GPS Chart Plotter suggestions

[ChromeDome]

You've made a list of requirements and planned a bit ahead for possible future devices.
This is very good and you'll realize that all the brands have something that will work for you,- just tell their sellers that you want to stay close to your requirements (no need for a bunch of fancy features you won't need ever (unless they're included at a competitive price).
You may have to decide on Touch Screen vs. buttons - or both! A visit to one or more shops hopefully will help.

In reality, two big companies, Garmin and Navico (Lowrance+Simrad+B&G) rule the market, with Onwa and a few others being less expensive and probably a few steps behind (specifications, functions). Might be right for your needs?

All recent devices will be NMEA 2000 compatible (interconnection/communication standard), so all makes will be able to work together and share data. However, since features vary, not "everything" can be expected to work 100%.

Best value, best seller, best support, proximity... also worth considering.

 

[TSB240]

Think you overestimate his boat size ...

Even my 25ft'r - I would be at pains to carry what you suggest ... apart from the Hand Held of course.

I do think your quote about 12" and plotting routes is a personal bias matter. My previous plotter - Lowrance was a 5" ... Globalmap 3500, replaced with 7" Onwa KP39A ... both I am happy enough to plot my routes on .... even a full 10 day job in the Swedish Islands ....
I can of course do all my planning on a PC if I have time .... then upload to plotter.
Its all down to what space you have on the boat ... how serious are your 'cruises' .... and area you envisage sailing in.

Think Again.

My recommendations come from experience of extensive cruising of the Irish Sea in a Trapper TS 240.

ANY chartplotter not IP67 rated or in a sealed enclosure would have been destroyed if left under our spray hood or on top of the engine box.

The exposed connections on my Matsutec were always a concern for reliability on a later boat even when surface mounted and sealed into a bridge deck suite of instruments.

The ip67 rated connections of the Montana never let me down even in some of our worst overfalls.
The most useful display on that little boat other than an echosounder and compass was in fact a Nasa GPS repeater. It gave me all the info I needed to steer the boat with the basic handheld gps providing my route or way points.

No need to see a full size chart other than when planning or marking the hourly progress!

Laptop and TV remained in a padded water proof storage box with silica gel crystals!

Different story and different equipment required for crossing shipping lanes or weathering poor visibility.
An easily viewed cockpit mounted display of ais and or radar would be preffered but not necessarily possible on a 24 footer!


I suspect the op may have a bigger boat than a 24 foot Trapper . More details of his craft and planned cruising intentions and budget would indeed help focus advice beyond our personal preferences.

 

[Marceline]

This is my arrangement
View attachment 147304

thanks LadyInBed - that's a lot like I have in mind

 

[Marceline]

wow - lots of replies - thank you everyone for suggestions and replies and I'll work through investigating those

I guess a bit more info is our sailboat is 24' and we'll be coastal sailing in 2023 around North Wales (and hopefully a bit further as we get more experience), so having a dedicated reliable GPS/Plotter as our main Nav unit that we could add extras to as we go along (AIS, maybe Radar, more capable sonar, wind instruments etc) is what hoping for.

I'll do more research based on all your suggestions and start to try and view some of the units in the new year

 

[Sandy]

I guess a bit more info is our sailboat is 24' and we'll be coastal sailing in 2023 around North Wales (and hopefully a bit further as we get more experience), so having a dedicated reliable GPS/Plotter as our main Nav unit that we could add extras to as we go along (AIS, maybe Radar, more capable sonar, wind instruments etc) is what hoping for.

Make sure that all the add ons listed above will be compatible with any chartplotter you buy. Once you buy a brand stick with that brand for all your kit.

There has been a few posts over the last six months saying that the support from Raymarine is not as good as it has been. I have always found Garmin excellent.

 

[Andrew_Trayfoot]

This thread may interest you
My COVID-19 Lockdown Project: 10” Android Car Stereo to Navionics Chart Plotter

you beat me to it

 

[carpetsauce]

+1 for Onwa and the excellent support from Aves marine.

 

[WindyWindyWindy]

Make sure that all the add ons listed above will be compatible with any chartplotter you buy. Once you buy a brand stick with that brand for all your kit.

