.
<B>.
~ Captain Paul's response to: ~ AR FISHERMAN ~

I presently don’t have any info on the XYLOPHONE RIG in the Venice area. I am working on getting a fix for the rig, but so far, I have not been successful.

Do you have any idea about where it is located? Is it an offshore platform, or one of the many Christmas Tree platforms in state waters? Any information would be helpful.

~ Captain Paul ~ </b>

.
<b>~ Captain Paul's response to: ~ AR FISHERMAN ~

The Lowrance LCX-37 is a top flight GPS combo unit. It should serve you well.

Just because you are intending to use the GPS receiver installed in a boat means that you MUST have marine mapping in the unit.

I suggest that you investigate the Lowrance MAPCREATE ~ USA TOPO Series 7 map software. It is a DVD disk that covers topo quality maps for the entire U.S. I am a firm believer that topo type maps offer more detail than does NOAA type Marine charts for our coastal waters as well as Inland Lakes on the circuit.

Lowrance offers an accessory package that includes one SD card, a LEI card Reader~Writer and the MapCreate DVD for windows 98 or higher. The Lowrance program allows you to use up to FIVE different SD memory cards. The maps MUST be loaded on the cards via the LEI reader ~ writer which imparts a code to the code. The GPS receiver can ONLY read maps that were loaded using the LEI card reader. You can use the cards over and over again, but only the first five cards that you use for downloading.

It is Lowrance’s latest topo map release and is comparable to the Garmin MapSource US TOPO program when used to manage your data. By that I mean that the MapCreate program will allow you to transfer waypoints, routes and tracks from the GPS receiver via the SD or MMC card to the computer and of course the reverse is also true.

The data from the MapSource program cannot be transferred directly to a Lowrance system but there are such data transferring programs via the internet. GPS Babel is one such program and is available at http://www.gpsbabel.org/download.html as a FREE download. It is worth the effort just to have the program.

As the Lowrance system makes the transfers first to the memory card, I suggest that you reserve one such card for all of your DATA transfers. Sometimes writing to a memory card will ERASE the existing files on the card. This could be very disheartening if the card had irreplaceable maps installed in the card.

Before committing to an investment that may not be what you actually need, check out all of the available mapping in a GPS unit. Almost any stocking dealer should have the Navionics, Freedom Maps, Enhanced Lakes, and the USA TOPO Series 7 available for your viewing.

It will save you money in the long run.

By the way the LCX 37 has two (2) memory card slots available at the same time. That means that you can have the best of any two types of mapping installed at the same time.


~ Captain Paul ~ </b>