It is inconceivable to me that Garmin would produce a Chart plotter that can display charts and radar side-by side, and can superimpose weather on the chart, but will not allow radar to be layered on the chart screen. The only reason old devious me can accept is that Marketing was afraid of undercutting 4208 sales. This is not very Garmin-like behaviour.
Has anyone heard even the vaguest hint that some future firmware update will fix this?. My distant second choice is to revert to Raymahjong stuff, a move I consider spiritually delinquent.
Situation: Siesta has an mix of older nav equipment; RL70 radar, GPSmap 545, icom 502, Maxsea on a laptop connected to an older Furuno GPS receiver. Since my partner doesn't share my addiciton to new technology, my upgrade choices must be reasonable and justified by objective advantages having nothing to do with glitz.
My priority is to display AIS and DSC on a multifunction display with radar. Mr. Grimley, you may fire at will. I will be in my day cabin.
Sandy, this came up when I first wrote about the 740 and Garmin says they're considering adding overlay:
https://www.panbo.com/archives/2010/05/garmin_2010_gpsmap_740_and_gmr_604_xhd_first_looks.html
I think it got left out because overlay isn't going to work all that well on such a small screen...just not enough pixels to do the job well. But as a user I'd still like the choice.
Ben wrote> I think it got left out because overlay isn't going to work all that well on such a small screen
Fair comment but the once popular old Raymarine RL70 HSB series only had a 7" screen, not as hi-res as the Garmin 7xx series and the radar overlay worked very well on it. Imho, Overlay makes better use of screen real estate than side by side split screens. Hope that add it in a firmware update.
And we have an overlay
GPSMAP 720/720s software version 3.00
as of October 20, 2010
Changes made from version 2.50 to 3.00:
◦Radar:
◦Added Radar Overlay display functionality, which draws returns from a connected Garmin GMR radar over either a Navigation Chart or Fishing Chart presentation. This feature is available as Charts > Radar Overlay or Radar > Radar Overlay. Garmin recommends using a magnetic heading sensor for the best Radar Overlay experience.
◦Added the option to overlay radar returns on 3D charts.
◦Added ability to measure distances on radar displays in the same way this can be done on 2D charts.
◦Corrected an issue where changing the system units would result in inaccurate radar range ring measurements. Range ring measurement accuracy would be restored following a power cycle.
◦Charts:
◦Added support for TOPO maps.
◦Added a control for selecting between two map vehicles and multiple sizes on 2D charts. On the Navigation Chart, select Menu > Navigation Chart Setup > Chart Appearance > Symbols > Vehicle Icon.
◦Added option to use GPS Heading information when drawing the Heading Line on 2D charts. This is useful for sailboats and other vessels that have a heading sensor but don't always move in the direction their bow is pointing. Note that GPS Heading is unreliable at vessel speeds near 0 knots (speed over ground).
◦Moved 3D range ring labels to the side so they don't obstruct the view ahead of the vessel.
◦Added support for updating the internal basemap.
◦Changed text color from black to green for active AIS targets on 2D charts.
◦Improved presentation of AIS vessels and AIS vessel labels on 3D charts.
◦Improved visibility of AIS trails on 3D charts.
◦Improved display performance of the World Map.
◦Improved presentation of depth soundings on 3D charts. As depth soundings approach the horizon, they will be de-emphasized to reduce clutter on the display.
◦Corrected text display for charts that use Cyrillic fonts.
◦Corrected display of elevations for obstructions that are above water.
◦Corrected various drawing issues around the anti-meridian.
◦Sonar:
◦Added a depth log to the Sonar functions.
◦Added Pic Advance control to Sonar Setup menu, which allows the scrolling sonar picture to advance faster by drawing multiple columns on the screen for each sounding returned.
◦NMEA2000 & instrumentation:
◦Created an NMEA 2000 Setup control in the Configuration->Communications menu and moved the Device List into the new setup menu.
◦Added Label Devices under NMEA 2000 Setup which will allow labeling of NMEA 2000 engines and tanks with pre-defined names.
◦Added analog display options for tank levels, rudder angle, trim tabs, bow tabs, and engine trim.
◦Added option to display individual engine fuel flow rate and fuel economy numbers on the Numbers dashboard gauges page and in overlay numbers.
◦Changed the Engine Dashboard page automatic gauge configuration to only show the trim gauge if engine trim is available.
◦Added support for Yanmar information received via NMEA2000.
◦Improved autopilot and chartplotter synergy when more than one plotter is connected via NMEA2000.
◦Improved support for displaying destination waypoint information on GMI-10 instruments.
◦Improved support for displaying information regarding autoguidance routes on GMI-10 instruments.
◦User Data:
◦Simplified the user interface for creating new waypoints via Chart Menu > Waypoints & Tracks > New Waypoint and Information > User Data > Waypoints > Options > New Waypoint.
◦Added a prompt to delete unused route waypoints after deleting a route.
◦Corrected an issue where trying to move a waypoint while the waypoint review page shows a map doesn't show the Move Waypoint menu.
◦Corrected an issue where waypoints created by pointing on a weather chart were being created at the center of marine warning areas, rather than at the location pointed to.
◦Other:
◦Incorporated higher-resolution system fonts for improved presentation and readability.
◦Improved weather drawing performance