Has anyone got experience of the Garmin Quatix 7 and Garmin Charts?
I'm considering a Garmin Quatix 7 Sapphire as a replacement watch (www.garmin.com/en-AU/p/818324), and as companion technology for my new boat. The boat is due in November and will likely spend most of its time in Moreton Bay, where navigation is mainly line-of-sight plus compass. I hope to venture further afield in time.
The main reasons for the watch, other than telling the time, are its instrumentation technology, particularly speed, depth, charts, anchor drag alarm, depth alarm. The on-line product blurb says it does all these things. The best price seems to be Whitworths at $1299, which is less than on-line, but still a sizeable sum for a watch.
If I get this watch, it will push me down the Garmin path, of course. The nice bloke at WWs says it will pair nicely with a $729 Garmin Echomap (www.whitworths.com.au/garmin-echomap-uhd2-5-chartplotter-55cv-with-gt20-tm-transducer). I will probably get a depth sounder for the boat, but the watch could save me getting a chart plotter (for Moreton Bay use).
Do I need to purchase the maps separately? The blurb on-line sells them at $200 for NE coast or SE coast or a bit less than $400 for both. Do I need to spay a subscription to update the maps? The reason I ask is not to gripe about the price (no gripes in your responses, please), but to understand the total package costs before committing.
Looked at the watch today. Its a nice watch, but you need to purchase the charts for an extra AU$240 as a stand-alone purchase. Its half the purchase price to update the maps every year. I'll pass this time.
