watch the lat/long/altitude

numbers in the display change as you move every few yards.

Lat/long/altitude is also displayed in the screen that shows satellite
number and location (press and hold the signal strength-- not the

battery strength-- display).


--
On the internet you can be anything you want. It�s strange that so many
people chose to be stupid.

[Tarpon]

On Saturday, April 6, 2013 9:39:04 PM UTC-4, Tarpon wrote:
> Can anyone tell me if I can use my Garmin Nuvi 880 for navigation on water from one navigation way point to another? I'm heading to Bahamas next year and would take it with me if it will work.
>
>

Thanks everyone for the comments.
just to be clear, or clearer, I have indeed read the manual, it just doesn't answer my questions. Yes, I can switch to pedestrian and off road modes, and have.

I've entered the navigational waypoints for Marsh Harbour, Point set Rock and Little Harbour as a route and asked the Nuvi to navigate to them. I would expect a straight line from MH to PSR then a second line coming off PSR at about 5 o'clock leading to LH. What it gives me is a line from MH right to the shore line to the road, along he road to the closest point to PSR then directly out to the PSR waypoint, back to the shore, along to the closest point to LH then out to the LH waypoint. Looks like a capital E bent backwards in the middle at a 45 degree angle. I don't need it to provide anything other then a pointer from one way point to the other. I would think that it should do that, but I can't determine how.

yes, I realize that I can by a dedicated garmin nautical gps, but first I'd like to see if this one will work.

Thanks again,

Tarpon

[Gene E. Bloch]

It sounds to me like what you're seeing is exactly what Ashton Crusher
described in his first reply to you,

Message-ID: <g312m89i75flvm52p...@4ax.com>

which is a disappointing outcome...

[Mike Coon]

Gene E. Bloch wrote:
> It sounds to me like what you're seeing is exactly what Ashton Crusher
> described in his first reply to you,
>

> which is a disappointing outcome...

Agreed, and much less entertaining than those directions that people found
Google Earth would suggest with sections like "..., swim the Atlantic, ...".

[Gene E. Bloch]

On Tue, 9 Apr 2013 09:17:39 +0100, Mike Coon wrote:

> Gene E. Bloch wrote:
>> It sounds to me like what you're seeing is exactly what Ashton Crusher
>> described in his first reply to you,
>>
>> which is a disappointing outcome...
>
> Agreed, and much less entertaining than those directions that people found
> Google Earth would suggest with sections like "..., swim the Atlantic, ...".
>
> Mike.

A rowboat would be better.

For me, at least. I'm not a good swimmer.

[Andrzej Popowski]

Mon, 8 Apr 2013 17:15:20 -0700 (PDT), Tarpon <jd_um...@rogers.com>
pisze:

Hi!

>What it gives me is a line from MH right to the shore line to the road,

IMHO you failed to set off-road mode, try again.
--
Pozdrawiam,
Andrzej Popowski

[Tarpon]

On Tuesday, April 9, 2013 2:07:59 PM UTC-4, Andrzej Popowski wrote:
> Mon, 8 Apr 2013 17:15:20 -0700 (PDT), Tarpon
>
>

> IMHO you failed to set off-road mode, try again.
>

Andrzej and everyone else. I figured out the issue.
I did have off-road mode set in my general settings. Problem was that when you set up a route you then have to edit the route and "recalculate" which provide you with the route to make the route an off-road route. Makes sense I guess that the properties of a individual route would over ride the general GPS settings.

Thanks again everyone for the help.

john

[Sunshine]

On Tue, 9 Apr 2013 14:52:06 -0700 (PDT), Tarpon <jd_um...@rogers.com>
wrote:

Good on you for working through it.

The part that I don't get is that several people who should have known
better expressed doubt in this thread. Lack of imagination, I'm guessing.

[Sunshine]

On Mon, 08 Apr 2013 05:47:28 -0400, Ed Pawlowski <e...@snet.net> wrote:

>On Mon, 08 Apr 2013 00:45:51 -0500, Sunshine <suns...@none.invalid>
>wrote:
>
>
>
>>>
>>>But the arrow may just point to the nearest roads because it assumes
>>>you are going to drive to the requested destination. It is programmed
>>>to do that. "Please drive to the highlighted area"
>>>
>>>If you want to cross miles of open ocean like that, be my guest.
>>
>>Every Garmin GPS that I've seen has a 'walking' mode, completely eliminating
>>the objection you've raised.
>
>You can walk on water?

No, but fortunately it's not required. There are things called boats now.

>Show me the evidence it will work on open water first.

Do you have a Nuvi? Have you ever switched it to pedestrian mode? If so, you
already know everything you need to know. Specifically, you know that it
completely ignores roads. Or at least my 255, 260, and 760 all do. Do you
have a model that works differently?

