While it won't hurt the unit to operate in Normal out of the water - you would need GPS reception from the satellites in Normal mode to have access to any Chart Views or Chart settings for home study ...
Boot the unit into Simulator mode and you will have access to all features and settings in the unit ...
Press Menu during startup when the HB logo appears ...
Choose "Simulator" from the choices in the popup ...
Settings changes during Simulator operation will be remembered by the unit and utilized upon the next Normal operation boot up ...
Rickie