Roughly thirty years ago, the social club where my father was a member installed their first table-top space invaders.  My dad gave me 10pence I queued up for nearly an hour and within 60 seconds it was all over. My attraction to computers ended there and then too! I figured that my 10pence was far better spent on a bag of Cheese & Onion crisps and a pickled onion (you must be getting on if you could get all that for 10p! – Ed). Don’t get me wrong, I’m no technophobe but I’m not into digital change unless it’s necessary and is an improvement on what I am already using. I don’t do computer games!!

Last June, at a Garmin press day, I fell in love with the new Garmin touch screen systems (you may remember my blog about “My Garmin” 29/06/09) - I eventually fitted one on my Tarpon boat in October and after six months of testing, here’s what I think.

For the last 15 years I have primarily run boats commercially therefore my requirements from electronics are somewhat different to that of somebody who runs their boat for pleasure... I like a plotter screen that is large, clear and zooms fast, and has the best position accuracy available, whatever the cost, as it will only bring more fish to the boat! Fish-finder accuracy is important too. Whereas a private boat may be happy just to see there are fish beneath the boat... I need a fish finder that distinguishes what are fish and what are not via colour representation and pattern, one that will also help me identify which species they maybe. And finally, because my boats do hours at sea each year, I need a unit that is simply constructed to take a punishing.

The 5000 series is Garmin’s flagship marine system, aimed to up the stakes, and boy has it done that! The 5000 series comes in three sizes – the 5008, 5012 and 5015.The second two numbers represent the size of the screen diagonally, i.e. 08 (eight inches) and 15 (fifteen inches) and so forth. I have a 5008 and after six months I have found it’s only missing one thing... buttons!

Shortly after I fitted my new Garmin 5008 touch-screen, I had a call from a fellow skipper who said “I don’t know how you get on with all that touch screen malarkey, it must be hard to hit the on-screen buttons in rough seas. I couldn’t get on with a touch screen phone!” I have had a touch screen phone and I could understand what he was on about, but what you have to understand is that an 8inch touch-screen GPS is nothing like a small mobile phone!

On turning on the system it loads fast and initially goes to the home page which has a series of options, including CHARTS, SONAR, RADAR, COMBINATIONS and CONFIGURE etc. And for all those that are sceptical of touch screens, fear not...

Whatever size 5000 series you choose, the touch-screen buttons are going to be much larger, and more user friendly, than a touch screen phone or for that matter, the little rubber buttons currently used on most GPS systems! Most people who know me know that I’m not shy of putting the throttle forward in a little weather, as long as it’s safe, and whilst bashing around in sloppy seas using my 5008, I feel the big touch screen simpler to see and touch than any GPS with standard push buttons. It doesn’t take a rocket scientist to work out that bigger buttons are easier to see and push! Further advantages of having no ‘real’ buttons is that the 5000 series has a better waterproof seal and generally has fewer pieces to go wrong! That spells product longevity!!

On the subject of buttons, we may as well talk menus. Now if you’re like me, there are probably some menus you love and some you hate. Some companies seem to produce complicated, non friendly menus systems, while other companies produce menu systems that are child’s play??

For 48hrs I dreaded setting my 5008 up! II couldn’t even bring myself to open the manual for fear of what I might find, but one morning I clicked “Configure” to have a sneak peak at what may lie ahead, and twenty minutes later it was all done! Now that I like! The Garmin touch-screen menu system is the simplest I have come across yet. Under each simple command/button are further simple options/buttons and everything is where you would expect! I note also that each option is purposeful, useful... I hate things I don’t use.  

As I touched each onscreen button the next button/window/option appeared and it was like being guided through by a program wizard! And when it comes to entering that all important ‘Mark’ data... instead of having to jiggle with a small, rubber cursor pad to enter information, up pops a touch-screen alphabetical/numerical keypad and away you go. I’ll leave simple there – I kid you not, even my youngest children could set up and use this GPS!

