Trayson, I guess my question would be, why do you care? You like paddlewheel, use it. I like GPS, so that's what I'm using. If you're on a river, paddlewheel is the only way to go. On a lake, it's whatever you prefer.

And your XM comparison is not valid. You lose the signal due to mountains, trees, buildings. Those are extremely rarely considerations on a boat. Again, if those are considerations where you boat, then use paddlewheel.