I have noticed a couple posts complaining about the small size of GPS screens. Well,..... I have the solution!! Hook it up to a laptop!!! Best of all, hook it up and download charts, view your position, and so on, all for free!! Here is how:

You will need:

1) Laptop with WINDOWS

2) GPS serial port interface cable (comes with most GPS units)

Do these steps:

1) Go to www.sping.com and download the free GPS plotting program "SEACLEAR"

2) Go to www.maptech.com and view a chart of your favorite area. While the chart is displayed, press CNTRL PRINTSCREEN This will save a bitmap of the screen into a WINDOWS buffer. While the chart is up jot down the lat/long of 3-4 landmarks

3) Use your digital camera's photo processing software to paste the buffer contents into the picture field. Then use the crop feature to edit out everything but the chart. Then save the picture as a .BMP (Windows bitmap) file. These last 4 steps sound complicated, but they are really just the good old "copy" and "paste" routine that almost all Microsoft office software uses.

4) Now you have to use the Seaclear program "MAPCAL" to turn this picture into a calibrated chart that the software can understand. This will require a couple hours reading the manuals and figuring things out.

If you decide to take this on a good way to get started is to download a map of your neighborhhod. Go through all the steps and then put the GPS near a window (or on the deck) and turn it on. If everything goes right a dot will appear right where your house is. If you put everything in the car and run down to the store, the software will map out your path and show you all the usual navigational information.

PS: The serial port is the 9 pin port on the back of your computer. They all have them.