GPS price OK - WHAT, £300+ for charts !!!

[DoubleEnder]

Yes really. The functionality of dedicated systems really is a lot better. If you can afford it, why wouldnt you

I know the dedicated gear has more functions. It’s better in all sorts of ways, I agree.
The question for me is really whether you’re going to use those extra functions. I sailed between the Swale and S. Devon for some years and when my dedicated marine plotter died I didn’t miss it at all - the ‘backup’ tablet was more than adequate. Plus it’s really hard to find anything that doesn’t have GPS included now so between my phone, the VHF, the AIS, crew phones, and paper charts I just couldn’t see the point. A good fix is great to have when visibility is poor, and it’s really cheap and easy to get one. We are lucky sailors.

I can imagine situations where it would be very useful -even perhaps vital - to have an integrated dedicated suite of marine instruments. I never really found myself in those situations.

I appreciate other people may have different experiences. Even between the Solent and Portland?

 

[Sianna]

I completely fail to understand this, when you can get a decent Android tablet for £150 brand new plus Navionics for about £40 with real time updates for a year. I just sold an old but quite useable iPad for £75, that I’d been running Navionics on.
I know the level and depth of functions available on a tablet is lower. I know the screen is not as bright. You can’t ping the start line, etc etc
But really? For Solent to Portland?

Yup you can do that but we wanted a system that links to our transducer, fusion stereo, links to tides, has a fish finder was the way we wanted to go, we got ours in a sale last year for £600, it's secure and waterproof too. Do we need it, no, but it is bloody handy to have, much like our boat really.

 

[Chiara’s slave]

Yup you can do that but we wanted a system that links to our transducer, fusion stereo, links to tides, has a fish finder was the way we wanted to go, we got ours in a sale last year for £600, it's secure and waterproof too. Do we need it, no, but it is bloody handy to have, much like our boat really.

And £600 is a drop in the ocean for 99% of boats. Especially us unfortunates on the south coast, where a mooring might easily cost you that in a month, for a moderate size boat.

 

[Buck Turgidson]

GPS needs to be portable not fixed but can get cockpit power to it.

Ipad and wifi from your network.

Not sure what "functionality" I'm missing?

 

[Chiara’s slave]

So that’s a £60p tablet (4g version) plus monthly sim charge. I’m failing to see the massive saving here. I presume you don’t have a plotter to make the comparison with. But offhand, NMEA2000 can link in the rest of the instruments to extract more data, the device is fully waterproof, I’m lacking inspiration for what else the Romans did for us, but hopefully you get the idea. Not that ipads arent useful aboard, we carry one always. It works by linking to our plotter‘s wi fi?

 

[Daydream believer]

Ipad and wifi from your network.

Not sure what "functionality" I'm missing?

How long does the battery last? How does one hold it & use it, whilst hanging on to the tiller in F6 with the boat rocking, rolling & broaching all over the place? How does it react to a dollop of water over the side when least expected? Finally, how do you see it in sunlight.

 

[Sianna]

And £600 is a drop in the ocean for 99% of boats. Especially us unfortunates on the south coast, where a mooring might easily cost you that in a month, for a moderate size boat.

You're right it costs that a month for my modest little boat at Buckers Hard

 

[Chiara’s slave]

How long does the battery last? How does one hold it & use it, whilst hanging on to the tiller in F6 with the boat rocking, rolling & broaching all over the place? How does it react to a dollop of water over the side when least expected? Finally, how do you see it in sunlight.

I had totally overlooked the ‘functionality’ of being able to see what’s on the screen. Ours is the down below repeater.

 

[Chiara’s slave]

You're right it costs that for my modest little boat at Buckers Hard

We are lucky enough to have recently got a residents mooring in Yarmouth. We visit Bucklers Hard for a cream tea every so often. A short stay us pretty traumatic for us, cost wise

 

[Buck Turgidson]

So that’s a £60p tablet (4g version) plus monthly sim charge. I’m failing to see the massive saving here. I presume you don’t have a plotter to make the comparison with. But offhand, NMEA2000 can link in the rest of the instruments to extract more data, the device is fully waterproof, I’m lacking inspiration for what else the Romans did for us, but hopefully you get the idea. Not that ipads arent useful aboard, we carry one always. It works by linking to our plotter‘s wi fi?

