Garmin 545s

[Nehalennia]

I'm about to place an order for the Garmin 545s without the transducer. I already bought and installed the transducer.

Have any of you bought this model.
I also see that their G2 Vision Card #(VCA001R)allows detailed info on:


Inside Passage, Jan 08 (VCA001R) Detailed coverage of Queen Charlotte Strait and the Strait of Georgia from Bull Harbour, BC to Mt. Vernon, WA, including Vancouver, Nanaimo, Powell River, Desolation Sound, the San Juan Islands, and the Fraser River, and Quatsino Sound. $321.42 010-C0688-00

I found it online for $248, but will wait a little while to get it. The nice thing it seems about the vision card is that it can Auto Guide you to where you want to go. Simply select the location and select "Navigate to" and it will plot your course.

Ironically the Card I selected above is the Canadian Chart, but comes all the way down to Mt. Vernon. We boat mainly in the San Juans all the way to Desolation, more than south Sound, so that will be perfect.

[Ssounder]

We boat mainly in the San Juans all the way to Desolation, more than south Sound, so that will be perfect.

I'll get you Snooty Northerners down here one of these days...::lol:

[Nehalennia]

I'll get you Snooty Northerners down here one of these days...::lol:
:mrgreen:
Yeah, we'll get down there.

[Nehalennia]

Just ordered the 545s. When I get it I'll see if the South sound shows up on it....:cool:

[Go Aweigh2452]

I'll get you Snooty Northerners down here one of these days...::lol:
Hey, we boat down that way. Tacoma two weeks ago and been to Bud Inlet, Oylmpia for chowder feast and all a few times... Nice ride going around McNeal Island and a few of the great anchorages down there... Normally very calm waters with all the islands...

[Nehalennia]

Now I'm even more excited. I received an e-mail back from Jim at BOE marine (http://byownerelectronics.com/store/home.php)
that since I bought the Garmin 545s there is a $200 rebate on the G2Vision card. That will make the net to me $47. I'm in.

[Ssounder]

Hey, we boat down that way. Tacoma two weeks ago and been to Bud Inlet, Oylmpia for chowder feast and all a few times... Nice ride going around McNeal Island and a few of the great anchorages down there... Normally very calm waters with all the islands...

Two or three years ago, I remember seeing www.iboatnw.com in vinyl on someones boat. I think it was Swantown.
The Chowder Fest was cancelled this year because the sponsors took issue with some parking changes the Port of Olympia enacted. -Too bad. It was a good place to mingle with other boaters and check out deals at the boat swap. I hope they work things out for next year...

[Go Aweigh2452]

Yep, I'll bet that was my boat. I had a couple of those stickers on old Go Aweigh...

[Nehalennia]

shipped today. I'm excited to get this thing and get it installed. The Garmin vision card is back ordered for another week or so.
I ordered the Canadian Chart
Inside Passage, Jan 08 (VCA001R):
Detailed coverage of Queen Charlotte Strait and the Strait of Georgia from Bull Harbour, BC to Mt. Vernon, WA, including Vancouver, Nanaimo, Powell River, Desolation Sound, the San Juan Islands, and the Fraser River, and Quatsino Sound.
Garmin G2 Vision card VCA001R (http://www8.garmin.com/cartography/g2vision/card.jsp?sku=VCA001R)

I also still need to get the new charger installed.

SS has some WN's ready for me and I can't wait to get those on as well. (Thanks Mike!)

Mo and I are still thinking of maybe going to Poulsbo(or somewhere) this weekend.

[Nehalennia]

The GPS arrived today.

Now I just need to take it to the boat and figure out how I want to mount the thing. I may build a nice Mahogany housing for it.
Well see.

[Sundancer]

Will the mahogany effect the internal antenna? Sounds like a nice addition and once you get your arms around it, I may ask some questions!

I still haven't bought one and I'm on the fence as to weather I really need it for the San Juan trip two weeks this year and one or two weeks a year in years beyond? I was thinking about the 535 and adding the G2 chip for the San Juans. How much detail is available WITHOUT the G2 chip? I don't need pictures, so I don't need the G2 Vision chip( I don't THINK anyway?). Display some place like Roche or the entrance to Lopez and take some pictures without or without the chip.

[Nehalennia]

Will the mahogany effect the internal antenna?

Hey Jim
I mentioned that to Mike(Somesailor) yesterday. He didn't think it would. Metal would block the signal but the wood shouldn't.

I'll play with it and see where I want to mount it, then go from there, but I think Mahogany would look nice.

Also, one thing it looks like we can do, if you do get the 530 series, is share waypoints and routes

[Sundancer]

The route sharing is a nice feature and should be compatible with the 430, 530 or any other unit that will take the memory card I'd guess. I just have to step up into a later model unit to take advantage of it.

The WM folks over here just aren't tuned into chartplotters. They tell me Priest Lake is available, but they don't have a unit with the inland lakes to prove it. Someone on CSR had just purchased a 530 or 535 from Jim at BOE and he verified that Priest Lake didn't have any depths or contour lines of the lake for me a couple weeks ago. :roll: They don't have a 535 or a 545 so you can see the difference in resolution. I think I need to schedule another trip to Seattle!

I have another old handheld and it does have a basemap of the San Juans, but I'd definitely need the Bluechart version to load the data. The map isn't very accurate! I think I'd rather spend the $150 for a Bluechart on a new unit and use the handheld to track routes so I could at least backtrack if the primary died (highly unlikely!).

Getting the G2 for $47 is extremely tempting right now! I may just have to flip a coin and order a unit. I'm sure they will all exceed my needs.

[Nehalennia]

The route sharing is a nice feature and should be compatible with the 430, 530 or any other unit that will take the memory card I'd guess. I just have to step up into a later model unit to take advantage of it.

The WM folks over here just aren't tuned into chartplotters. They tell me Priest Lake is available, but they don't have a unit with the inland lakes to prove it. Someone on CSR had just purchased a 530 or 535 from Jim at BOE and he verified that Priest Lake didn't have any depths or contour lines of the lake for me a couple weeks ago. :roll: They don't have a 535 or a 545 so you can see the difference in resolution. I think I need to schedule another trip to Seattle!

I have another old handheld and it does have a basemap of the San Juans, but I'd definitely need the Bluechart version to load the data. The map isn't very accurate! I think I'd rather spend the $150 for a Bluechart on a new unit and use the handheld to track routes so I could at least backtrack if the primary died (highly unlikely!).

Getting the G2 for $47 is extremely tempting right now! I may just have to flip a coin and order a unit. I'm sure they will all exceed my needs.


I think the G2 is only rebated(is that a word) if you buy a new Garmin unit.
I'm very happy with Jim and BOE and after briefly reading the 545s Manual last night, I think I will be very impressed with this unit. The G2 chart should be here next week.