There has been a few posts over the last six months saying that the support from Raymarine is not as good as it has been. I have always found Garmin excellent.

Yeah you can get imprisoned by a brand, raymarine are especially prone to expensive proprietary plugs on things.

 

[Refueler]

Yeah you can get imprisoned by a brand, raymarine are especially prone to expensive proprietary plugs on things.

Trend today appears to be moving away from single brand imprisonment .... but 'traditional' brands try to continue by own proprietary twists on FW ... SW ..... which IMHO ultimately will be their Achilles heel.

Most gear today can talk between different brands ... most gear today is multi connectivity capable.

I do accept that many wish to have a suite of gear that visually is similar and complements, that hopefully integrates as simply as possible. The brands such as Raymarine provide this ....

 

[MattS]

Most gear today can talk between different brands ... most gear today is multi connectivity capable.

Do you know if Onwa is compatible with other radar brands, or is that something you'd have to stick with Onwa for?

 

[PaulRainbow]

Do you know if Onwa is compatible with other radar brands, or is that something you'd have to stick with Onwa for?

Good question.

 

[PaulRainbow]

Yeah you can get imprisoned by a brand, raymarine are especially prone to expensive proprietary plugs on things.

It's next to impossible to get completely "imprisoned" these days, although i do agree with you regarding Raymarine cables/plugs.

You can install a mix of pretty much any N2K gear and it will all talk to one another nicely, with one or two specific exceptions. An autopilot will network with products from a different manufacturer, in as much as it needs to for N2K compliance, but to make use of any additional features/functions that the manufacturers have added, above and beyond those required by the N2K standard, the MFD and AP need to be from the same manufacturer.

Radar is another exception, the scanner and display have to be from the same manufacturer.

Back to Raymarine, although i find it annoying that, if you buy a new MFD and anything else, they won't directly network together because the MFD is N2K and the rest will be STNG. You can get an adapter cable, but it comes at a price. That said, they do make a nice Seatalk to STNG converter, which is sensibly priced and allows someone to fit new MFD (for instance) and be able to network it with their older ST60s etc. Once the converter is in place additional N2K and/or STNG kit can be added as required.

 

[tillergirl]

No, the Onwa MFD is not compatible with 3rd party radar - nor is any other such product. Each radar manufacturer has their own protocol.

I rather lost faith with Raymarine when I discovered that the masthead wind transducer wasn't waterproof! Unfortunately at that time I had invested £1000!

 

[Refueler]

No, the Onwa MFD is not compatible with 3rd party radar - nor is any other such product. Each radar manufacturer has their own protocol.

I rather lost faith with Raymarine when I discovered that the masthead wind transducer wasn't waterproof! Unfortunately at that time I had invested £1000!

That's a shame ...... but worth reading this :

Which Marine Radar is Compatible with my Device? | Sea-Tech Systems

It does give info on how to connect to PC / Tablet etc.

 

[tillergirl]

At the risk of being presumptuous....

 

[RunAgroundHard]

... At the risk of being presumptuous....

Not at all. Very interesting and informative, I can see why Onwa should be considered.

 

[fredrussell]

Looks great! Though at £1300 for the KM-8x Onwa seem to be leaving behind their ‘cracking value’ origins a bit.

 

[MattS]

Looks great! Though at £1300 for the KM-8x Onwa seem to be leaving behind their ‘cracking value’ origins a bit.

I did think this, but then when you consider that that includes AIS B+ transponder and sounded as part of that package, it’s still pretty competitive against the big names who’d sell you just the plotter for that price!

 

[doug748]

The 500 quid 5in standard model would be great for the OP's small boat. Still AIS B+ and built in UK and Ireland charts. Personally, the value is such, I would not look anywhere else

 

[fredrussell]

I did think this, but then when you consider that that includes AIS B+ transponder and sounded as part of that package, it’s still pretty competitive against the big names who’d sell you just the plotter for that price!

I’m not sure it’s such good value compared to name brand units. Garmin Echomap 95 is £830. That’s a bigger (touch) screen, loaded with uk charts, has sonar (transducer required, same as Onwa) and leaves you £500 to buy AIS transponder.