in the market for a new chartplotter.. any recemmendations?

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odrisc2

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in the market for a new chartplotter.. any recemendations?

from a 5 to a 7 inch.. bigger screen the best..

used mostly for the charts rather than sonar..
 
odrisc2 said:
in the market for a new chartplotter.. any recemendations?

from a 5 to a 7 inch.. bigger screen the best..

used mostly for the charts rather than sonar..
Click to expand...

I would start with what you have now ( if anything) and how compatible it is. Radar head, auto helm and so on as the potter is cheap compared with a total refit.

That is likely to narrow down the list a lot.

Personally all things being equal I would buy Garmin, but when looking at boats a mixed panel of brands I find a turn off so I would also tend to stay with the brand you have ( if any).
 
odrisc2 said:
in the market for a new chartplotter.. any recemendations?

from a 5 to a 7 inch.. bigger screen the best..

used mostly for the charts rather than sonar..
Click to expand...
I would have a think about which charts you want and prefer. Garmin charts can be very expensive depending on the area you want, and while I am used to Garmin charting, I still prefer Navionics.
I think the model has changed a bit but the Simrad Go series is very good, IMHO..very good menu structure. When looking at a plotter, do take a look at the connection options, NMEA options etc., and what you might want to connect at some time..AIS, VHF, depth sounder etc. Bit late if later you find there aren't enough options round the back of the unit! However, you dont want to pay for a lot of sophistication in the unit that you will never use (TV, Cameras etc!)- and it seems that sort of functionality really pushes up the price.
Also if the chart is preloaded, and if so is it one of the cut down versions. There is usually a reason for a model seeming to be cheaper..some of them can be very cut down - which might be all you need of course, but it can be a bit too cut down. I would wait for the London show..some manufacturers do deals around there, and I can recommend Cactus Navigation as a good place to start looking.
Edit- also consider your mounting preference..sometimes a flush mount kit can be somewhat expensive .
 
Last edited:
3 years ago I fitted a Garmin 820xs

https://buy.garmin.com/en-GB/GB/p/138026

To my boat. It's a very user-friendly, intuitive device - which is button operated, rather than touch screen. I wanted this as my experience of trying to use touch-screen devices in boats and planes when you're being tossed about in adverse weather, with cold (and possibly wet) fingers was not a happy one. Holding the side of the unit whilst pressing buttons seemed a more reliable way to do things. This, coupled with a garmin AIS send/receive device plus radio has proved to be a very stable and useful combo.

You can either programme in routes yourself, or use the "Guide-to" function when under pressure for a diversion, and it has been pretty good. I always check the route that it generates and, so far, it hasn't tried to route me through an island - which the "route-to" function will!

In the past, when running a light aircraft, my experience of Garmin's customer service has been second to none, so overall I'm a fan.
 
Dick Atcherley said:
3 years ago I fitted a Garmin 820xs

https://buy.garmin.com/en-GB/GB/p/138026

To my boat. It's a very user-friendly, intuitive device - which is button operated, rather than touch screen. I wanted this as my experience of trying to use touch-screen devices in boats and planes when you're being tossed about in adverse weather, with cold (and possibly wet) fingers was not a happy one. Holding the side of the unit whilst pressing buttons seemed a more reliable way to do things. This, coupled with a garmin AIS send/receive device plus radio has proved to be a very stable and useful combo.

You can either programme in routes yourself, or use the "Guide-to" function when under pressure for a diversion, and it has been pretty good. I always check the route that it generates and, so far, it hasn't tried to route me through an island - which the "route-to" function will!

In the past, when running a light aircraft, my experience of Garmin's customer service has been second to none, so overall I'm a fan.
Click to expand...
I bought an 820XS including a transducer from www.thegpsstore.com about 6 weeks ago for $580 and the actually went down to $460 around Black Friday. It's £1660 on the Garmin UK site without a transducer. It really is worth while checking the US sites and finding a way to get it to you. I haven't got mine yet. A friend bringing it to Ireland at Christmas.
 
Seamas said:
I bought an 820XS including a transducer from www.thegpsstore.com about 6 weeks ago for $580 and the actually went down to $460 around Black Friday. It's £1660 on the Garmin UK site without a transducer. It really is worth while checking the US sites and finding a way to get it to you. I haven't got mine yet. A friend bringing it to Ireland at Christmas.
Click to expand...

Essential to shop around, it's true. When i fitted mine in 2015 I don't think that I paid anything like the Garmin website price, as I bought mine via the chap who was going to fit it, and link it up to all the other gubbins. I'm not a gifted techie, so it made sense for me to get it all fitted and delivered with all of the relevant software installed and up and running. Worth also checking that you get the 820xs rather than just the 820, as there is a bit of a difference in functionality. One of the reasons that I didn't opt to buy the unit from the USA was the thought of then having to go back there in the event of a warrantee claim! In 2006 I bought a 296 aviation GPS that had to go back to the supplier three times; they, and Garmin, were good as gold about trying to fix the problem and then supplying a new unit - but I wouldn't want to have to do that between two different continents. If for no other reason, the time alone would be a complete ball-ache.

But as you say, shop around!
 
Living in Turkey I'm used to finding a work around on the guarantee on almost all electronics, phones etc. Electronic stuff is a crazy price here. The 820XS is just under 10,000TL = $2,550 so 4 times what I paid. Having said that I have a Garmin 750 on the boat I just sold which I bought in 2010 and touch wood no problems. I don't imagine it's that difficult to get something back to the US under guarantee if needed and certainly worth the bother if you are making big savings.
 
Another vote for Garmin. I'm almost finished a complete refit of electronics and got most of my kit at SBS with a reasonable cut off catalogue prices and free chart. I was sold one incorrect bit of kit (the sales from the Garmin stand at SBS not in fact being directly from Garmin) but that was swapped with no problems by their support team in the Totton head office who also removed the MMSI from a VHF sourced from ebay with no fuss or charge.
 
If you want a stand alone decent unit with the added bonus of it also being an AIS transceiver the Matsutec HS-628A would fit the bill.

Around £400 plus a C-Map chart card (SD format), plus you need an extra VHF aerial or a splitter with your existing VHF.

Onwa is the same thing as Matsutec and can be bought from a UK seller
http://www.avesmarine.com
 
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