small boat satellite weather, expensive toy or ?

[Bushwacker]

Connor,

You can get a GPS with weather radar for less than $1600. I bought the Garmin 640 when they first came out in early 2009, and found it on-line for $1000 when list was $1200. I think even West Marine has now offered them for $1000, so you might be able to find them on line now for less than that. The XM antenna (GXM40) was $223 from Amazon. A side benefit is that you also get XM radio; both the marine and auto mounts for the 640 have a port for a 1/8" audio cable so you can connect it to any audio device with an Aux in port and tune in any of the satellite radio channels on the GPS. They have 3 different subscription packages, all of which have Nexrad radar. I got the Fisherman package because it has wave heights, but they're in 3' increments and that's a little too course to suit me. Although I did make one crossing in 6-8' seas, I'm no longer young enough or dumb enough to do that again in a 20' boat, even if it's a SeaCraft! (NOAA weather radio said seas 2' or less, winds 10 kts or less! The wind speed was correct, but it shifted from NW to N to NE as we came back from West End, and you know what that does when it's blowin' against the stream!) The Sailor package displays the wind barbs over the chart indicating direction and strength(Beaufort scale), and I think that might be more useful for Bahamas runs. I believe both packages have buoy reports, which could be very useful if there is one nearby. Or for about $80/mo instead of about $40-45, you can get the Master Mariner package which has everything. You also have the option of turning the subscription on for only 3 months at a time. The XM website explains all the details of the various packages.

I did have a problem with the first unit when it was only a few months old - the touch screen became non-responsive and I pushed on it hard enough that it cracked! However Garmin sent me a whole new unit, no questions asked, and I got to keep the original marine and auto mounts, so now I have auto mounts for both the car and truck! Other than that one problem, I've been very happy with the 640.

Garmin's customer support is about as good as it gets. My buddy Harry has 3 different GPS units and has been to the Garmin plant in Olathe, Ks. and said it's a very impressive operation. They've rebuilt the 376 unit he uses on his motorcycles about 3 times, for a very nominal fee. Denny