This is a great option for boaters heading to Croatia or Tonga. SeaClear's devotees include a community of long-distance budget boaters who are scanning paper charts of non-U.S. waters. Because SeaClear doesn't read the international S-57 vector format-and these chart files are very expensive anyway-scanning paper charts has become the discount work-around. If you think it's really cool to scan your own charts of exotic locales and massage digital files, this package is for you!

Unfortunately, most of us are more likely to simply want to import NOAA BSB raster charts of U.S. waters-and the manual is very thin on this basic chart installation process. Even if you're familiar and comfortable with Windows, the process is difficult to decipher. However, SeaClear comes with a separate map calibration and installation utility called ¯MapCal II" that helps with the install. The tricky part is that charts must be calibrated using a utility in MapCal before they can be read. Follow the instructions carefully.

There are two ways to install and organize chart files in SeaClear. You can simply dump any pair of BSB/KAP files into the C:\Program Files\SeaClear\Charts folder. Although this method works, it leads to a cluttered and unmanageable chart directory. And that leads to sluggish laptop performance because all of your charts must be scanned and recognized by the application.

A real-world example is trying to unload 138 Chesapeake Bay charts and load 200 Intracoastal Waterway charts as you migrate south. A better process is to keep the charts in separate regional folders, placing them in SeaClear's "Charts Folder" as you need them. Fortunately, SeaClear can read nested folders, which allows you to organize your charts into sub-folders by regions. In MapCal II, go to Tools>Autoload List>Scan for New Charts, which tells SeaClear to add those charts to its directory and makes them available for viewing and navigation.

LOOK AND FEEL

SeaClear gets high marks for its use of screen real estate, which is particularly important if you're on a laptop. Almost the entire screen is dedicated to the chart view. Most of SeaClear's functions are accessed with a right-click. There are also more than 20 preset keyboard shortcuts, such as Control+Space to set a man overboard marker at your current position. This leaves only two non-chart items on display: a clean summary title bar along the top which lists the chart, scale, zoom level and radar ring increments, as well as something called the ¯dashboard."

The dashboard is a thin vertical menu that displays a wide variety of data, including a list of waypoints and quick access to route statistics. If you have a GPS sensor connected, the Dashboard displays your position, course, speed and other data. Hook up your wind, depth and compass and you can see the summary of this data too. You can also maximize the chart screen area by temporarily minimizing the Dashboard. Click on the >> symbol at the top right of the Dashboard to ¯fold up" the Dashboard. To get the Dashboard back, move the mouse over the screen edge.

A negative of the Dashboard is its choice of content and display metrics. Throughout the program, there is a bit of a ¯translated" feel. For example, depths can only be shown in meters, not feet. The time is displayed in UTC rather than local time. Waypoints are called ¯positions." Course over ground and bearings are in degrees True-you cannot change them to magnetic. Some of the displays don't have units, leaving you wondering what ¯Course 4" means. (The answer is 4 degrees True.)

Most navigation programs let you customize metrics and displays. Although some aspects can be customized, SeaClear II is relatively rigid. We were a bit frustrated at not being able to change some of the interface or metrics in a way that made more sense to us. Unlike fully-featured-and more expensive-products, you don't have a lot of choice over what you're looking at and how the data is presented.

PERFORMANCE

The way in which a program opens a chart, scrolls on that chart, pops open an inset and zooms tells you a great deal. Faster is better, and SeaClear was highly responsive in all of these metrics. In fact, it loaded and redisplayed so quickly we were often behind with our mouse-clicks. Charts literally popped up on the screen. It was also very responsive when clicking-and-dragging to pan a chart. Using the ¯Outlines" option (File>Chart>Outlines) shows the extensions and insets, outlined with a rectangular box. Double-click on a chart outline and that chart panel comes right up. Double-click a chart margin to get back to the larger chart view. Use the mouse scroll wheel to zoom in and out to show more detail or a larger view. Instead of wasting time scrolling back and forth between non-contiguous charts during planning, simply right-click and choose Charts>Previous to instantly go back. This shortcut lets you toggle back and forth between distant charts.