GPS Replacement Advice please?

silver-fox

silver-fox

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Some advice would be very welcome - but first here are the facts!

My GPS has packed up and shows an antenna fault on boot up. As it is 19 years old I am disinclined to try to repair it as modern units are faster, smaller, and cheaper.

I use the GPS for the following:

1. As a backup system to my laptop based chartplotter/gps mouse system (which is standalone).
2. To provide position and course information to the autopilot, DSC VHF and ST60+ displays.

My current instruments comprise:

Raytheon Radar (19 years old)
Ratheon Raystar 590 GPS (19 years old -and this is the faulty unit)
Raymarine ST60+ wind, log, and depth (2 years old)
Raymarine DSC VHF (2 years old)

The obvious thing to do is to buy a Raymarine chartplotter (as they don't seem to make anyhting as simple as a GPS) as integration will be easy but will this do what I want without me having to invest in a second set of charts?

Or should I bite the bullet and just go for a chart plotter complete with charts?
 
Last edited:
nimbusgb said:
You've gone from GPS to chartplotter so not sure what the question is!
Click to expand...

Functionally, I would just want a simple GPS to replace the existing one and integrate with the other instruments but they don't seem to make these any-more.

I was viewing a chartplotter as a an integrated "GPS + chart display" and I was wondering if I could use the GPS functionality without having to buy the charts... have I got this wrong?:confused:
 
If you go for the chartplotter hoping your radar will work with it, it wont.
You need an up to date scanner to work with the C-series. If you buy the C-series you will still need to buy a GPS125 as they dont come with a built in GPS.
So if you want GPS, chartplotter and radar altogether its going to cost you the best part of £1500.
A Raymarine GPS125 will interface with NEMA or seatalk (not both you have to buy either seatalk or nema model (Might be wrong with this though)) and is a nice piece of kit.
If you need a display buy the furuno GPS that is a good no frills unit.

Hope this helps
Rob
 
Thanks guys for the info on the 125 - which I understand is a smart GPS antenna that will output position/ course/SOG info in either NMEA or Seatalk format.

My problem now is what do I plug it into - the existing GPS?

Another thing I don't understand is why I should spend £160 on an antenna when I could get a chartplotter with an internal antenna for say £400 or less?

(BTW The radar is connected via NMEA I believe, but the only benefit of that is that the course, speed and position are displayed on the radar screen. I have no intention of sharing the display. Mentioning the radar was probably a bit of distraction.)
 
I think the Lowrance series of plotters still come with a reasonable chart memory card, and they can output NMEA to various things.

You probably dont need to have the charts if you dont want them. As long as your coordinates are correct, you can input a route, just like you do on a GPS without a plotter screen.

http://www.redcar-fish.co.uk/productinfo.asp?id=517&parentcategory=71&category=
 
GPS Antenna

You don't say what make your GPS is. I have a Garmin and bought a new antenna for it on Ebay brand new from Hong Kong for £6 approx. works a treat.
 
I have backed up may Raymarine set up with a stand alone Garmin 152 with the built in aerial. 5 years old now and still going strong. It sits in the cockpit and all you need is a 12v feed. In fact I use it more than the chartplotter except in pilotage situations.

Advantage is the complete independence from the other kit. I have also set it up to give a NMEA feed to the VHF-DSC should it be necessary ie if the Chartplotter/GPS fails.

Hope this helps
 
Chris_Robb said:
eRRR - I thought that the DSC VHF takes a feed from a GPS to get the lat and long!
Click to expand...

a line from the previous post said

"..............a smart GPS antenna that will output position/ course/SOG info in either NMEA or Seatalk format.

My problem now is what do I plug it into - the existing GPS?"

I presumed that as it was outputting position/course than all that was needed was some form of reading the data ergo the DSC set.

If I'm wrong I'm sorry!
 
Paul_G said:
a line from the previous post said

"..............a smart GPS antenna that will output position/ course/SOG info in either NMEA or Seatalk format.

My problem now is what do I plug it into - the existing GPS?"

I presumed that as it was outputting position/course than all that was needed was some form of reading the data ergo the DSC set.

If I'm wrong I'm sorry!
Click to expand...

No - you are quite right, I just didn't see the earlier bit. You could get the little display screen for this arial. I have one, and all I use it for is a GPS back up, with the Garmin GPS being the main device.
 
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