[Sunshine]

On Mon, 8 Apr 2013 16:53:28 +0100, "Mike Coon" <Mike@@mjcoon.+.com> wrote:

>And no-one in the middle of an ocean would be
>depending on a satnav. Navigation is much more interesting as you approach
>land!

To a sailor, navigation on the sea is much more important, one could argue.

>Just because the GPS determines the current location that does not mean that
>it will display that to the user. If you know how to make a Nuvi 800 do so,
>please tell us. (I don't know why the OP does not RTFM!) Ideally it should
>show the datum in use and allow the user to alter it (as marine GPSs do).
>But that seems much more unlikely. And then there is still the matter of
>entering a destination location, with the same caveats. Similarly a real
>marine GPS would show a choice of true or magnetic bearing to waypoint by
>having an internal map of world-wide magnetic variation/declination. That
>seems vanishingly improbable for a mere satnav.

I just downloaded a free Android app that seems to do everything you just
asked about, and more. Couple that with a GPS or even use it instead of a
GPS, and you should be fine anywhere in the world.

[Tom J]

I have been following your post on other groups and all are giving you the
same basic answer. Mine is different.

Why in God's name are you wanting to trust a land navigation instrument when
the available water navigation systems have been around way longer, tell you
the depth AND objects that may be just under the surface. You want to trust
your life in a part of the ocean that does have many unseen obstacles just
under the surface!!

IF YOU CONTINUE ON THIS WILD SCHEME, LEAVE A GOOD WILL!!

Tom J

[Mike Coon]

Sunshine wrote:
> On Mon, 8 Apr 2013 16:53:28 +0100, "Mike Coon" <Mike@@mjcoon.+.com>
> wrote:
>
>> And no-one in the middle of an ocean would be
>> depending on a satnav. Navigation is much more interesting as you
>> approach land!
>
> To a sailor, navigation on the sea is much more important, one could
> argue.

Exactly; important enough to equip with appropriate equipment! Ocean
crossing takes investment.

> I just downloaded a free Android app that seems to do everything you
> just asked about, and more. Couple that with a GPS or even use it
> instead of a GPS, and you should be fine anywhere in the world.

I'd like to hear which app that was, though it will probably not be
compatible with my Android 2.1 device. Especially to see what navigation it
could do without GPS; celestrial?

[Ed Pawlowski]

On Wed, 10 Apr 2013 22:18:41 -0500, Sunshine <suns...@none.invalid>
wrote:

>>
>>You can walk on water?
>
>No, but fortunately it's not required. There are things called boats now.

I don't need a boat
http://www.youtube.com/watch?v=Ki-YGMMu7B8

>
>>Show me the evidence it will work on open water first.
>
>Do you have a Nuvi? Have you ever switched it to pedestrian mode? If so, you
>already know everything you need to know. Specifically, you know that it
>completely ignores roads. Or at least my 255, 260, and 760 all do. Do you
>have a model that works differently?

But it is still referenced the land map. Do you know for a fact it
will do that on open water? Unless someone had actually do so, I'm
not sure how well it would work and I'd not stake my life on it.

[Sunshine]

On Thu, 11 Apr 2013 06:00:48 -0400, Ed Pawlowski <e...@snet.net> wrote:

>On Wed, 10 Apr 2013 22:18:41 -0500, Sunshine <suns...@none.invalid>
>wrote:
>
>
>
>>>
>>>You can walk on water?
>>
>>No, but fortunately it's not required. There are things called boats now.
>
>
>I don't need a boat
>http://www.youtube.com/watch?v=Ki-YGMMu7B8

You probably do need a boat, since it's doubtful that you have the item
shown in the video, but that's neither here nor there.

>>>Show me the evidence it will work on open water first.
>>
>>Do you have a Nuvi? Have you ever switched it to pedestrian mode? If so, you
>>already know everything you need to know. Specifically, you know that it
>>completely ignores roads. Or at least my 255, 260, and 760 all do. Do you
>>have a model that works differently?
>
>But it is still referenced the land map. Do you know for a fact it
>will do that on open water? Unless someone had actually do so, I'm
>not sure how well it would work and I'd not stake my life on it.

I just talked to my brother, an avid fisherman on the Missouri river. I knew
he uses his Nuvi to be able to return to his favorite fishing spots, but I
wanted to get his opinion on how well the Nuvi worked on water. He was
surprised that I even asked the question. Of course it works, which was
obvious (to me). The map shows him out on the water, which is exactly what
you'd expect, and he's able to navigate just fine. When he went to Canada to
fish up there last summer, he took his GPS so he could return to a given
spot, if he wanted to. He didn't have a Canada map loaded, so he was 'off
the map', which I presume would also be the case if someone were to venture
far enough out onto the ocean, but he said it continued to work just fine.
He was able to save and load coordinates, and navigate to them as desired.

