Chartplotter

[retsina]

What is your opinion of Standard Horizon CP180. How good is the one with an internal antena?. I can not see the point of getting an external antena for a 31 ft yacht where the chartplotter will be located only a few feet away from the main hatch.
What do you think?

 

[Aeolus]

I've got a CP180 (with the external antenna) and it is brilliant. Very easy to use, very clear display, fast zooming and panning. Only downside is rather small screen - not a problem if you can peer closely.

Mine is permanently mounted in the cockpit, flush against the bulkhead (that's why I couldn't have the internal antenna). So far it has only been drenched once - a freak wave off Cherbourg, but it has had its share of spray and rain and has been fine (I installed it last winter).

I've got the C-MAP Mega wide chart that covers the whole UK and northern France - also excellent.

 

[pheonix]

i recently fitted a standard horizon c.p. with external antena for the small amount of additional work i believe it was worth the effort.
by the way mine is only a 28 foot boat with what seems to me an extremely wide hatch and the plotter is only inches away.however when pairing to dsc radio i found the instructions a bit of a joke!. trial and error were the order of the day. WHY cant the manufacturers get there heads together to come up with some industry standard coding and labeling of the connections "radio says 2 wires plotter says three all labeled differently in the instalation manuals" you get the drift.
compared to this positioning connecting and cable routing for the antena was a dodle! why risk a poor signal on such a usefull bit of kit when you have forked out your shekles in the first place also paid out a litle extra for a 2nd braket to install in the cockpit for convienience.
/forums/images/graemlins/smirk.gif

 

[Sinbad2222]

Like you I am also looking for a plotter of a similar size and spent a long time at SBS comparing them. I compared 4 looking at the same part of Newtown Creek in the Solent which I know very well indeed. Conclusions;
Lowrance - Ruled out completely because of erroneous UK tidal information. Very helpful salesman on their stand who admitted there was a problem and now that Lowrance had been bought by a Norwegian company it would be sorted out - but I have heard that before.
Standard Horizon 180 and 300 - The Max chart of Newtown was awful - almost schematic and the refresh rate when changing areas was tediously long.
Garmin - Slightly better cartography but still poor, slow again and expensive.
Raymarine A65 - very expensive (720 from Cactus) but made the others seem like toys - Nice big screen and the Navionics Gold chart was by far the best.
Maybe my tests were unfair in that other areas may be better mapped with the other charts but I suppose you get what you pay for and I shall definitley be saving up for the A65.
You should have no problem with an internal aerial but the Raymarine does not offer that.

 

[roly_voya]

I have an external GPS arial but its mounted on the cabin side next to the GPS under a 3/4" plywood cabin top. When I tested it there was no measurable diff in the signal strength inside or out so it whent in out of the weather and risk of getting damaged. Conclusion is the wood is radio opaque at this frequency and I suspect fiberglass is the same. Just don't mount it directly under a winch!

 

[pheonix]

ever tried taking h/h gps below decks or even putting it into your pocket?.
I have!.

 

[Robin2]

See here

 

[fireball]

My Etrex HH GPS doesn't work in my pocket or in my house ... my CP180i does work inside the house ...


TBH unless you are looking at a below decks installation then you might as well go for the i ... it is cheaper ... the CP300 would be nicer for the larger screen, but then you pay more for it too ....

 

[searover]

I have a cp180i and never had a problem in fact even down below still works fine and ais works ok as well im impressed with it... hope that helps.

 

[boatmike]

Thanks Sinbad. Intended to go to the show to research this myself but you have confirmed what I thought and saved me 10 quid! I think I will stick with what I have got for now and keep the money in me pocket...