advice needed

Chrissie

Chrissie

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I have a Garmin 128 which gives positions way points etc, but I had a mapped garmin in a previous boat, which I rather liked so I am thinking of changing it, finances being tight I need to make the right choice so wondered if I should get a chart plotter, now the question is, what exactly are the benefits of having a plotter over the benefits of having a colour map gps.
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Re: advise needed

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Dont worry I share all tips and hints from this site with my customers!
 
Re: advise needed

Glad you have a sence of humour... are you in the old peters building ? not been down for a while to have a look what's happening with endeavour quay.
 
Re: advise needed

We are in the old Camper and Nicholson saw mill, at the front of the marina/yard, only been there 4 months so still putting it all together, but its great fun and hard work,
 
Re: advise needed

I'll drop my head in at the weekend and have a look... discount for forum members i assume /forums/images/graemlins/grin.gif about time gosport had a decent boaty shop.
 
Re: advise needed

discount for forum members, just tell my son who will be covering for me at the weekend that I said so, the words Scuttlebutt or YBW forum will do it,
 
We used to have a fixed Garmin that just did position/XTE/etc and I have a GPSmap76CS with bluechart which I kept next to the wheel and used all the time - a bit fiddly for waypoints and "go to"s with the Autopilot but fine.

Now we have a Raymarine chartplotter at the chart table which is really nice and very handy for the interface with the 'pilot but I still have a Garmin GPSmap76 ..... which I use all the time at the wheel.

If you would plan to mount the plotter at the table, keep the 128, get a colour map handheld to use in the cockpit - you will get much more value and reassurance from having it.
 
I think the colour map versions take land based cartography as well as marine (or in some cases instead of) they are either hand held or designed to mount in cars as wel as boats.
 
A chartplotter is a marine product which will have dedicated marine software, well worth getting as there are some well priced ones out there:

Garmin eTrex Venture CX - pocket sized but very powerful (about 160)
Standard Horizon CP-180 - Proper marine unit with a bright but low res screen (about 300)

There are lots of other products out there, but these are the two that regularly delight our customers.

PS I popped in last week, very nice spot you have there; all the best.
 
I have a Magellan Explorist XL. Hand held GPS and chartplotter. Superb piece of kit that I bought 18 months ago but I think Magellan have pretty much abandoned the marine business now
 
I have a handheld, but old age is getting to me, I now need my glasses on to see it, I am hoping to fit something on the bulkhead that I can see from the helm (not far away on a Contessa26 and I see better at a distance)
I really like the Raymarine unit on Talulah, but thats beyond my budget.
My handheld will take a preset course, which is great for racing as it tells me how far to go, speed and which direction to go for the marker, as well as showing it all on the screen, its just the glasses problem.
My present GPS on the boat doesnt have the map or the colour and I havent seen what else it does.
Malthouse, You should have identified yourself, I would have made you a coffee!
 
Thoroughly recommend a colour CP & I agree that there is no reason why you can't run the 128 & another plotter. This is what I did this year. Already had a 128 on the boat, but wanted something to give clear pictue of where we were, visible from the cockpit. After reviewing threads on this site, the minimum semed to be a 5 " screen & colour daylight viewable to ensure still usable from 2-3 feet away. A no of the Garmin units are now discontinued & are a little cheaper as a consequence, but in the end I managed to get hold of a second hand Garmin 182C (& separately a s/h Channel Blue Chart) and mounted this under the sprayhood & it has revolutionised our sailing- particularly when going to a location for the first time- great confidence booster ( but we always have the paper out as well!)
 
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