A year away from a nav kit upgrade

[[2574]]

Starting to consider the necessity to upgrade our nav systems on board. We have ten year old Raymarine plotter/radar combos (the old RL70 series). The kit has been good but is starting to crumble. I've watched from afar as Raymarine have been through the C and E series, now we seem to have touch screen functionality. I've an aversion to nav kit stands as the boat shows; generally an unpleasant experience but may have to face up to this at Southampton this year.

I've used and been a fan of Furuno kit in the past but have seen online that they don't seem to have gone down the road of the latest gizmos and the chartplotters still look workmanlike and solid but without the whistles and bells. Do we need to see a birds eye view of the harbour? And link via bluetooth to the ipad/ipod? See a video feed from the engine room? Have electronic graphics of engine performance? I'd appreciate knowing whether anyone finds the gizmos a must-have or an irritating unused function. What is indispensable functionality with the latest kit?

The big change since 2004 when I last bought kit has been the arrival of Garmin et al; they were mere bystanders then - are they now serious contenders up with Raymarine and Furuno?

I should qualify this by saying that we're a cruising couple with a 12m sailing boat and planning to do some longer distance soon - UK/Ireland/Baltic/West Europe/Med.

Rob

 

[Norman_E]

My own take on this is that the way to go if putting in new kit is NMEA2000, as different makes will all work together. I wrote an article about installing NMEA2000 with different makes of instrument for PBO and it was published last year. For a sailing yacht I consider that the B&G Triton instrument is the best one to have. It is bright enough to read in full sunlight, and has the best wind display screen of any. You might also consider just putting in a B&G Zeus as that will act as a chart plotter, radar display or display your instruments, all on one screen. Sadly I did not have room for one, but the smallest one is quite reasonably priced.

 

[[2574]]

Norman

Thanks for the tip on Zeus, looks interesting, I will research further.

Rob

 

[FullCircle]

My own take on this is that the way to go if putting in new kit is NMEA2000, as different makes will all work together. I wrote an article about installing NMEA2000 with different makes of instrument for PBO and it was published last year. For a sailing yacht I consider that the B&G Triton instrument is the best one to have. It is bright enough to read in full sunlight, and has the best wind display screen of any. You might also consider just putting in a B&G Zeus as that will act as a chart plotter, radar display or display your instruments, all on one screen. Sadly I did not have room for one, but the smallest one is quite reasonably priced.

Thats what I have done - except I bought a bargain end of line C90W because I didn't see touch screen as necessary. I have the B&G Triton instruments, and love them. I also upgraded from Wheel pilot to Linear drive with the P70 head and that was dramatic too.

I have every intention of putting engine and water sensors in when they are available at reasonable cost, hence going NMEA2000.

The system did not fire up 1st time, but after I had read the manual, I adjusted the settings in the menu systems. Durrr.

Recommend HD Radar too, that has been a revelation as well, compared to the old JRC1800.

 

[Vara]

If you are looking a year ahead then ask the question again in a year, the pace of developments is such that any advice given now will likely be overtaken by new products and players in the market.

All of my year old kit has been superseded by better featured and in some cases cheaper kit.

 

[superheat6k]

If the thought of boatshow demos galls you you may want to consider visiting Landau's roadshow vehicle - 1 to 1 discussion about your specific needs in a relaxed atmosphere.

Last year they were in attendance at the British Mobo show at Swanwick Marina in May, and this repeats this year so they may be there again. We got there early on the Saturday and they were both fresh and actively seeking someone to speak to them, and I found their help and knowledge very good.

I appreciate you are a Yachtie, but the Mobos on display are worth a look too, and all free.

 

[jfm]

I agree - base the new installation on N2k.

All the main suppliers now do great equipment. I chose Garmin and love it, but Furuno and Raym are excellent too. Garmin are most certainly not a bystander nowadays! IMHO Simrad haven't quite got the knack of designing an intuitive interface

Ray annoyingly use their own plugs and sockets for the n2k network, whereas the others use generic n2k connectors. This Raym annoying policy means it is hard to fit not Raym gear on the network, eg you have to buy expensive adapter cables, and that's a serious drawback imho.

As for all the new features, you have nothing to worry about because you just don't use what you don't want to use. Video feeds are a good example - don't use them if you don't want, and delete the video icon on the home page so you have no redundant icons. However, things like the data banking and graphing are great - you get atmo pressure in a barograph readout not a barometer, which is always better

The engine data is very useful if you care about range. you get a mpg read out so you can pick a speed that maximises range, and you don't have to rely on the old fashioned gauge to know how much fuel you have left. And those birds eye photos of ports are quite useful tbh, but you can ignore them if you don't want them. Another nice one is garmin's 3D view which shows all the lights along the bit of coast you select flashing on the screen in their real flashing patterns, which makes ID-ing a light much easier than ever before.

 

[prv]

The engine data is very useful if you care about range.

Sailing boat - range = infinite if you're not in a hurry

Another nice one is garmin's 3D view which shows all the lights along the bit of coast you select flashing on the screen in their real flashing patterns, which makes ID-ing a light much easier than ever before.

I guess this one's down to personal preference, but I didn't like it on my old Standard Horizon plotter. It meant that in looking for a particular light I had to count flashes twice - once on the plotter and again on the water - instead of only once. I'd much rather glance at the chart, read eg Fl(3)10s, and then pick up the binoculars muttering "3 in 10" under my breath.

The first time I used the plotter at night and discovered it worked like that, I dropped back to the paper chart and Yeoman rather than deal with it.

Pete

 

[Seajet]

I'd look carefully for a plotter manufacturer / system offering sensibly priced readily available chart updates, as there's now a question mark over some navionics charts - and another ? over whether updates will be supplied, + charts need updating now & again anyway.

 

[RIBW]

Starting to consider the necessity to upgrade our nav systems on board.

....... we're a cruising couple with a 12m sailing boat and planning to do some longer distance soon - UK/Ireland/Baltic/West Europe/Med.

Rob

If you are heading off to pastures new, may I suggest your first cut should be based on which charts you feel most comfortable with. I have both Raymarine (C series) and Standard Horizon chartplotters on board. My first preference is always for the C-map charts (Standard Horizon). Agreeing with Seajet about updates, I have benefited from a 3 year deal which gave me annual updates at £60/yr for the entire W coast of Europe (and further). An associated factor is how does the chart supplier cover the area you are likely to need. Last time I investigated, some of the suppliers used more than one 'set' to cover my interests. I can't comment on Garmin charts as I have not used them.

On a 12m yacht with good batteries, it probably isn't critical, but when I made my last buying decision, some manufacturers kit had twice the power consumption of others.

More generally, I prefer manufacturers that have good online support and firmware/manuals download services ( failing that, well serviced hardware upgrade turnarounds). There was a recent thread that covered this.

Regards
Bob