Budget Chartplotter for Fly.

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oldgit

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What to do ?
Buy a basic new 7" Raymarine Elements. ? £ 435.00 already have spare micro SD chart cards to fit.
Requirements.
Needs to communicate with existing equipment and when all else fails ........able to use as stand alone plotter.



Loads of ancient C and E plotters out there for £3-400 pounds or a new Garmin at under £400.00 ?
 
I'd fit a Garmin Echomap. Comes with full UK charts installed and will communicate with anything on a N2K network, plus it has a single NMEA 0183 port. You will also be able to use the Active Captain app' on a phone or tablet and download the Garmin charts onto it for free (up to two android/iOS devices).
 
oldgit said:
What to do ?
Buy a basic new 7" Raymarine Elements. ? £ 435.00 already have spare micro SD chart cards to fit.
Requirements.
Needs to communicate with existing equipment and when all else fails ........able to use as stand alone plotter.
Loads of ancient C and E plotters out there for £3-400 pounds or a new Garmin at under £400.00 ?
Click to expand...
I thought you had raymarine down below. One the same from eBay is a no brainer for me. Everything integrates.
 
Plenty of stuff around on Gumtree, Facebook, Ebay etc, I picked up a boxed, brand new 16" Hybrid Touch for £500 and a 9" version of the same for £350 so that's the helm and upper helm sorted.

It's just a case of timing, a little haggling and patience but beware, there are a lot of thieving b^+ards out there ready to take your money and disappear quicker than an anchor without a tethered bitter end!
 
There’s a guy called Andrew based in Lymington who posts lots of Raymarine stuff on Gumtree. I think he might be on here too.
Gumtree
 
Existing kit is a Raymarine with Wifi.
Needs to be 7" screen.
The Garmin could be good alternative going to check it out, local chandlery stocks both.
Have now ruled out the older kit simply due to its sheer bulk and depth , not that much spare area on the fly dash and its either going to be major surgery with a saw or a knee bashing trunnion mount.
Thanks to those who posted.
 
oldgit said:
Existing kit is a Raymarine with Wifi.
Needs to be 7" screen.
The Garmin could be good alternative going to check it out, local chandlery stocks both.
Have now ruled out the older kit simply due to its sheer bulk and depth , not that much spare area on the fly dash and its either going to be major surgery with a saw or a knee bashing trunnion mount.
Thanks to those who posted.
Click to expand...
Why on earth would you have different kit that doesn’t integrate upstairs and down? Makes no sense at all to me.
 
Elessar said:
share charts, share routes, share an iPad and the completely differently user interface wouldn’t integrate in my head.
Click to expand...

That sounds like adding a Raymarine Element to an older Raymarine MFD.

Can't share charts, can't directly share routes and different operating systems.

The Element will integrate with other NMEA 2000 devices, if any are present. If the OP has older Raymarine kit, such as ST60s etc they will integrate by using a ST to STNG converter kit. If he has newer, STNG kit, it will network with those by using an adaptor cable.

All of the above interconnectivity is exactly the same if he fitted a Garmin MFD. The Garmin also have a 0183 port, should one be needed.
 
What's the other Raymarine plotter? If it has WiFi it'll be running Lighthouse so depending on the model an A75 or E7 would share chart / radar etc.
 
That's pretty simple as all of those plotters should have v19.03 of Lighthouse 2 by now. If not it's a simple download and update on a MicroSD.
 
PaulRainbow said:
That sounds like adding a Raymarine Element to an older Raymarine MFD.

Can't share charts, can't directly share routes and different operating systems.

The Element will integrate with other NMEA 2000 devices, if any are present. If the OP has older Raymarine kit, such as ST60s etc they will integrate by using a ST to STNG converter kit. If he has newer, STNG kit, it will network with those by using an adaptor cable.

All of the above interconnectivity is exactly the same if he fitted a Garmin MFD. The Garmin also have a 0183 port, should one be needed.
Click to expand...
I didnt suggest raymarine elements. I suggested an eBay one of the same era as down below.

that may be restrictive though. I am interested in the various full compatibility of the raymarine kit. I have three plotters from the rounded bezel era from about 10 -13 years ago. From what you are saying I cant replace any of them with a new one.

this type there are 2 in this pic. . I have another 12” at the lower helm.
Upper one is used for data, rolling road etc. Occasionally a chart for lazy pilotage. Nothing less than full integration will do.

2BB4F919-0D89-452B-AF12-699EC9D3C064.jpeg
 
Last edited:
Axioms (not Axiom+) can only integrate with eS or gS displays on Lighthouse 3.11 or other Axioms. All new Axioms and Axiom 2 ship with Lighthouse 4.

It appears you have an e12x/e7 which run Lighthouse 2. It can only fully network with plotters of the same software era. If you want Axiom you'll have to replace all three and possibly your autopilot if it's Seatalk-based.
 
Elessar said:
I didnt suggest raymarine elements. I suggested an eBay one of the same era as down below.

that may be restrictive though. I am interested in the various full compatibility of the raymarine kit. I have three plotters from the rounded bezel era from about 10 -13 years ago. From what you are saying I cant replace any of them with a new one.

this type there are 2 in this pic. . I have another 12” at the lower helm.
Upper one is used for data, rolling road etc. Occasionally a chart for lazy pilotage. Nothing less than full integration will do.
Click to expand...

For full integration with the plotters #18 is correct.

Your existing ST60 displays will network with the new Axioms if you install a Seatalk to STNG converter kit.

Assuming your autopilot is Raymarine of the same era, it will network via the STNG converter, but you won't be able to engage/disengage it from any MFD. If you wanted to steer to a waypoint or follow a route you would need to select that from the MFD, then engage the AP from its control head.
 
The STNG converter specifically doesn't convert Seatalk autopilot sentences and can't be used to network an autopilot control head or provide route information to a course computer.
 
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