Admiral V Imray Charts

Zagato

Zagato

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I want to get some charts for the Chichester Harbour and Solent area. The more detailed the better. Which are the most popular, Imray seem to be stocked more in chandlers! What do the RYA use for training as I will hopefully be doing one of their courses.
 
Admiralty charts generally have more detail and the colouring works better.

Imray are cheaper.

Go for Admiralty unless there is a significant cost advantage to Imray.

If you're just sailing in Chichester Harbour I think Imray will sell you one chart out of their pack. If you're doing the Solent too get the Admiralty Small Craft Folio.
 
If you are buying Admiralty charts get them from a chart supplier not your local chandler. That way they come with all the NMs incorporated up to date. I don't think this applies to the Small Craft Folios though do check it is the latest issue and not old stock.
 
awol said:
If you are buying Admiralty charts get them from a chart supplier not your local chandler. That way they come with all the NMs incorporated up to date. I don't think this applies to the Small Craft Folios though do check it is the latest issue and not old stock.
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Trouble with admiralty is that they have stopped producing the Small Craft folding charts, so you now have the choice of the great big professional type charts, or the folios.
 
Zagato said:
I want to get some charts for the Chichester Harbour and Solent area. The more detailed the better. Which are the most popular, Imray seem to be stocked more in chandlers! What do the RYA use for training as I will hopefully be doing one of their courses.
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Somehow over the years, Admiralty have had the greatest difficulty in coming to terms with the cruising market. And it shows even today. They came very late with folios, which were expensive. Many charts are badly designed with big unprinted areas forcing you to buy neighbouring charts on a different scale - smart practice? or Institutional sclerosis? I for one have hammered at them and the response has been very poor. With Admiralty the individual product has been reliable, but the service woefully unresponsive.

But most of us start with Admiralty - it's the preceived responsible thing to do, and RYA courses use their products etc.

I haven't bought an Admiralty chart now for years, having moved to Imray who have sharpenend their act with products much more suitable for inshore work. And the update facility is good and reliable. The lower price is a bonus...

PWG
(No commercial connection with either company)
 
I started off about 14 years ago with the Admiralty Solent folio (which includes a chart of Chichester Harbour) and when that went out of date I started using the Imray equivalent.

The Imray folio has been perfectly adequate and I have not got aground any more often than I did when using the Admiralty folio. :o
 
As until-recently a charterer and sailer-on-other-people's-boats, I used to use either with no particular preference or distinction. On KS we now have Imray, largely because my non-sailing brother, advised by a chart agent in Bristol, bought a Solent pack as a Christmas present when we first got the boat. As I went further afield, I naturally bought the matching packs without really thinking about it. They fit nicely on my chart table (and under the bunk where we store them).

My advice would be a weak prod in the direction of Imray, but really it's not that big a deal.

Pete
 
I prefer Imray. I think they are better value because of all the harbour plans they include round the edges of the main chart, for which, using Admiralty, you would often have to buy separate charts.
 
I've always preferred Imray over Admiralty purely down to the chart depth colours. With Imray deep water is illustrated dark blue, shallow waters pale blue. Always seems more logical to me, but then what do I know.:)
 
sunquest said:
I've always preferred Imray over Admiralty purely down to the chart depth colours. With Imray deep water is illustrated dark blue, shallow waters pale blue. Always seems more logical to me, but then what do I know.:)
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I'm told the reason is that the colours on Admiralty charts were originally hand-painted, so it made sense to make most of the area white. No idea if that's true.

Pete
 
I actually prefer Stanford charts but they have been taken over by Imray - so I have a mixture of each. I don't like Admiralty charts........... but that's another story.
 
sunquest said:
I've always preferred Imray over Admiralty purely down to the chart depth colours. With Imray deep water is illustrated dark blue, shallow waters pale blue. Always seems more logical to me, but then what do I know.:)
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It's far easier to plot your position, do EPs & courses to steer on the white bits on Admiralty charts than it is on the blue bits on Imray charts. Dangers stand out better too. I think that's the logic.
 
dt4134 said:
It's far easier to plot your position, do EPs & courses to steer on the white bits on Admiralty charts than it is on the blue bits on Imray charts.
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Given that the original post concerned sailing in Chi Hbr, and possibly in the Solent, do many people really do EPs etc? ....except of course during sailing courses and exams.

A slight deviation ..... but many of the PC navigation programs on the market just happen to choose the Solent area as their free downloadable demo. (Memory Map is Admiralty raster; don't think IMRAY have a demo). So why not have a play, and see what you think.

FWIW I personally prefer Admiralty in general; but IMRAY for Chi Hbr!

Vic
 
I used Admiralty when sailing up and down Channel because that's what was on the boat and had no problem. Had a rethink when shifting to East Coast and decided on Imray: water resistant, one chart works for passage plotting and also shows chartlets of the harbours in the area. Not a lot in it but I'll keep using Imray.
 
Almost all my paper charts are Admiralty Small Craft ones, but their decision to cease publishing them means I will start to migrate to Imray. I spoke to an Imray representative at the boat show who advised me they had no plans to stop publishing paper charts for small craft
 
VicMallows said:
Given that the original post concerned sailing in Chi Hbr, and possibly in the Solent, do many people really do EPs etc? ....except of course during sailing courses and exams.
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I wasn't replying to the OP. I did that earlier regarding charts for Chichester Harbour. It is easy to tell as I quoted the post I was responding to in mine. The reply you quote was regarding the colour scheme of Imray Vs Admiralty charts in general and there are places covered by both where you would want to do chartwork.

I've even drawn clearing bearings & my own transits on Solent charts, so it's hardly irrelevent there.
 
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