The Go To feature makes it very easy to pull up a new chart location. You can flip to any region where you have created a waypoint or route (see photo). Alternately, you can flip to a new chart by entering a latitude and longitude position. A very nice option is Go To>General Location, which brings up a window of named chart locations for waters in the U.S. and the Bahamas. For example, the Bahamas window lists 1,448 locations. Scrolling and selecting "Marsh Harbor" instantly brings up the best chart for that port, centered on your screen.MAPTECHWaypoints and marks are stored in a library table which can be sorted by column heading (see cursor arrow). To quickly go to a charted location, highlight a waypoint or mark and select "Center On Mark" (bottom center).

The General Location feature would be even stronger if it included a search box. Here again, Capn shows it age by not including this now-standard feature. However, a workaround is to click on any location name (as if you are about to edit it), then start to type the location you're searching for. The window will jump to the name you are typing.

One of The Capn's best features is "Allow Transparent Raster," which overlays a transparent raster chart over a vector chart (see photo). This feature lets you view a more familiar-looking raster display while querying objects from the underlying vector chart. It's also a nice feature to check if the two charts agree, such as on a shifting shoreline. The option "Show Feature Hot Spots" helps you see where to click on the raster chart to invoke the underlying vector object. With Hot Spots on, vector chart objects display a red dot so you know where to click on the raster chart. For example, a raster chart may show a green dayboard square near a depth reading. The Hot Spot ensures you don't inadvertently click on the depth reading if you wanted the dayboard information.

The Capn allows you to customize your vector chart displays, including display layers, depth metrics, shaded areas to warn of unsafe depths, and maximum soundings. It also has an option to "Favor Vector over Raster," which displays the vector chart whenever one is available, otherwise reverting to a raster chart.

WAYPOINTS AND ROUTES MAPTECHThe Capn allows you to view a transparent raster chart over a vector chart. By turning Hot Spots on, you can click to see information from the vector database.

It is very easy to create waypoints and routes in Capn. You can also create a "mark" to pinpoint an anchorage or special fishing location. Photos can be linked to these marks.

Routes are displayed with course and bearing, although the text is a bit difficult to read because of transparency, overtype and ragged fonts. The Capn can record a track, but cannot create a route from a track. Unfortunately, it uses basic waypoint and route management, placing data in one collection rather than subfolders defined by the user.

Waypoints and routes are not freely importable or exportable. Version 8.0 added the ability to export routes only to a GPS using GPX format and another Windows utility such as EasyGPS. Capn users can, however, import and export data to other Capn users.

Capn also includes many alarm features, including visual and audible alerts for waypoint approach or arrival, alarm zone approach or entry, man overboard, anchor watch, cross track error and GPS malfunction.

The Capn's Trip Calculator is a nicely-designed feature. It not only calculates your trip data, but you can use it in reverse. By beginning at the last waypoint it will calculate departure times or speeds needed to make a restricted bridge opening or to arrive at a location before dark.

Underscoring Capn's commercial orientation, it will also calculate the area inside a route, in metrics ranging from square meters to nautical square miles. This feature is useful for search and rescue operations, commercial fishing or lobstermen if they'd like a quick calculation of their trap field area.

ADDITIONAL FEATURES

The Capn includes additional marine data, such as tide and current predictions, a nautical almanac and Coast Pilot. It does not support weather downloads.