Chartplotters - UK v USA

[gibbowolfie]

[ QUOTE ]
Or, you can look at CE marking of global brands as just trade protectionism imposed by the EU.

[/ QUOTE ]

Or a non-zenophobic law to cover all those non-US countries that WOULD sell thier citizens death traps.....

 

[duncan]

/forums/images/graemlins/laugh.gif /forums/images/graemlins/laugh.gif /forums/images/graemlins/laugh.gif

don't even start on their trailers m8........glad yo uare getting some boating in recently (if the fishing isn't going to plan........)

 

[KevB]

I imported a Standard Horizon CP1000 for £770 including carriage, Vat and import duty. It was around £1200 in the uk at the time.

 

[Mike_S]

Well I'm looking at various brands / models, currently favouring the Lowrance or Raymarine products. The Raymarine is certainly over budget though, whereas the Lowrance gear is well within. Space is at a premium on the dash of my boat which is the main draw toward the Raymarine A65.

Any recommendations are appreciated. It'll need to 'talk' to a Raymarine 54E DSCVHF though.

 

[gibbowolfie]

If it's NMEA and the versions compatible it'll connect fine.

You don't have to stick with the same manufactures plotter that made yr VHF. There are propriatry standards that only work in one manufactures range but they'll still no doubt have NMEA and therefore will work although some functions in the propritery standard might not function. With a GPS to VHF I'd have thought you'd be fine as it's basic info being sent.

 

[Major Catastrophe]

[ QUOTE ]
glad yo uare getting some boating in recently (if the fishing isn't going to plan........)

[/ QUOTE ]
but it is going to expectation. /forums/images/graemlins/grin.gif

 

[pelicanpete]

Thank you Major, for speaking some sense in this debate on the No CE/illegal/go to gaol [--word removed--] that is often voiced on this forum. Only point I would disagree with you is, most, if not all VHF sets for sale in the USA (handheld and fixed) have a button for U-I-C (US-International-Canada). You just have to switch to the appropriate area. This CE mark is pure, unadulterated protectionism!!

I have never seen any 'CE proof policemen' patrolling marinas or conducting midnight raids on boats, ripping out the electronics to inspect the CE mark and then carting off the perp in leg-irons.

I have never seen a warning to American sailors when transiting through Europe to surrender their electronic equipment and replace it with CE proof stuff until they leave the EU.

I have never heard of any marine electrician being fined or shoved in the pokey for fitting non CE plated equipment...

I could go on. The law is most definitely an ass and it's time to stand up to all these petty bureaucrats who make the daft laws to 'protect' us. Buy in the US and fear not. Down with rip off Britain!

 

[Sixpence]

Very well said , but it doesn't change things as far as insurance companies go , if there's even a remote chance that a fire or other incident was caused by an electronic gizmo of any kind they'll want to make sure it's CE marked or they won't pay , but there's plenty of places you can get the stuff , even without actually flying over there .

Before anyone says anything , no I don't have any US sellers of these so I aint bloody advertising

 

[Major Catastrophe]

[ QUOTE ]

Thank you Major, for speaking some sense

[/ QUOTE ]

I'm on a roll 'cause I've just had another pop at the EU on another tread.

[ QUOTE ]
Only point I would disagree with you is, most, if not all VHF sets for sale in the USA (handheld and fixed) have a button for U-I-C (US-International-Canada).

[/ QUOTE ] Inclusion of that would have spoiled the scan of my post. Political rants work better if you employ brevity and a slight stretch of the truth. /forums/images/graemlins/grin.gif

 

[pelicanpete]

Point taken.

Just wish the 'prissy-brigade' would stop rolling over and stand up to the politicos that want to protect us from ourselves.

Keep up the good work; brevity and all...

 

[Mike_S]

I guess it's a similar(ish) argument to importing boats from the states and having to get them CE marked to be able to be sold over here. I certainly looked long and hard at bringing over a sportsboat and had I not got a particularly good deal on our Regal we'd have been off to Florida this month to look / buy one. Again, I'd been quoted £1500 to CE mark a boat over here, conversely an american dealer quoted me $1500. The 2 things that put me off were the cost of the trailer & the time it would take to get here (I'm impatient).

As it turned out, I did a good deal on the boat. What was interesting though was a comment by the broker that the price bracket of sportsboat in which we were looking was struggling as a whole and prices had had to come down, purely because of the numbers of people deciding to import from america due to the current exchange rate.

Slightly off topic there /forums/images/graemlins/tongue.gif

 

[Major Catastrophe]

[ QUOTE ]
Slightly off topic there

[/ QUOTE ] Doesn't matter as it is your thread.

