Yo Jason, Looking at freestyle's pdf. Set up time in your zone, then the date. Make sure it isn't setup for a leap year. The watch claims that it has tide data for 145 beaches worldwide. So if your beach is on there you should be good. Also that S3 button is a factor when setting up. Make sure your in feet not meters- 1 through 10 tides rising, 11 through 20 falling. I think that if you set in on big time that throws in animation with the shark fin, set in normal I would say. Your beach charts may be slightly different because of better data, but your watch should be close or on the money with them. The tide button shoots you an idea on when the high or low tides are coming in the future. Remember the moon stages happen every 5-6 weeks, this will impact your dates so if the dates are set right everything should be lined up