Chart plotter, What is best Bang for Buck please?

Refueler said:
When choosing - its not only the size and resolution of screen - but also the chart format it uses.

Updates of some 'reccd' chart formats can work out expensive for nothing more than any other cheaper gives.

So it needs consideration of not only initial price to buy .. then chart coverage you need ... chart coverage you would like additional ... and then costs to update.

I personally prefer a plotter that can take more than one chart format ... there are still many that can. That way you can use the 'brands own' for deep water nav where its extremely unlikely you need great detail and then high detail chart format for nav inshore etc.
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Just to give idea ... I accept this was a few years ago - but illustrates it well.

I bought a Lowrance GPS Plotter for my boat after looking at so many ... I've had Magellan .. Garmin etc. , used Raytheon and many others over the years and based on use decided a 'tactic'.
The Lowrance came with Nauticpath SD card - I knew it would be unlikely to have updates ... but its detail and use for offshore was more than enough.
Lowrance then also accepted Navionics - so I had option to have regular updated charts via Navionics.

This gave me a budget way to have best practical system without excess costs. I could basically take only the Navionics needed for a small area ... leaving the non hazard part to Nauticpath.

Funny thing is that actually when I got to use it - I found the Nauticpath displayed various items that Navionics didn't !! Why they decided to omit a number of shoals - I have no idea !!

I still use the Lowrance - as I do most detailed nav on my PC (Acer One) ..... and TBH - even though Nauticpath is way out of date now - it still provides good results.

Back to my reasoning ............ some of the well known brands do not give you this option of which chart format to use .. making you buy only one proprietary system. Not something I agree with.

For this reason I am looking at Onwa and Matsutec as my possible replacement when my Lowrance meets its maker !
 
I found the built in K chart with onwa is really good. It also takes c-map and navionics.
Has to be best bang for buck especially when many also come with built in ais
 
Rappey said:
I found the built in K chart with onwa is really good. It also takes c-map and navionics.
Has to be best bang for buck especially when many also come with built in ais
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I'm interested in the zoom level of the K chart .............. does it zoom to such that port entry is possible or is it a generalised level ? Does it provide enough for the casual sailor ?
 
I am on my second Lowrance plotter and I find them good value and they work well. The newer ones take Navionics and C map formats.
I upgraded to a bigger one from my original one which must be 10 years old at least and works fine.
I also had a Lawrence Nauticpath chart and I use it in my Lowrance hand held plotter when on other boats.
 
Refueler said:
I'm interested in the zoom level of the K chart ..
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The zoom is as detailed as any admiralty chart for the areas I have looked at. It zooms in much further than needed.
If you look on avesmarine.com. you can see the map details compared to an admiralty chart, and these are free!
 
Navionics down loaded to an iPad for £37 per year cheap a chips and excellent not had a problem with over heating put something to shade it
 
tillergirl said:
I have the Onwa Kcombo 7+ with C-Map. Very effective of course, feels very solid, good buttons, menus quite logical. I have a Standard Horizon, slightly smaller as well but of course that is all finished.
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Another thumbs up for Onwa, which receives incoming AIS info from our SH vhf.
 
There will still be a number of people who will not trust an upstart 'brand' ............. standard in any electronics market.

In RC - we had the stalwart brands of yesteryear : JR ... Futaba ... HiTec etc. who were also producing gear to be put into cases of other so'called brands. For years we only trusted them ... (There are others - lets keep it to the brand leaders).

Then along came digitalisation and programmable .... the established brands thought they could keep their market with overpriced gear ... but along came upstart gear at less than half the price ... with generally 20 - 30% more channels / functions. Open Source Firmware hit and the 'upstarts' saw a fabulous way to give the customer what we all wanted .......... the staid old brands trying to convince us THEY were more reliable .. better ...
Guess what - even THEY then started producing budget gear that pushed their 'usual' models aside ....

Today we have radios like Radiomaster for 125 Euros that has MULTI-Protocol format - means it can connect with about 90% of other proprietary formats ... has 16 function channels .... can mix any function with any number of other functions .... leaving the 'Brand' names in the dust - who are still trying to get us to part with 300 Euros or more for half the functionality.