Once you’re all ‘configured’ up and ready to go, there’s only 5 touch-screen buttons you really need to worry about. Hit ‘Charts’ and of course a menu of chart plotter options/buttons becomes available – the same goes for Sonar, Radar, Combinations (that’s chart, sonar and radar combinations) and the final one again is self explanatory... “Man Overboard” (!!!)

Out of the box, the 5000 series are just a GPS navigator, but both Sonar and Radar can be added. I don’t have Radar, I don’t need it, but I did get the DST800 sonar module and transducer. I haven’t had a great chance to play with the sonar fish finder yet but my initial feelings are again, it’s easy to set up, it’s clear, its crisp and it doesn’t tell lies. Some fish finders, no matter how much you play with the sensitivity and gain, you just have that gut feeling they’re displaying extra or not enough returns, but from the little I have used my Garmin 5008’s sonar, I’m pretty confident that it comes up to my ‘commercial’ expectations and more! Perhaps that’s a follow up review for a later date?

Going onto Charts and chart plotting...

Firstly, if you have great charts but you don’t have good screen clarity or resolution, what was the point in buying them in the first place? All the Garmin 5000 series navigators have 640x420dpi VGA screen. In plain English that’s super duper crisp and clear!

The 5000 series was designed for use with Garmin’s own BlueChart g2 Vision digital charts and this is where it gets better. I’m happy with both C-map and Navionics, but neither makes GPS navigation systems, but Garmin make both! This gives them 100% control over the end product than any other Marine Electronic or Digital Chart Company in the world. Again Garmin’s BlueCharts probably warrant another review in itself! All I will say is that they have more than enough detail and information for my needs, and they are better than any other digital charts I have used to date. Garmin BlueChart g2 vision charts include satellite imagery, aerial photographs, real-time tidal information, a Mariners Eye View (which is a perspective 3d view looking ahead, from behind the boat), Fishing Charts (now they’re useful) and finally a Fish Eye View, which should not be confused as a sonar picture. Garmin’s Fish Eye View is a three dimensional underwater view of the seabed, drawn from the standard navigation chart (a thought provocative feature for the angling skipper who’s keen to find new ground!).

I’ve mentioned how simple and user friendly 5000 system is, but I haven’t mentioned how fast it is. Many manufacturers talk about seamless cartography, but nothing could have prepared me for how fast Garmin’s 5000 series is when used in conjunction with their own BlueCharts. Click on zoom and instead of the next page loading with a brief pause, the chart evolves before your eyes with no pause, not even for a nano second. Another great feature is panning. Touch the screen and you can drag it around. I like this feature because I can make the maximum use of the screen depending on how I need to position my boat. Again there is no loss or pause when panning. This unit is simple, functional, slick and it’s fast - and that’s exactly what you need if you want to produce fishing that is similar!!

The construction of this unit was built for fishing too. It’s chunky, robust and without doubt, designed to last in the harsh marine environment. My 22ft Bay Ranger goes at over 50mph and is completely open to the elements. In the last 8 weeks I have done 15-20 days in choppy, two to four seas. My 5008 has been bashed around at high speed, fallen upon and had buckets of saltwater over it, and after a quick wipe with soapy water it still looks like new. The 5000 series draws even greater longevity from “My Garmin”...

My Garmin is an area of the Garmin website where their customers can download software updates. Because the 5000 series is mainly built around software, Garmin can issue updates, corrections and modifications to its customers via the My Garmin website. From now on, if you purchase a Garmin chart plotter, all you have to do is go online, sign up, insert an SD card into your computer, download any updates and then transfer them direct to your Garmin GPS. As well as offering greater product/software longevity, My Garmin, also allows Garmin greater control over their products post sale!  Customer service cannot get any better than this!

Garmin clearly are the ‘Apple’ of the GPS World and with the 5000 series, BlueChart g2 Vision and My Garmin, Garmin has made the best navigation system in its price range with the greatest after sale care available.
I have just broken my backup GPS and when it comes down to what will I replace it with? There really is no choice!

For More information on Garmin’s GPSMAP 5000 series chart plotters, including the 5008, check out http://www.garmin.co.uk/onthewater

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