Can anyone beat the deal ????

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Best deal I can find so far on GPS Plotter and Charting is the Lowrance 3500C + Europe Charting.

Deal is £456 all in incl. VAT Colour 6" screen ..... facility to use MMC and SD cards etc. Lowrance own Freedommaps Charts as well as Navionics.

Now I'm asking - who has one - is it any good ?

Is there a better, cheaper deal ? Previously I was going for the Raytheon 425 B&W at £200 ... but plus charts etc. it starts to mount up and its blocky B&W .....

So what to do ??
 
Best screen i`ve seen but didn`t they have a bit of bother with the first batch of these when then first came out a while back? What "euro" charts did you get with your price of £450ish? -
There doesn`t appear to be anything else around at this price -
who quoted you ? I`m tempted myself.
 
Bought one of these at the LIBS, cost £430 inc chart. The chart has only just arrived and I havn't loaded it yet. What impressed me looking at the 3500C was the screen clarity and refresh speed. I also looked at the Raymarine 435 (colour) also uses Navionics charts. Had a very slow screen refresh and a price tag of circa £800.

Will update you once I've given it a little more investigation.
 
I've just bought the raymarine RC400 hand held with a navionic gold chart. Total cost £480, I have not got totally to grips with it yet, but seems like a lovely bit of kit. If I don't make it to Yarmouth you'll know it's no good.
 
My intention to sail boat to Baltic ....

The Lowrance Chart - Freedom-map says it covers all europe with good detail, looking at the net info. - its not clear how far east ... but I think you would exit Kiel to the east and the charting then stops .... but thats not bad from Solent to Kiel ... then it means that I only have to worry about charting from Kiel to Latvia .... which can be sorted onto cards from Mapmedia etc. or the Navionics series ....

What it means really is overall I save quite a wedge of dosh !! The size is good for most uses .... even car ??
 
If it gets it that wrong a may be a little late, so stick one /forums/images/graemlins/smirk.gifin for me
 
Re: My intention to sail boat to Baltic ....

I bought the blocky B/w thingy with chart for east bit for £299 /forums/images/graemlins/frown.gif

When wiring in do I need to protect from spikes and bad fings?

cheers Joe
 
Re: My intention to sail boat to Baltic ....

Nigel

I'll be down at teh boat on Sat 25th. If you want to come along and take a look, PM me (you can help me put the main sail back on too!) /forums/images/graemlins/grin.gif
 
Done the deed !!!

Well much against the screams of pain and anguish from my wallet - which rarely sees the light of day !! I have now ordered the Lowrance GM3500C with European Charting ...

Etap_owner .......... I would love to help with your m/sail - but I'm still in the Baltic..... enjoying the -12 today !!

So I am now all edgy, fidgety and raring to get back to new toy !!!!
 
I have never ....

But then again - I'm lazy .... and got away with it.
 
Im still saveing for a new breton plotter and a rivit to fix the compass back on the one i have.

As for charts ive found some but there very very old!!

Ive still got sea clear and still cant find the way to get charts from the CD to sea clear where they belong. I imagin i wouldent have much succsses with a GPS plotter

If it rains can you still read the screen and in sun? and when your batteries are flat what do you do??

Can i have your old charts for Poland and the Baltic states?? How much??
 
Re: I have never ....

Blew a garmin 160 /forums/images/graemlins/mad.gif
replaced under warranty /forums/images/graemlins/smile.gif
plotter wot to do?

cheers Joe
 
Hi Trouville ....

Copy charts of the cd to a directory on PC ... make note of exact address.

Now open Mapcal program .... Click on <TOOLS> <Set Directories> ...... a box will open up and you then click on the small button << to right of the Chart Directorys section. A browse box will then open and you scroll through to the directory you used to save charts to. Highlight that directory and then click OK ...
You will now find that directory listed in the Chart Directory box. Now click OK to exit the Set Directories box.
Now you click on <Autoload List> and choose what you want to do .... I suggest if you haven't had charts in ... then <Scan for new Charts>

As long as they are BSB or calibrated etc. - they should import ok ....

The manual is really easy and simple .....
 
They came from two people that were useing them on seaclear, but then i only had my PDA with me so i couldent let them install for me.

Thanks i have another try, when i see others useing it it looks soooo easy but when i try it gets complicated,thanks ill try again

By the way i intended haveing some time on the French canals around canal du center,ive had to come up hear in fact now im sitting in my landrover beside the canal and it hasent got any water in it but a thick sheet of ice with ducks walking on it!! i dont think its the center i think its the Doubs but still!!

Another canal i passed was closed for service and the Saon river dident seem to be to bad but everythings so cold.

This weekend ill get the mapout and go exploring! I just cant understand why its so cold up hear?? Very odd
 
Great plotter...not so sure about the chart (assuming it's the same as I've just evaluated). This is what I posted a few days ago on the PBO forum:

"I just spent a few hours today comparing the Nautipath chart from Lowrance vs. Navionics XL3 on the 3500C plotter. The area I studied in detail was the Bristol Channel and in particular the "difficult bits" I know around Flatholm, the Wolves and Lavernock point. In summary, my findings were as follows:

If I'd never seen a Navionics chart, then the Lowrance/Nautipath product would have satisfied me. But when you compare the two side by side particularly at large scale zoom levels, the difference is very noticable. The Navionics chart is in different league when it comes to inshore detail. It is also much less cluttered in its display over large areas. Buoys are named directly on the screen, contours are clear, etc, etc. I compared the detail to a large scale Admiralty paper chart of the area, and I was amazed how good the XL3 chart was. In fact it looked virtually identical. I would have very few concerns about using the Navionics charts for detail pilotage (although I would always have the paper version with me...old habits, etc), but I just didn't think the Nautipath product did the same job anywhere near as well. If you got it free or for £50, then it's a good buy. If it's sold at £150...then no contest...go Navionics on this plotter in my opinion. There are some problems still to be resolved on the tidal data module on both charts, but that's a plotter issue that Lowrance need to fix via a software update. "
 
It's bleedin fantastic. Got one for our delivery trip in December and it worked a treat, The screen is crystal clear and the backlight goes dim enough for the bit of night sailing we did. On the brightest day (Decemeber ha ha) it was easily viewable. Paid £530 inc charts cos I didn't know they were going to do a flippin deal did I. The refresh rate is so good you don't notice it, but Navionics charts are split into 3 sections and it's a bit awkward on the join at Beachy Head.

Hopefully this sort of deal Lowrance are doing will bring down the cost of other electronic chart packages.
 
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