Ive got all my N2K data wifi'd to my iPad including AIS overlay and I don't have a sim I get GPS position from the N2K network.

 

[Buck Turgidson]

How long does the battery last? How does one hold it & use it, whilst hanging on to the tiller in F6 with the boat rocking, rolling & broaching all over the place? How does it react to a dollop of water over the side when least expected? Finally, how do you see it in sunlight.

Battery is normally good for 24 hours. It's in a life proof case which makes it just as easy to hold as any hand held(portable) plotter. Or I put it down. It's fine fully submerged for a while (until I fished it out of my cockpit well after being pooped). In sunlight I simply turn around.

 

[dankilb]

Aren’t earlier (but compatible) versions of the Garmin (Navionics) charts available for cheaper? I could find the whole south coast for £140-odd from Cactus. Still a lot, but them’s the breaks.

 

[Chiara’s slave]

Ive got all my N2K data wifi'd to my iPad including AIS overlay and I don't have a sim I get GPS position from the N2K network.

So you’ve got a GPS snd a network on your boat. The assumption in the thread is that the OP curently does not. That being so, his plotter will be half the price of installing your setup new.

 

[Buck Turgidson]

So you’ve got a GPS snd a network on your boat. The assumption in the thread is that the OP curently does not. That being so, his plotter will be half the price of installing your setup new.

That's quite an assumption. Even so, if he has nothing then the plotter alone will just give him GPS related data. iPad and bluetooth GPS will do the same. Or an iPad with cellular (you don't need a sim) £520.
I'm not apposed to chart plotters but Ive sailed thousands of miles without one.

 

[Chiara’s slave]

That's quite an assumption. Even so, if he has nothing then the plotter alone will just give him GPS related data. iPad and bluetooth GPS will do the same. Or an iPad with cellular (you don't need a sim) £520.
I'm not apposed to chart plotters but Ive sailed thousands of miles without one.

I’ve only had one 10 months. I’d have to exhume 4 old log books to work out how far I’ve sailed. Prior to that, a Yeoman and a GPS receiver. Got everything now, all NMEA2000, plus an iPad, and would never not have it.

 

[wonkywinch]

I've got an older version of the Garmin GPS (MAP78S) and have used it worldwide with maps I download from OpenSeaMap and convert using the free tool at BBBike. I usually drop them a tenner (euro) for each map as it's such a useful facility and a fraction of Garmin's prices.

And of course a cheap tablet with Navionics on it.

 

[[70521]]

I've got an older version of the Garmin GPS (MAP78S) and have used it worldwide with maps I download from OpenSeaMap and convert using the free tool at BBBike. I usually drop them a tenner (euro) for each map as it's such a useful facility and a fraction of Garmin's prices.

Has the OpenSeaMap product improved? I looked at them about 10 years ago and the UK was 'rather sparsely' charted.

EDIT: I've just looked at my home port, Plymouth, and it looks like it is the same blank sheet with a few lights.

 

[Spirit (of Glenans)]

Perfectly true, until the sh1t hits the fan. GPS navigation systems are a major contributor to safety at sea, even if, as you say, you can manage without it.

Probably also a major contributor to incidents leading to lifeboat shouts when used by those without solid paper chart background.

 

[Chiara’s slave]

Probably also a major contributor to incidents leading to lifeboat shouts when used by those without solid paper chart background.

Possibly. I couldn’t say. GPS wasn’t a twinkle in someone’s eye when I started. I like it though.

 

[Supertramp]

I have found paper charts and compass a challenge in poor visibility, but GPS coordinates make it much easier. VHF radio, phone or plotter will provide without the need for huge expense. A tablet on Navionics is simple and mine lasts all day (but most of the time it's "asleep"), used for checking distance and approaching shore.

As said before, multiple systems are good but no need for expensive complexity.