Ask Garmin: Which navigation route is best for me?

The “Go To” option will route you in a straight "as the crow flies" line to your destination. When you select your destination, the chart plotter will simply draw a straight line between you and your destination, and highlight that route on the plotter screen as a bright purple line. All you have to do is navigate the boat down this purple line and you will arrive at your destination. Your Garmin plotter will automatically calculate the distance to your destination, your estimated time of arrival, how far off course you are, and what the bearing is to the destination. Because this route is a straight line, you must be very careful that there are no obstacles anywhere on your route line. A "Go To" route is fine if you are offshore, with no land or shallow water around you, and you can go straight “as the crow flies” to your destination.

The “Route To” option is better if you are close to shore or must make several turns to get to your final destination. When you select a destination and choose the "Route To" option, the plotter will allow you to manually enter turns between you and your destination so that you can keep your boat in the deep water.  You can locate these turns to keep you in the channel and away from hazards like shallow water and land. You can even save these routes in your plotter's memory – that way if you are traveling that way again, you can easily pull up your existing route and follow it with out having to re-enter all the turns.

The “Guide To” option is an exclusive Garmin feature and is only available if you purchase the BlueChart g2 Vision Card for your area. You will be asked for several pieces of information, including your safe depth, your safe height and shoreline distance. Your safe depth is the draft of your vessel. Your safe height is the height of the tallest feature on your boat sometimes called the air draft, and shoreline distance is a measure of how close you will allow the "Guide To" route to come to shore. Once you have entered the information and chosen a destination, the plotter with automatically calculate a route by looking at the charted depth of the water, any bridge heights along the way, and taking your personal shoreline distance choice into account. All you have to do is verify the route and follow the big purple line to your destination. It is a great convenience and a great time saver. 

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