The doubters in this thread remind me of the doubters who warned against
sailing too far because you'd fall off the edge of the flat earth. Then, as
now, it's not really a problem.

[Sunshine]

On Thu, 11 Apr 2013 10:05:28 +0100, "Mike Coon" <Mike@@mjcoon.+.com> wrote:

>Sunshine wrote:
>> On Mon, 8 Apr 2013 16:53:28 +0100, "Mike Coon" <Mike@@mjcoon.+.com>
>> wrote:
>>
>>> And no-one in the middle of an ocean would be
>>> depending on a satnav. Navigation is much more interesting as you
>>> approach land!
>>
>> To a sailor, navigation on the sea is much more important, one could
>> argue.
>
>Exactly; important enough to equip with appropriate equipment! Ocean
>crossing takes investment.

Well, no. Investment in proper equipment is highly recommended, but what do
you think people did before such equipment was available? Humans have been
sailing the oceans for well over a thousand years.

>> I just downloaded a free Android app that seems to do everything you
>> just asked about, and more. Couple that with a GPS or even use it
>> instead of a GPS, and you should be fine anywhere in the world.
>
>I'd like to hear which app that was, though it will probably not be
>compatible with my Android 2.1 device. Especially to see what navigation it
>could do without GPS; celestrial?

It's called GPS Status, and I have no idea if it's the best of its kind or
not, but I like it so far. I mostly use it while flying, so when the pilot
says we're climbing to 37,000 feet I can watch it happen, along with
monitoring ground speed and heading and a bunch of other stuff. When I get
bored, I switch over to Google Maps and watch my position as it crosses the
map below. It's nice to be able to identify cities, even in the dark, as we
fly over.

You mentioned doing navigation without GPS. I'm not sure what you meant by
that. Both of the apps I mentioned above most certainly use GPS.

[Sunshine]

WOW :-)

[Bob Martin]

in 44043 20130412 052248 Sunshine <suns...@none.invalid> wrote:

> Humans have been sailing the oceans for well over a thousand years.

At least 3000 and probably well before that.

[Mike Coon]

Very true. On the other hand a lot of them must have perished in the
attempts to get over the horizon. Even in historical times, sailing was
jolly dangerous. Nowadays, and especially for recreation, most people seem
to like to have a really good prospect of safe arrival (and at the right
place, too)... We even have rescue services!

[Mike Coon]

Sunshine wrote:
> On Thu, 11 Apr 2013 10:05:28 +0100, "Mike Coon" <Mike@@mjcoon.+.com>
> wrote:
>> Sunshine wrote:
>> I just downloaded a free Android app that seems to do everything you
>> just asked about, and more. Couple that with a GPS or even use it
>> instead of a GPS, and you should be fine anywhere in the world.

> It's called GPS Status, and I have no idea if it's the best of its
> kind or not, but I like it so far. I mostly use it while flying, so
> when the pilot says we're climbing to 37,000 feet I can watch it
> happen, along with monitoring ground speed and heading and a bunch of
> other stuff. When I get bored, I switch over to Google Maps and watch
> my position as it crosses the map below. It's nice to be able to
> identify cities, even in the dark, as we fly over.
>
> You mentioned doing navigation without GPS. I'm not sure what you
> meant by that. Both of the apps I mentioned above most certainly use
> GPS.

Ah, yes, I like GPS Status, I do have that one. I discovered it could direct
me to a target by sending an Android "Intent" (a way of invoking programs)
with a lat/long and up popped a list of three programs to do something
useful, one of which was "Radar". I had no idea what program that would but
it turned out to be GPS Status!

"navigation without GPS" arose merely because you said "even use it instead
of a GPS".

[Gene E. Bloch]

But let's be realistic here. It's risky to use surveyors chains on water
because they tend to sink.

[Mike Coon]

Gene E. Bloch wrote:
> But let's be realistic here. It's risky to use surveyors chains on
> water because they tend to sink.

True; when I did basic surveying at school we weren't even allowed to
stretch our chains across puddles...

[Ashton Crusher]

On Fri, 12 Apr 2013 22:42:43 +0100, "Mike Coon" <Mike@@mjcoon.+.com>
wrote:

>Gene E. Bloch wrote:
>> But let's be realistic here. It's risky to use surveyors chains on
>> water because they tend to sink.
>
>True; when I did basic surveying at school we weren't even allowed to
>stretch our chains across puddles...
>

What about across poodles?

[Sunshine]

Ok, gotcha. I just meant without a standalone device such as a Nuvi. Thanks.