Can eXplorist work with the old BlueNav Data?

I have a new eXplorist 400 and am looking to load some nav data on it.
I see that Magellan offers the new BlueNav XL3 charts for eXplorist,
but they are quite pricey. I see many folks selling the older MAGELLAN
MAPSEND BLUENAV CD 980635-05, which is much more reasonable but is only
advertised to work with Meridian and SporTrak handhelds. Will this
older, more reasonably priced data work with my eXplorist?

Jim

Jim@BowmanAcademy.com wrote:


No, it will not. That was one of the things that kept me from upgrading
from a Meridian Color to an Explorist. My BlueNav and Topo 3D charts
were going to be useless.

If you buy the XL3 SD cards you have to choose whether it is for the
Meridian or eXplorist family, they only work on one or the other.

And after a quick comparison of the Meridian Color and the eXplorist XL
I realized that the XL had fewer pages and that some of my most used and
liked features were gone.

I bought a Garmin GPSMAP 76Cx and am happy with it. It's not perfect
but none of the Magellans were either. Strongest advantages of the
Garmin "x" series models right now are the very sensitive and fast SiRF
III chip set, fast processor, excellent display, and autorouting and
multiple destination routing on the basemap roads. You can navigate all
of the U.S. on major roads without buying any additional software.

The Garmin MarinePoint database is also included on the 76Cx, that
includes tide points, it does tide calculations, and the database
includes many, many more marine navaids than the Magellan had. It even
has all or nearly all the unlighted "minor" navaids like the red and
green nun and can buoys that mark channels. And you can display a lot
more detailed info about each navaid (color, marking, light type and
periods, etc.).

If you know your local waters and marks and are comfortable with doing
it (have charts, maybe a depth sounder, etc.) you can navigate from the
MarinePoint database because it has all the navaids on it, it just does
not have any soundings or contours or show you where the "heartbreakers"
are. It is sort of like navigating with a non-mapping GPS.

The Garmin BlueChart marine charting is as not a very good buy from
Garmin either. You can still get it on a CD-ROM but you have to unlock
it one region at a time. I think I would need to unlock three regions
to cover from Bar Harbor, ME down to Newport, RI. That would cost
around $450 at Garmin's MSRP if I remember right. You get one unlock
when you buy the CD, the extra two would be like $116 each.

Feel free to email me if you have any questions on the Garmin or want
more info.

Jack

--
Jack Erbes in Ellsworth, Maine, USA - jackerbes at adelphia dot net
(also receiving email at jacker at midmaine.com)

Thanks for the info, Jack. I will have to look at possibly getting a
Garmin.

Jim