chart plotters

[idoleyes]

Hi
Having recently changed our boat we have decided to update the electronics but have a couple of questions to help with the selection.
Android plotters installed in phone or tablet what are the options and are they practical.
I recall some time ago that Ray marine offered a hand held plotter , that had the option that a larger monitor could be used also. can anybody remember the details and model.

Thanks

Ted

 

[doug748]

Hello idoleyes, welcome. Things are a bit quiet so:

I think it probably depends on the sort of sailing you do, your budget and how much you would like/would use a smart device. For daysailng, short hops and the occasional coastal trip, an Android job would probably be fine. I sure detailed advice will follow.

I guess the cost of a basic plotter would be getting on for £400 but that might give you a water resist cockpit display and the option of AIS, which would be very handy for offshore sailing. It would be arguably more robust and certainly less likely to be carted ashore to be lost and abused in other ways.

I think the Raymarine handheld may have been the RC400. It was never very popular and towards the end was discounted down to about £250. You may find a secondhand one. I used a Garmin Map76 for many years, not really a chartplotter but with wary use of the built in world map and added user "points of interest", you could achieve a lot. It had a black and white, minimalist display and this made it particularly usable; small, full function, colour screens do get cluttered. Garmin have some sophisticated handhelds now, that you may wish to look at; I would try before I bought one.

 

[igytomas]

idoleyes, I think doug makes a good point, however. Navionics on Android tablet is a pretty good app. Very easy to use, decent and actual charts with practically all you need from a sophisticated chart plotter. The cost is significantly lower than any decent chart plotter, where for the cheapest one's you will have to buy charts separately.

We have Standard Horizon C180i and it was under £300 but no charts. It takes C-MAX cards and each is from £109 to £289, when Navionics with charts covering the UK and Holland coasts is about £20 and doesn't need an Internet connection. And of course the screen size on a tablet is bigger too. No AIS though. But I consider to get the tablet myself for this purpose.

 

[idoleyes]

Thanks Chaps
Cannot help but agree with your views in respect to android chart plotter, however I recently contacted Navoinics online help desk listing my devices and operating systems.
The response was prompt but full of disclaimers stating if their kit didn't work " sale had been completed no refunds"

Also the compatibility listing they reference are not dated and have no references point to list update.

Thus I personally lack the confidence to take a leap of faith with my credit card, even though my new phone and tablet, are both well specked and have GPS as standard
Thanks for your thoughts
Ted