Modernizing a legacy chaser

[Skip Talbot]

I don't want to buy a bunch of Starlink hardware only to later see them massively hike the price up after I give up my old setup and become dependent on it, which is exactly what they just did to the general aviation community. Lots of businesses do shady bait and switch like practices I'm sure, but I'll pass this time and just stick with the cell data I have. Even if it drops out every now then, I probably get my signal back before I even notice. It's good enough. Plus Starlink's CEO is human garbage.

 

[JohnHuntington]

Navigation: I was a DeLorme + yellow puck guy from when I started up until circa 2015, when I replaced my RAM Mount laptop setup with a Surface Pro 2 tablet. Starting then, I shared my smartphone's GPS location via Bluetooth and ported it into Windows via GPSGate for quite a few years... an admittedly flaky and frustrating setup. But one key mitigation technique I decided on was to have an old school Garmin GPS mounted on my windshield at all times. I still use it to this day, even though the Garmin is probably 10+ years old. Having a reliable, always zoomed-in display with no other apps or distractions dedicated to immediate situational awareness of surrounding road options is a non-negotiable for me that's worked well. Starting in 2024, I made the big leap from the Surface Pro 2 to an Android tablet that allows me to use Google Maps, but I still kept the Garmin.

Late to this thread but wanted to chime in with +1 on the old school Garmin. I use Google Maps/Waze on Android Auto a lot, but whenever I find time, I like to navigate old school on the Garmin just to maintain situational/location awareness. For this year I got a new mount that was like $20 to get it off the windshield. This unit is a few years old but they are still updating the maps--I just updated mine so it should be pretty current when I head out chasing in a couple weeks. Oh and of course I just ordered the new Rand McNally road atlas that hopefully will arrive before I head out

 

[Dave C]

I too have been evolving my setup. It was never really complicated though. I had a laptop, now I have a Surface tablet close enough to me that the 13" screen is plenty big. I attach keyboard and mouse when needed, otherwise it runs GR3 almost exclusively except for a mesoanalysis or surface obs browser tab sometimes.

I like two sources of navigation, but don't have it in my new car. My last vehicle had built in Nav that called out the next road crossing, which was extremely useful, and I could keep that screen up and use Google maps on my phone.

Now I have only Google maps, but I will say it is pretty cool that my current vehicle instrument panel shows a small 3x3 zoomed in map right inside the speedometer area, and then I have a large display that also has a non zoomed version of the same google map. I often download large areas offline so data is not an issue (if I remember to do it). You can download massive offline google maps when you have sufficient data.

I recently stopped using a booster, as even though I always did a simple install with no drilling, the hassle seems no longer worth it for the few times I need the data where it could even get something my phone can't. A few years ago it was much more effective, but coverage is fairly good most places, or zero (where a booster doesn't help much) and I am only chasing or car camping a handful of days a year.

If I ever go satellite, it will be in a couple years via my phone. Most new phones have sat receivers in them, and this might be preferred to a dedicated dish. It will not be as good as Starlink dish, will still use Starlink or OneWeb, and your phone will need to be on the dash probably to see enough sats. I have a love hate with Sat internet. Sure great convenient, but we are literally losing the night sky experience all over the world.

The rest of my setup is a well equipped camera bag full of lenses and cameras. Tripods. Also, an action camera and 2 360 cams. I find that being able to put everything I need into one large camera bag and a backpack with not a lot permanent on the vehicle feels nice and uncluttered.

A closing note, I think each person should update when their current way of doing things is holding them back or stops working, and not before.