On Fri, 15 Sep 2006 02:25:30 +0000, Don Bouchard wrote:

Has anybody compared The CAPN by Nautical Technologies and Nobeltec's
VNS version 8 or 9? Any recommendations? Has anybody tested both
Electronic Charting systems?

My favorite is Pocket Navigator running on a PDA, but I reach for The
Cap'n when I need a backup. We have others aboard too --
all versions of Maptech back to 1.0 for DOS, plus a couple of older
versions of Nobletec (6?). They all have their problems, either bugs or
poor usability, or being cluttered with useless crud while
important things go missing. The Cap'n is at least simple and uncluttered,
but plotting courses is a pain because the screen/cursor movement is
cumbersome.

Pocket Navigator, nee Memory Map Navigator (stupid name), works like a
charm. The only problem is that it takes both a PC and a PDA.

I'm convinced this stuff is not designed by boaters anymo we're
a side business now compared to the land-based products.

All this stuff should be better than it is. With all the
engineer/tinkerer/technical types in the yachting world, I'm amazed we
don't have better software.

I haven't tried Fugawi, but I'd like to. I'm convinced vector charts are
the way to go.

Matt O.