Imray leisure portfolios versus admiralty

[Burnham Bob]

Anyone got any opinions? I've always used Admiralty ones but they don't have ISBN numbers - Imray charts do so they are available from booksellers not just admiralty distributors. My family often give me Waterstone's vouchers so I can get Imray stuff from them but not Admiralty charts.

As I also use Imray digital charts I'm thinking of switching to their leisure packs. Anyone got any preferences?

 

[tillergirl]

I have both (for east coast area) for the NtM service on the web site. There are things for and against each. First the coverage is not identical so it may be important what area in which you are really interested. If you want coverage of the Thames, you will do better with the UKHO, with the Imray you will need to buy Imray's full size C2. Both split the Thames Estuary between folio series so you need two; second it is easier to write on UKHO than Imray but then Imray has a tougher finish - a sort of plasticy finish which is v tough which I am sure would stand getting wet in the cockpit. Clarity? Not much to chose between the two; you know they have different styles detail? Pretty much ditto. You get more charts per folio with UKHO:

5606 15 charts but of those 4 are the London River. Imray 2100 has 8 charts. Medway/Swale is more detailed coverage than Imray but then Imray gives you the Kent and Sussex Coasts and Boulogne to Nieuwpoort. To do that with UKHO, you would need Folio 5605 which has 15 charts Chichester to Ramsgit: Boulogne to Oostende + quite a few harbour charts.

Northern Thames Estuary to Lowestoft, Imray 2000 has 10 charts. UKHO 5607 has 14 charts and whilst it does the Alde, it does not go seaward beyond Orford Ness Lighthouse (except that it's not a light house anymore - well it's still a building but the light is going to be turned off - I digress), so if you want UKHO beyond there you need their folio 5614 which has 25 charts going from said Orford non-lighthouse to some place called Whitby if you want to find a vampire or two. Includes a Southern North Sea chart which is of questionable use at that size.

There now, you are going to say, you are not interested in the East Coast stuff!

 

[prv]

Having been an Imray man up till now, I've just bought an Admiralty folio for the Channel Islands. Apart from not being very impressed with the paper and printing, as mentioned in another thread, I downloaded the corrections yesterday and they look like they will be fiddly to apply because they're not split out by chart. With Imray, you download a PDF for the folio and it includes a heading for each chart, under which are all the changes. If an update applies to multiple charts, it appears multiple times. The Admiralty set appears to be just a list of changes that apply somewhere in the folio, and it's up to you to figure out which chart(s) they need to be added to.

The Admiralty folio prints some charts back-to-back, which I find annoying.

On the other hand, as TG says, you do get more charts in a folio costing roughly the same.

Some people will probably mention the colour differences between the two (deep water being white versus dark blue, shallow water the opposite). I have to say I barely notice this.

I rarely take charts on deck, and certainly not if there's rain or spray, but nevertheless I have had cause to thank Imray's water-resistant (not totally waterproof) paper a few times (Ru88ell can explain one of them if he wants...)

Imray charts have a selection of "pilot book" type information printed on them, like bridge opening details and harbour VHF channels; they're especially keen on including a lot of phone numbers for marinas, sailing clubs, etc. I find I rarely use this as I'd rather look in an actual pilot book, but it may be useful on occasion. In general I get the impression Imray try to help the tightwad or ill-prepared yachtsman who only has this chart in front of him, whereas the Admiralty expect the user to refer to his full set of nautical publications. For example, I can't imagine Imray ever "bluing out" a section of chart to imply "you should be using a different smaller-scale chart for this bit".

In Burnham you must have chandlers near you, so why not go and have a look at an Imray folio in person?

Pete

 

[Burnham Bob]

maybe i'll stick to the old folios i've got and hope that my Imray software is up to date. for the use they get, almost £50 for a set of charts for waters I know a bit about is a lot of drinks vouchers. i was just being mean and hoping to use my waterstones' vouchers........