Garmin's New Planning Software - New Release

[yachtjim]

Product Announcement
Marine Planning Software – HomePort™
Garmin is pleased to announce the release of HomePort, our newest trip planning software. Homeport is available on
preprogrammed microSD™/SD™ card or for download by visiting the Garmin website, www.garmin.com/products/HomePort.
This new marine planning software is a must-have tool for mariners heading out on the open water. HomePort enables the
use of existing BlueChart® data from your preloaded chartplotter or preprogrammed card to help plot a course on your PC.
You can then transfer this planned route back to your chartplotter and head out on your adventure. In addition to managing
waypoints, routes and tracks, the HomePort application will also help predict fuel usage, tides, depth profiles, and more. It
can plot a course to avoid hidden underwater hazards and keep your vessel away from shallow or rocky shorelines. You
can easily create point-to-point routes, determine distance and bearing measurements between checkpoints, and calculate
your estimated travel time for each leg of the journey.
After the HomePort application has been installed on your PC, this 2 GB microSD/SD card can also be used to transfer the
preloaded BlueChart maps from your chartplotter to your PC for use with HomePort.
--------------------------

Price is just $29!

[bluewaterpirate]

Guys ... you going to like i and here's why.


You can download your exisiting G2 Charts from your 400/500/4000/5000 series to an SD memory card (min 4 gigs .... strongly recommend 8 gigs, so you have room to add and save wpts/rts/trks from your unit and Homeport) or you can use your G2 VisionCharts if you have them.

Once your G2 Charts on downloaded to the SD card you can then upload them into Homeport for use in planning trips and adding wpts/rtes/trks. This means there is no more requirement to purchase Map Source and the BlueChart CD ....... you already have all the charts you need on your chartplotter. Once your finished building to you chartplotter. There are some really nice features in the new software.

Here are some of the features:

displays both fishing and navigational charts from BlueChart g2 Vision

allows user to measure distance and bearing on the charts

displays route/track depth profile

converts tracks into point-to-point routes (track to route conversion) and specifies the speed for each leg of the route

provides ETA and arrival times (for each leg) when you create routes

shows animated playback of data collected on device

calculates fuel consumption (based on fuel flow data provided by the user)

exports selected data to Google™ Earth

displays statistics and graphical information about tide stations, tidal streams and currents

displays grid lines to show latitude and longitude

allows you to manage waypoints, routes and tracks

allows you to view the map north-up, map-up or course-up

displays celestial information such as sunrise, sunset and moon phase

displays photos and point-of-interest detail

supports vector charts

includes worldwide basemap

allows multiple map views

[caurimare]

I went to the link but you cant download it yet, when is it going to be available?

[bluewaterpirate]

this afternoon

[Barry Turano]

Will this work with the pre-loaded software on 540s or do you need the Vision card?

[caurimare]

Originally Posted by bluewaterpirate

this afternoon

ok thanks

[bluewaterpirate]

G2 & G2 Vision Charts. If you use only G2 Charts that came preinstalled on your computer then you can download those charts to your SD card as I wrote above.

[The Hat Island Pirate]

I take it we do not need a special card reader like when using Raytech RNS Planner or the Navionics version, as our standard card reader will work?
Looks pretty neat and the cost is reasonable.

Thanks

[bluewaterpirate]

needed.

[The Hat Island Pirate]

Thanks Tom. Raymarine gives their planning software away for free, but it does not have nearly the function of the new Garmin unless you pay $600 for the full version and also buy a special card reader $70 to view the Navionics Cards. Can you download charts from NOAA and view with this new software? Can a GPS antenna be connected to your computer and use the software? Not a big deal to me but someone would probably ask the question at some point. It's going to be way cool to play with this stuff on those raining and windy days this winter.
Thanks Tom and Jim for all the great information and taking the time to share your experiences. Keep the videos coming too. I have gained a ton of knowledge since joining this site.

[OldPete]

This is nice, however (and with MUCH RESPECT), wouldn't it be nice if the resources they used to code this went to fixing the issues with the GSD22?

At this point I won't spend another penny on ANYTHING Garmin until my GSD22 and M260 work like they should.

[rwidman]

Originally Posted by OldPete

This is nice, however (and with MUCH RESPECT), wouldn't it be nice if the resources they used to code this went to fixing the issues with the GSD22?

At this point I won't spend another penny on ANYTHING Garmin until my GSD22 and M260 work like they should.

Just couldn't resist, could you?

This thread is about the long awaited software to replace Mapsource and I'm happy to hear about it because my Mapsource charts are pretty outdated.

If you want to complain about your depth sounder, why not start a thread on it and leave it out of other threads? That way, people who don't give a rat's a$$ won't have to read about it.

[Justin_NJ]

so much for this afternoon.... it's almost 7pm and I still can't download it!

[rwidman]

Originally Posted by bluewaterpirate

this afternoon

This afternoon in Kansas?

OK, I can wait another day or two.

[Justin_NJ]

maybe they are on Hawaii time!!!

[bluewaterpirate]

Pete ......

If you'd done your homework before you purchased your equipment you would have discovered the issues with the GDS 22. The info was sitting right here under your nose. Is Garmin working to improve the GDS22 yes they are .... so in the mean time your stuck.

By the way ...... I'm Polish and I figured it out Garmin has a way to go in FF technology...... note the Furuno FF.

[gerg]

Ok, how many coins guys?

[bluewaterpirate]

$29.00

[OldPete]

Fair enough, guys. Geesh. I guess I'll remember this when YOU come in a thread and interject something I don't want to hear. LOL.

[bluewaterpirate]

will be available the 1st week of November. It's a great value believe me.