I see this happening in the GPS Plotter market ..... and it will develop further ... as more people accept the lesser brand name instead of being duped by the sales pitch of the established brands ....
 
Have a look at London chart plotters, android tablets with latest legal UK charts and AIS mid £200 I think all in., great bit of kit take it home to sort routes etc. We put ours in a sunshade to help with vision in bright sunshine but other than that great bit of kit
 
I am going to post something that will wrankle a few but TBH - is true and in all the years has not given me any cause for regret.

A lot of talk about chart updates / corrections etc. - but in reality the vast majority are of interest to larger vessels ... for the average weekender or even cruising boat owner - very rare for any difference for them.

I spent many years keeping full Admiralty and US Chart folios corrected on ships - still have my Rotring pens and India Ink etc ... but they have not been used for many years.
I have older BSB / KAP chart files in my Seaclear and OpenCPN PC plotters ... along with a few other formats ... but basically they are some years out of date.
My Lowrance Plotter has Nauticpath and a limited old Navionics Card for charts along with river charts I drew up myself. (I could if I really wanted update the Navionics card ... )

I have paper charts salvaged from ships I sailed on ... I would rummage through the cancelled charts and extract the most recent - to be added to my home inventory.

I do not say to others ... follow me ... but am just illustrating that I have yet to find my charts or plotting to cause concern.

Before some wise *** starts on about insurance ... that's baloney .. unless it can be shown the lack of new chart led to the event claimed. A difficult one for them to use anyway ...
 
My 'new to me' boat came with a B&G Zeus T8 plotter (Navionics carts).
I am pretty impressed with it and the way it seamelessly interfaces with all other (even non B&G) kit.
Have added the B&G wifi repeater, and now I get all info on my tablet in the cockpit as well as being able to control the entire network from my tablet.
In short, I think it's the canine's dangly bits.
 
Koeketiene said:
My 'new to me' boat came with a B&G Zeus T8 plotter (Navionics carts).
I am pretty impressed with it and the way it seamelessly interfaces with all other (even non B&G) kit.
Have added the B&G wifi repeater, and now I get all info on my tablet in the cockpit as well as being able to control the entire network from my tablet.
In short, I think it's the canine's dangly bits.
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For those on a budget, the Vulcan range offers almost everything that the Zeus can do with the exception of sharing charts between multiple units.
But as it has Wifi built in and you can control it from an iPad or Android tablet you can have a second display wherever you want.
 
dolabriform said:
For those on a budget, the Vulcan range offers almost everything that the Zeus can do with the exception of sharing charts between multiple units.
But as it has Wifi built in and you can control it from an iPad or Android tablet you can have a second display wherever you want.
Click to expand...

Why not just put a plotting program on your tablet and have second redundancy setup ? Most tablets have own GPS .... just a matter of choosing suitable app.
 
Refueler said:
Why not just put a plotting program on your tablet and have second redundancy setup ? Most tablets have own GPS .... just a matter of choosing suitable app.
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Whilst I agree that tablets are amazing and I have navionics on my phone and ipad, there are lots of things they don't do.
It all depends what you want to achieve.
My B&G interfaces with the following on a combination of Seatalk 1, NMEA1083, and NMEA2000 networks.
Heading sensor
Depth
Speed
Wind
AIS
Autopilot
VHF
Raymarine ST70 Multifunction displays

I can can set the autopilot to steer to a waypoint from the B&G, or to Wind. I have sailsteer on the B&G that gets all the info from the sensors, and AIS overlays.
I have the B&G at the helm with an ST70 Pilot and ST70 multifunction display, and remotes at the chart table.

As I say, it depends what you want to achieve. If you just want a plotter then sure, a tablet will do the job. But if you want a fully integrated setup that just works then get purpose made kit.

Just my 2 1/2 p
 
Watching this thread with interest as I am thinking of replacing my Standard Horizon CP300 ... looks like the Onwa KP-39 and would make almost a drop-in replacement for my old SH.

Measurements are good, I/O forAIS, Autopilot is there ... and then I saw this ....

1595492682023.png

Magnetic base for GPS antenna? ... now that seems a bit strange.

I need to install the thing at the helm, in front of my compass ..... has anyone got one of these at the helm? Is the magnet strong enough to interfere with the steering compass?
 
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