Best Chartplotter for Motor Boaters

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rgsmg53

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Has anyone any recommendations for a reasonably priced 9" chartplotter for coastal mobo use?

For instance, I've recently seen a Raymarine Element 9 advertised at an attractive price which seems to be aimed at fishermen. There are others offerings such as Garmin's but, again, their cheaper 9" plotters seem to be aimed at fishermen. But as they are supplied or can be loaded with charts, wouldn't they be OK for basic mobo navigation?

I'm not sailing so I don't need some of the nice-to-haves on some of the more expensive ones.

As long as I can communicate with other things via NMEA2000 etc, do I really need more than basic GPS navigation?

Or am I missing something fundamental?
 
Take a look at the Raymarine factory reconditioned offerings.
I bought a vhf. Everything was as new except for the cardboard box.
 
The original Raymarine Element, the HV, was aimed at fisherman. The newer S model is more general purpose and cheaper.
 
It was the Element S that prompted my question. I hadn't realised that the S was newer than the HV. I had assumed - wrongly I guess - that they were both aimed at fishermen with the enhanced sonar capabilities for those fishermen with deeper pockets.

Using a tablet has crossed my mind but my experience of tablets is that I struggle with their screens in bright sunlight and I think I'd be wary of getting one anywhere near salt spray.

The suggestion of looking at re-con'd Raymarine equipment sounds promising.
 
I use a Garmin 276C , stand alone plotter when visiting strange' boats to instruct etc
Some times the new owners don't know their way about the sometimes too complicated kit they have
My hand held is 'handy' as it were, just in case
The Model I have is old hat now but still works OK
Plus the beauty of it is it will always work (if charged!) when maybe the parent plotter fails for some reason
I like Garmin because for me (old and note very good at computers and the like) the Garmin products are quite intuative
Plus my first electronic boaty gizmose were Garmin products
E Bay could be your friend
Later models than the one I use are circa 300 quid
Plus because you don't have to 'fix' them to the boat
A handheld stand alone type can be kept and used again should you change boats
I delivered a boat last week, along with the owner
He had a fixed, bloody good plotter and an I pad with 'Navionics' in/on it
It was only an 80 mile Gig but in a planing hull and it was a little choppy
The i pad thinghy was fairly impressive but 'touch screen' so in a chop at 25 kts it was hard to adjust the dam thing!
:D
 
I can see the advantages of a 'hand held' for a delivery skipper. In my case, I really only want to use it on one boat at a time!

I'm also a bit spoilt by a larger screen as my previous boat had a large Furuno plotter that could display the radar (via Navnet) overlaid on the chart (which I found very useful). But the Furuno kit, although very nice, offered so much functionality that I barely scratched the surface of it and was forever referring back to the manuals (a whole lever arch file's worth!).

I've had two sailing boats before that with Garmin plotters which, I have to say, worked fine and were pretty intuitive.

My latest mobo has an aged Raymarine A60 fitted and I rather like the thought of interfacing it with a newer Raymarine product and moving one of them to the fly bridge. This is what started me looking at the Element range.
 
Kawasaki said:
'touch screen' so in a chop at 25 kts it was hard to adjust the dam thing!
:D
Click to expand...
I had the same issue .More a fault with controlling the finger in a very choppy sea than a fault with the device. So quite pleased I has picked the one with buttons and rotary control in addition to touchscreen.
 
That onwa stuff looks decent value for money.

I use the garmin gpsmap 276cx, which is the newer version of what kawasaki above is using. Works perfectly for my very very simple needs.
 
julians said:
That onwa stuff looks decent value for money.

I use the garmin gpsmap 276cx, which is the newer version of what kawasaki above is using. Works perfectly for my very very simple needs.
Click to expand...
Yes a mate has just bought a used cx, again off flea bay
Likes it and he is very experienced
What I like about Garmin is the after sales
Good advice by phone if a prob needs diagnosing
Good repair / replacement service too
 
Kawasaki said:
Yes a mate has just bought a used cx, again off flea bay
Likes it and he is very experienced
What I like about Garmin is the after sales
Good advice by phone if a prob needs diagnosing
Good repair / replacement service too
Click to expand...

What you have to watch with Garmin is them stoping supporting the charts for older units. Don't know if it is still a problem, but I have been caught out before. Am now using a raymarine unit from around 2000 and can still get updated charts.
 
Fishtigua said:
Have a look at Onwa, basicly a last gen Furuno, and half the price of the big boys. It's got buttons rather than silly touch-screen. Many commercial fishermen run them.
http://onwamarine.com/kp-1299a-kp-1299b/
Click to expand...

Thanks for this link. I'd never heard of Onwa before.

They are certainly well priced. I've had a quick look at one of the UK dealer's website and a downside I can see at the moment is that can only communicate using NMEA 0183. I'm willing to be proved wrong but that might scupper my gradual expansion plans.

Anyone know if they or one of their dealers is likely to be SIBS?
 
CLB said:
What you have to watch with Garmin is them stoping supporting the charts for older units. Don't know if it is still a problem, but I have been caught out before. Am now using a raymarine unit from around 2000 and can still get updated charts.
Click to expand...

My 276c has just been updated by my friend, dunno how, I can't understand or do that stuff!
He is in the Midlands though the peaky blinder!
 
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