When Nobeltec dropped support for S-57 I was very disappointed, because the Nobeltec charts are expensive and you have to pay for chart updates in addition to program updates to keep current. I had the Nobeltec RadarPC so that went along with the last boat when I sold it. Then I bought Rosepoint Coastal Explorer and never looked back. There are some things VNS does better than CE, and vice-versa, but overall the programs are comparable. One of CE's biggest strengths is how well integrated it is with other sources, such as free NOAA vector (S-57) and raster charts. There is an options screen where you choose the regions you want to keep updated, and whether you want the program to check for updates automatically or only when you click the sync button. I choose the latter and only sync when connected to broadband and anticipating a trip out of my home area. A day before leaving I click the sync icon and go do something else while they download. It also syncs with ActiveCaptain.com data and downloads the entire ActiveCaptain database to my laptop, so that info can be searched and displayed on the chart, and Atlantic Cruising Club guides are also optionally synced, and Coast Pilot info is also incorporated. If you have online connectivity it also overlays free satellite photos and those can be saved (cached) as offline content too. It's very complete.

I have had several situations where I was questioning my Garmin GPS on-screen charts (relative to actual observations) and double-checked the netbook to see that CE's updated version was closer to what I was actually seeing. Updates are good.

One other thing I was very glad to leave behind was VNS's copy-protection.