![]() I think Garmin can add more functionality to the BCM relationship, and almost undoubtedly will when it comes to the new MFDs with WiFi built in, but as the package stands I think some Garmin owners will respond “meh!” and others will find $200 a small price to pay for connecting their iThing to their large nav system investment. In conclusion, I caution people not to assume what the WiFi Adapter can do based on consumer electronics. I repeat: Touch screen charting is NOT one thing.)Īt any rate, laying down waypoints in BCM is just a simple tapping process and I also find the icons a bit clunky, but they are easy to modify and it will also be easy for Garmin to modify the whole app as user responses come in. The latest Raymarine displays, for instance, let you either tap create a waypoint or tap and hold to move your finger tip away from the spot and adjust it. (This is another subject that may deserve a whole entry as there are numerous solutions. It’s quicker than it sounds and it demolishes the early presumption that touch screens aren’t good for route making because your finger gets in the way. ![]() Once I start a route on the 7212 I tap in the general vicinity of the next waypoint, then move my hand away and slide the chart around under the proposed waypoint until precision is achieved, and finally hit the Create Turn screen button. But the method of actually creating a route is different than it is on a Garmin touch MFD and I’m not sure I like the change… Tracks are fun but probably the main reason people will install the WiFi Adapter is routing…īlueChart Mobile definitely has some sweet routing features, like the way its list view offers several quick sorting methods and thumbnail graphics of the routes themselves (as seen below). The track also reminded me that when I left by myself a week later I didn’t fire up the 7212 until I got out in the channel. It conjures up the nice morning Leonard and I checked out BMC Harborview, where Trawler Fest was setting up, and then executed an Inner Harbor pirouette before settling into the marina I mentioned on Monday. It was fun to use BCM to drill down on those many thousands of track points as in the Baltimore screen below. Tapping those Export and Import buttons worked exactly as explained, though it did take me a moment to understand that I needed to poke under the big BCM steering wheel icon to actually display something like the entire Gizmo migration track recently posted. So what can BCM and the WiFi Adapter do for you? At the moment, the screen above tells the whole story. Furuno is doing neat things with MFD WiFi and so is Raymarine, but not in a backward compatible way, and while Navico GoFree can connect at least a MFD generation back, not all data tiers are supported. But if that happens, let’s acknowledge that Garmin has every right to say “please don’t call us with support issues.” Let’s also acknowledge that Garmin has gone some extra distance just trying to make the app integrate with existing hardware. ![]() I’m also glad that Jeff is hoping to help folks set up their existing routers to make the connection between Garmin MFDs and BlueChart Mobile. But given Ubiquiti’s famed configurability and WiFi power, couldn’t the Garmin adapter connect to Gizmo’s own WiFi router so the iPad could also be getting marina and anchorage WiFi Internet via a Ubiquiti Bullet like the Rogue Wave or NautiCloud? Or couldn’t it even serve Internet to the boat Bullet-style when not being used with the Garmin network? Garmin’s answer was essentially “sorry, no and no”…įrankly, I’m rather dim about the under pinnings of WiFi, but I’m definitely getting the impression that making it play with marine navigation networks is complicated, and I was glad to find ActiveCaptain’s Jeff Siegel discussing specific Garmin complications on TugNuts today. That’s going to gall some people, even when assured that Garmin’s version is specially set up (the default PicoStation won’t “just work”). It’s not hard to figure out that Garmin’s $200 WiFi Adapter is actually a Ubiquiti PicoStation M2-HP that you can pick up on on Amazon for $80. And then there are the issues of cost and flexability. Even if Garmin decides that’s a feature worth adding. While the problem was easily solved once Garmin tech support had me enable “NMEA 2000 Output Bridging”, it’s my understanding that some N2K data is never bridged onto Garmin’s Marine (Ethernet) Network and therefore getting values like depth and wind direction/speed to the app is not as easy as some might presume. ![]() When I first set up the adapter and then selected the new “garminmarine” hotspot on the iPad3, BlueChart Mobile could not see the NMEA 2000 GPS that’s networked to the 7212.
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