Garmin AIS, what I know so far
Above, me hearties, is an AIS target plotted on a test Garmin 3120 in my basement last weekend, at least minimally. For instance, the plotter should have been showing the vessel’s name by the time I took this photo (I know it was being transmitted), and the manual shows an AIS subtab in this Map menu that apparently doesn’t yet exist. So I’d say that Garmin’s AIS display is a work in progress, which is probably why the company hasn’t promoted it yet (despite all of Pascal’s prodding). I’ll bet that the feature will get fully developed in future software revs, including CPA and TCPA controls. I hope too that the High Speed NMEA setting used for AIS reception will also be able to see GPS strings, which did not seem to be happening in my test (I was using a SeaCas combo AIS receiver and GPS).
But I had another reason to use this particular photo, bigger here. Trying the 3120 reminded me how neatly Garmin does this Map Setup menu, letting you see the effects of any setting change live in a chart window you can zoom/scroll. It works Great!
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Thank You very much Ben, I was thinking that the initial support would be somewaht basic off course, but seems that it is totally basic; like you said, I hoppe that it will evolve asap to a function at least useable, and later, in subsequent softwares updates, it could reach to a level compatible with others AIS softwares in the market. I hoppe too that Garmin will undertand that AIS is a need of all mariner users, and a new fantastic technology, and introduce the same AIS support in all the 276/376/378/478 portable family as well. In the interim, I am buying a SR161 receiver to use AIS in my laptop with SeaClear and Ozi, thing that I previously had not think to do.
Regards
Pascal