We reviewed the Garmin GHC10 remote control for the Garmin GHP10 autopilot system aboard our Contender test boat. It is a waterproof wireless handheld remote control.
If you haven’t already seen it, the Garmin GHP 10 is featured in in our .
Garmin GHC10 Remote Control
In our opinion, this Garmin remote autopilot control is rather big, at just under 6-inches tall, 2-inches wide, and 1.2-inches thick, for carrying around the boat. With two AA batteries installed it weighs in at 5.6 ounces.
The unit ships with a lanyard, mountable cradle, and belt clip. It is waterproof to IPX7 standards meaning it can be submerged to 1 meter for 30 minutes without damage.
The GHC10 Remote has a small monochrome screen that displays course, autopilot status, remote control battery level, program button status, and direction of turn.
To engage the autopilot with the remote you can press the red standby/engage button or press a program button. Each of the three program buttons can be assigned a steering pattern. The autopilot is disengaged with the red standby/engage button. Two turn buttons allow you to do one degree increment or step turns of whatever rate is programmed into the autopilot system. The lock pushbutton deactivates all the remote control buttons except the MOB button. A press of the MOB key will display a return pattern, you must pick a turn direction manually within a few seconds or the unit will revert back to normal operations. Once you pick a direction the autopilot will attempt to reverse course and follow the pattern.
During our testing the remote functioned properly and controlled the autopilot well in heading mode. You cannot engage tracking mode with the remote. Garmin says the remote will work as far as 45 feet away. On our test boat the maximum distance we could try was about 8 feet. At that distance every worked well.