possible to "test drive" some nav software?

[cjenkins]

We will be chartering in Croatia in a few weeks. I'm wondering whether it would be possible to do a "test drive" with some navigation software. We won't really need to have electronic charts, but we will have a PC laptop with us and it would be fun/educational to try out some electronic charts.

Is there any software that's available for such a test? Without costing $$$ ?
It seems like an opportunity to try out a system, see what features are useful, which are fun but not really essential, etc. Is it possible to try something out without committing to making that our permanent choice?

We are planning for a year-long trip in 2007-08 and I'm considering PC and Mac systems for the boat. The laptop for this trip is PC based, so that limits us a little.

Any suggestions?

Thanks,

Charlie

[mikehoyt]

Capn Voyager has a free download for trial of version 8.0. I think it is a 30 day trial.

www.thecapn.com

[DynaMeme]

This month or last, Sail Magazine did a good comparative assessment of the software out there.

Also there is a weblog www.panbo.com with some good insights.

There are some free apps out there, but I have been using oziexplorer for five years now and find it meets our needs. It is just under $100 US.

[olson34]

http://www.gpsnavx.com/

Demo verson d/l is no-cost, and the cost to purchase is about $50. I bought it at $40. a couple years ago. Runs like a rocket on our iBook. The author provides regular updates and instantly responds to email questions.

NOAA charts are no-cost d/l, these days. I'll bet that there are similar apps for Linux and Windoz out there, with a little searching on the 'net....
Best,
Loren