Gyroscopic Autopilot - Is it worth the extra?

[flaming]

[ QUOTE ]
I thank you all for your comments...

In this thread we have had arguements for and against, and even some technical details on the system.

It doesn't make any decision clear cut.

Does anyone on the forum have direct experience of both systems, either on the same boat or very similar boats? The arguement that 'I've tried it and it's great' is nice to hear but if you had the standard version would it still have been 'great'?

Is there anyone who has tried both who could share some of their experiences?

[/ QUOTE ]

How about this?
I've been sailing with autopilots in countless boats for years.

The only one I've ever trusted to sail downwind in waves is the one with the rate gyro. The difference is astronomical.

 

[Bloater]

1-0 to the gyro

 

[goboatingnow]

I have used both and I;d agree, add teh rate gyro. Its not there for MARPA performance at all, its there to improve the autopilot response, and it does a good job , especially downwind. used the rate based one on an atlantic crossing in november, upto 50 knots of wind , autopilot never missed a beat in 20 days.

for good marpa performance you really need a high performance heading sensor, like a GPS compass

 

[crisjones]

I used the standard (non-gyro) course computer on our boat for nearly 2 years and upgraded to gyro about 1yr ago so I can directly compare the 2 on the same boat.

The course keeping under autopilot is vastly improved in all sea conditions, obviously any AP should be OK in good conditions it is the rougher stuff and downwind that shows up the differences. Using the "track" function on the autopilot to goto a waypoint with the gyro the XTE rarely goes above 0.05nm and is generally 0.02nm (about 40m) or less regardless of sea conditions. Before fitting the gyro it was nowhere near as good.

Having said all that you have to decide if you really need the AP to track that accurately, I would say you probably don't. In fact I generally turn the AP response level down to 1 when out at sea to prevent the AP constantly running the hydraulic pump to keep course. This increases the XTE but makes no other noticable difference - although it is more noticable downwind.

The gyro also makes a significant improvement to the accuracy of MARPA information so if this is important to you then it is a worthwhile option. If you also have AIS then this might not be such a big issue since the AIS will always give more accurate info than MARPA - just remember not all potential collision risks have AIS. I would also expect that the gyro might have an impact on the AIS accuracy because it will give the computer more accurate info about your own boats rate of turn, pitch, yaw etc - not sure how significant this is though.

Again my conclusions would be the same as before - at Ebay prices the gyro is definitely worth having, at Raymarine prices I would think alot harder about it. It really depends on the type of sailing you expect to do. Lots of sailing in downwind conditions and/or dodgy visibility then the gyro is well worth even Raymarine prices, normal coastal sailing in good visibility then only at Ebay prices.

 

[Sailfree]

When you order a raymarine combined chartplotter and radar with MARPA and fast heading sensor is an gyro part of the system that automatically links into the 6000 autopilot?

Mine was ordered and fiotted 3 yrs ago and am now wondering what I have got!

 

[oceanfroggie]

I've had both, and I would never be without the 'G' version of a raymarine course computer again.

 

[Oldhand]

[ QUOTE ]
Definitely go for the rate gyro model. It's worth every penny.

It's a totally different auto helm with a rate gyro - 400% better steering and almost eleminates snaking especially at low speed and in following seas. It's a no brainer.

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Agreed, same result with my Simrad installation.

 

[john_morris_uk]

Our previous boat used a Raymarine Autopilot without gyro. Our current boat uses a Raymarine Autopilot with gyro.

Unquestionably, the pilot with gyro is much much better than the one without.

In heavy weather in the old boat I used to have to steer by hand as the pilot couldn't cope. I have yet to find conditions that the new pilot can't cope with. I know that technically, its not a gyro, but a 'rate of turn' electronic gyro, but it helps the course computer enormously, whatever you call it.

We wouldn't buy another pilot without one fitted. If its possible to retro fit one cheaper off e-bay - save yourself some money and go that way. We just specified the 'g' version which already had it fitted. It wasn't an extra £500 when we bought ours - more like £200.

Nuff said?