SOUNDS AND PHOTOS

It seems straightforward, but many charting and navigation programs fall short on the seemingly-simple feature of printing chart excerpts. With the exception of one bug, Marine ENC has excellent printing features.

You can select an area of a chart to print by clicking and dragging a rectangle, or set a print area based on a list of waypoints or a route. A particularly useful print feature lets you scale the waypoint data labels on your printout. You can customize the printing of waypoint labels to make the text bigger if you have trouble reading them, or smaller if densely-placed waypoints are obscuring chart features.

Unfortunately, we could not print vector charts at high resolution with our HP 1200 DPI printer and 380 megabytes of memory. We also tried our Epson C88+ color printer, but this didn't solve the problem. Vector charts would print in "draft mode," but were coarse and unreadable.

If you like cool–but maybe less practical–features, you'll like Marine ENC's option of linking digital sounds and photos to a waypoint. You can link a WAV file of a red wolf howl from the Alligator River NWR in North Carolina or link a JPG file showing the scenery at your favorite anchorage in Maine. The feature is very easy: highlight the waypoint and click on the Links tab, selecting the file to attach.

Marine ENC also includes some quick and handy tools. For example, there is a tool to calculate distances, including both the rhumb line and great circle distances; a tool to calculate magnetic variation; an odometer tool; and a tool for sunrise and sunset times.

CUSTOMER SUPPORT

The software package includes a helpful Getting Started manual, but don't neglect the detailed 142-page User's Guide which is included as a PDF document on the setup CD. We recommend immediately printing this PDF and creating a binder. Its format–brief step-by-step directions, coupled with lots of screen shots–makes it easy to follow along chapter-by-chapter. Fugawi Marine ENC also includes On-Line Help Files, which you access by pressing the F1 key from any point in the program.

Technical support is available to all registered users, but you must register within 30 days of purchasing your software license or you lose this option. Although technical support is available by phone or fax, the company does not provide toll-free numbers, so U.S. customers pay international calling rates. Technical support is also available by email, which is a cheaper, albeit slower, option.

Fugawi's website has a page for Troubleshooting & Frequently Asked Questions (FAQs). The latter addresses only five issues, including configuring a GPS, port problems with a serial-to-USB converter and the Data Pack import problems noted above. For users who hate to read manuals, this page includes online training videos to learn how to use Marine ENC. Many important and relevant technical specifications are also detailed here, such as a list of supported GPS receivers and PDA devices. Another nice contribution is their NMEA cable diagram to help you hook up your onboard Garmin GPS.

Northport Systems has gone even further by providing additional troubleshooting software utilities and documentation as free downloads (see link below). For example, these resources help you convert file formats, obtain and setup drivers for third-party devices, and provide sample data files to test AIS or GRIB weather features. The company also provides a monthly email newsletter of tips and tricks.

ASSESSMENT

Overall, Marine ENC is ideally suited for people who use multiple platforms in multiple outdoor settings. It is fundamentally designed to be a cross-platform, cross-activity tool. You can move information from a PDA to a handheld GPS for hiking or to your boat's chartplotter for cruising–all using the same software package. This orientation is reflected in its capabilities to import and export data and help manage waypoints and routes across devices.

The flip side of this "Swiss Army knife" approach is that it may do too many things and contain too much data for many boaters. It is alluring to have topographic maps, hiking tracks, 3D views and street maps, but many boaters will only use a fraction of the data and features, and may become frustrated by the need to push aside unwanted menu choices and data.

However, for people who want the portability and extra data and options, Fugawi Marine ENC is about half the cost of many other chartingpackages. The best bet for marine applications may be to purchase the optional Navionics card. This avoids the data installation hassles and fuels Marine ENC with top-notch nautical charts and marine data.