andybussell
Well-Known Member
I want to install a large format chart plotter at the wheel in the cockpit of my boat and would like to hear of peoples recommendations for good quality all-weather kit. Thanks in advance
Chart plotter advice
- Thread starter andybussell
- Start date
pmagowan
Well-Known Member
I have the garmin 5012 which I am very happy with. It has clear charts, multifunction touch screen and does everything I need.
Ex-SolentBoy
Well-Known Member
+1 for the Garmin 5012. Lovely kit, great manufacturer support.
RAI
Well-Known Member
My vote continues to be for Standard Horizon kit.
bert49uk
Well-Known Member
+1
rivonia
Well-Known Member
+1 we are delighted with ours and still going strong after four years and a very good salt water soak crossing biscay
Peter
boatmike
Well-Known Member
You will find most people are more than happy with what they have bought and often don't have much experience of others anyway so will tell you what they have bought is best. I have used S. Horizon, Garmin, and Raymarine. In fact my current boat has a Raymarine that came with the boat and I have retrofitted my old SH 500. Verdict? Nothing to choose between them really. SH use C-Map which is a market leader and pretty good. It is substantially cheaper than the Raymarine kit and just as reliable. I also find the menu more user friendly. The Raymarine is good but both the cost of the kit itself and charts to upgrade it are a rip off compared with SH + C-Map. Garmin IMHO are also more expensive and has no real advantage over the others apart from having to use garmin charts, which can't be used on anything else. Service and back up from SH is brilliant and they will send you free software upgrades to keep it up to date. Other Raymarine kit I have had quickly becomes obsolete and unsupported. Can't comment on Garmin service as I have only used other peoples. Don't be put of SH because it's cheaper. It's at least as good quality as any other and in some respects better.
laika
Well-Known Member
Not a recommendation but just a thought: You probably don't need as large format as you think you do. What you'd think of as wholly inadequate for a laptop display turns out, in practice to be fine for a helm plotter. "Large" is actually obtrusive at the helm. At the risk of much snickering at the back 12 inches is far too big for most people, even on big yachts.
Do your research on how much the charts for each of your options cost. Remember that that is an ongoing cost so is a more important factor than some people realise.
neale
Well-Known Member
Standard horizon is good and very cost effective, but no good if you want radar. For standalone seriously consider the standard horizon cp500 but for an integrated system including radar you'll need to look at raymarine, garmin or navico.
prv
Well-Known Member
You may have meant "no good" as in the quality is not up to the others, and you may be right there; I have no experience. But radar scanners are available for the Standard Horizon plotters, made by Si-Tex or Seiwa.
Pete
nigelmercier
RIP
- Joined
- 20 Jun 2007
- Messages
- 16,234
- Location
- Live in Kent, boat in Canary Islands
Another vote for Standard Horizon. I had a Garmin, hated it.
What a lot of people may not realise is that Standard Horizon are part of Yaesu, arguably the leader in high quality amateur radio transceivers. Naturally their VHF gear is superb, but their plotters are also good quality.
maby
Well-Known Member
As part of Yaesu, Standard Horizon are excellent for radios. Their plotters have a decent reputation, but they are not part of a system. How much that matters to you rather depends on the way you use your boat and the amount of money you anticipate spending on it. There is a third-party radar scanner that works with SH, but it's not widely imported into this country. SH don't make the other components - instruments, autopilots - that sort of thing. If you want to build a system, you will have to add third party components which may not integrate very well.
Talulah
Well-Known Member
As well as deciding upon plotter brand, plotter location can be hotly debated.
At the helm, down below or at the companionway.
Pros and cons.
Personal preference is at the companionway (see attachment) but may not be practical due to physical/wiring limitations.
If down below then may not be used at time of need due to worries of seasickness.
One sailing school I occasionally work for have them at the wheel. The trouble is on one cross-channel the novice at the helm didn't know he could zoom in and the boat ended up on the rocks off bembridge Ledge. (Significant damage to keel/floor supports etc. I wasn't on board.)
In the attached photo the plotter is clearly visible from the helm. (Port hand side.) However, the helm is not in a position to operate the controls without leaving the wheel.
At the helm, down below or at the companionway.
Pros and cons.
Personal preference is at the companionway (see attachment) but may not be practical due to physical/wiring limitations.
If down below then may not be used at time of need due to worries of seasickness.
One sailing school I occasionally work for have them at the wheel. The trouble is on one cross-channel the novice at the helm didn't know he could zoom in and the boat ended up on the rocks off bembridge Ledge. (Significant damage to keel/floor supports etc. I wasn't on board.)
In the attached photo the plotter is clearly visible from the helm. (Port hand side.) However, the helm is not in a position to operate the controls without leaving the wheel.
Last edited:
neale
Well-Known Member
Standard Horizon uk do not promote the use of the Sitex scanner because they are not happy with its functionality. As a Standalone plotter the SH is good but if you want a decent integrated system including radar it is not the best option.
Ripster
Well-Known Member
Another vote for Garmin. I have had the 4000 series on two boats now, I prefer buttons to touch screen, but that is just my choice - all reliable very easy to use. 1st class back up too from the manufacturer.
ditchcrawler
Well-Known Member
Lowrance do a good range of plotters and they can be combined with broadband radar.They use Navionics charts.
RAI
Well-Known Member
Odd that! They sold me one and it works very well.
RAI
Well-Known Member
The nice thing about SH gear is that it does not force you to stay within the brand. I have SH VHF and SH plotter linked to SITEX (alias Koden) radar, NASA flux gate compass and digitial yacht AIS. Pretty much all plug and play.
Slow_boat
Well-Known Member
I have my first boat with a chart plotter, a Furuno, which seems okay. It's not to big and obtrusive but even so I cover it up once we're under way or I just get mezmorised my the damn thing!
I've just bought Seaclear for the laptop which will live at the chart table, the helm one will be just for pilotage. When I learn how to use it, that is. I'm still using a hand bearing compass and soundings!
I've just bought Seaclear for the laptop which will live at the chart table, the helm one will be just for pilotage. When I learn how to use it, that is. I'm still using a hand bearing compass and soundings!
Richard10002
Well-Known Member
I had a Lowrance 5" at the helm, which could swivel to be seen from forward and aft of the helm, so fine when on autopilot. Resolution was high, so size was fine - much better than a 7" Raymarine which was on board when I bought the boat, (2006). 12" would have been overkill, 7-9" would have been nice, at the same resolution.
If a sailing school has an unsupervised novice at the helm when there is a chance of running aground, don't they only have themselves to blame.
Resolution on plotters is no different to "resolution" on paper charts. You have to be looking at the right chart for the circumstances and conditions.
If a sailing school has an unsupervised novice at the helm when there is a chance of running aground, don't they only have themselves to blame.
Resolution on plotters is no different to "resolution" on paper charts. You have to be looking at the right chart for the circumstances and conditions.