But good point made that there is a recognition that similar boats are currently overpriced in the EU. I have a similar problem in the video games industry. Games are cheap in the US and very expensive here. Just today I received the sell through figures from 200 independent games stores and the top three places in the charts were DS games, not yet released in the UK, but imported by the retailers and sold here ten pounds cheaper than they will be when finally released in the UK.

Someone once posted here that UK dealers had to sell at a higher price because they need to pay higher overheads, wages and everything else, so had a right not to be undercut by cheap imports. Prices in the EU and especially in the UK are kept artificially high through copyright and patent legislation. Silouette Glasses started it all off in 1998

<span style="color:blue"> "Parallel-import and exhaustion Silhouette / Hartlauer (Court of Justice EC 16/7/98)

Silhouette-glasses belong generally speaking to higher price categories.

The Austrian company Hartlauer is known for selling through its branches glasses at very low prices. As a result, Silhouette does not sell glasses via the Hartlauer distribution because of the risk of damaging its image. <span style="color:red">(Or price?) </span>

In October 95, Silhouette sold glass frames to a Bulgarian company named Union Trading. At its turn, Union Trading sold the glasses in November '95 to Harlauer at low value prices. Silhouette brought an action against this practice for infringing trademark rights.

The opponent states that no exclusive rights could be infringed since the glasses where introduced on the market with the market holder's consent and thus the exhaustion rule was applicable.

The Court, however, stated that the exhaustion rule is only applicable when goods are introduced on the market, with the trademark holder's consent and on EC territory only. " </span> Then Tescos were taken to European Court of Justice by Levis Jeans followed by Dockside shoes and even Nintendo and Sony won injunctions to stop video games being imported from the USA and Japan.

But, luckily there is no law to stop a private individual importing these and even chart plotters for personal use. But, some manufacturers have instructed their retailers in the US not to ship their goods to the EU, probably to maintain the higher prices over here.

The EU is now a global milch cow.

 

[Sixpence]

Thanks for that Chris , plainly states the case and I wasn't aware of all the facts so I'll bow down to your knowledge and see what I can do from the US side , but lots of people still don't trust the US , and the Far East , yet there's plenty of them willing to sell over here

 

[Major Catastrophe]

[ QUOTE ]
and see what I can do from the US side

[/ QUOTE ] Not sure what you mean by that, Dave. But if you try anything as a commercial operation, stand by to be injuncted and sued for 'Loss of revenue and damages.'

The retailers importing DS games from the US operate the entire thing under the counter and only if they can find a US distributor who will ship to the EU as Nintendo and Sony have told them not to.

 

[Sixpence]

Nothing along those lines but I've tried to avoid US sites wanting to list items on my site because I didn't want to deal with the hasstles I thought I'd have , and the Far East are almost begging me to accept listings from them , but again , if it means I get the problems then I'm not interested , different I suppose if I'm just carrying the listing and not dealing with the goods direct , if that's any clearer ?

 

[BrendanS]

The good news is that the internet has made global pricing transparent, and consumers are more aware of the price differentials.

 

[Major Catastrophe]

[ QUOTE ]
different I suppose if I'm just carrying the listing and not dealing with the goods direct , if that's any clearer ?

[/ QUOTE ] Much like ebay. But, one day manufacturers are going to swoop on ebay and sweep all those little businesses importing from outside the EU. Trust me, it will happen.

Some of the games publishers have already closed down a few on ebay and once they are comfortable with the process of law they will swoop on the lot and all the clothes, electronics, software and other manufacturers will follow suite.

The say it is all about territorial integrity, but really they don't want US teriitories stealing cheap sales from their expensive and very profitable European thiefdom.

 

[Major Catastrophe]

[ QUOTE ]

The good news is that the internet has made global pricing transparent, and consumers are more aware of the price differentials.

[/ QUOTE ] Yes, but even with regular Daily Mail and The Sun headlines screaming 'Rip Off Britain' they have the European Court of Justice on their side, so the consumer can go and swivel.

I am still incensed by the USB satellite signal receiver I bought off ebay. £24.99 delivered, direct form Hong Kong in four days. But it was £89.99 from a company in London delivered "Within 28 days". Who are they kidding?

 

[Sixpence]

That's the process I've been trying to avoid , marine electronics over here are ridiculously priced and I can get them cheaper by allowing US and others to list , but it's mud in my face if I let them then get dumped on by the powers that be . So far the overseas sellers have been selling their own stuff because I've advised the ones selling electronics and stuff like that , that I can't carry their listings till the law is clarified , so a bit of a rock and hard place position really

 

[ccscott49]

Pardon?