GPS

TinBoats.net

Help Support TinBoats.net:

This site may earn a commission from merchant affiliate links, including eBay, Amazon, and others.

putback

Well-known member
Joined
Aug 12, 2014
Messages
57
Reaction score
0
Location
Enosburg Falls Vermont
I have a Garmin nuvu 50 LM GPS. 3 yrs old never used. I've been searching the net to see if there is any way it can be utilized on a boat for navigation & fishing. Can't find a thing. Any suggestions?
 
I believe that your referring to the Nuvi 50LM, which is a car navigation system? I had one a couple years back (it was a Nuvi, but can't remember the exact model number) and looked into getting nautical charts for it, but didn't have any luck. It will provide you with geographic coordinates, that you could plot on a paper chart, but I don't think that's what you're looking for. Otherwise, it will display your position in a blue body of water with marginally correct shoreline and no depth information, which isn't exactly great for navigation or finding fishing spots.

As an alternative, you could look at an app for your phone or tablet like the Navionics app that rich99 posted in this thread:

https://forum.tinboats.net/viewtopic.php?f=3&t=41161

Or, if you have an Apple product, you could check out Skipper, which has a free version or a subscription version and uses free NOAA raster charts:

https://itunes.apple.com/us/app/skipper-noaa-marine-charts/id653171276

There are a host of others out there for you to choose from; I know Garmin and Jeppesen both offer decent apps as well. NOAA used to offer their own free chart app, MyNOAAcharts, but it was just a test project and has been discontinued.
 
You might be able to use it for some sort of limited navigation, but there would be no contour or depth info. You could mark your ramp gps location so you could return to the same ramp, and possibly other spots, but again, very limited use.
 
Yep, you'd be much better off spending 10 bucks and loading Navionics on your smart phone or a tablet. The car nav units are pretty specific to street navigation. If you had one of the outdoor handhelds, then you could load custom basemaps, but the Nuvis have a locked basemap and then you overlay on them. Not ideal for loading bluechart software.
 
I had the same same Nuvi for several years and used
it many times on the water just to see the profile of the lake.
( This is before I had the Humminbird )
And that is all it does - is show you a rough digital map of where you are,
just like in your car. And it will give you very accurate speed if
you want to know that. Also, you could "save" some locations
to your favorites for future reference ...... (probably within a 50 foot radius).
but, it is the automobile version ........ don't get it wet.
 
jethro said:
Yep, you'd be much better off spending 10 bucks and loading Navionics on your smart phone or a tablet. The car nav units are pretty specific to street navigation. If you had one of the outdoor handhelds, then you could load custom basemaps, but the Nuvis have a locked basemap and then you overlay on them. Not ideal for loading bluechart software.

Do you have to have an internet connection to use it?


Sent from Mossy Oak Swamp Bottom
 
I have the data cord, Etrex Legend to computer. Lost and just ordered the data cord, nuvi 50 lm to computer. I have no smartphone ect. to connect to the net on the water and can't see one in the future. Been searching the net to see if there's a way to marry the etrex to the nuvi to use the nuvi screen. Both being Garmin thought there may be a chance. Not a tech guy so I have to learn these things the hard way.
 
With regard to the Navionics app....even if you do not have a smart phone for use on the water, you might see if you can load it onto your home computer.

Being able to research the depth contours before you go out can pay big dividends when you do get onto the water.

richg99
 

Latest posts

Top