Instruments; price vs. quality

[JeremyF]

I'm buying a nearly new yacht thats only got depth and log. They are, however, Raymarine ST60's. I am planning to add a wind display and gps repeater. I have no particular desire to interface the wind with the log to give true rather than apparent.

The Raymarine wind instrument is £500, but the NASA Clipper is just £200. The nicer styling can't be worth £300, but is one 2.5 times better than the other?

Is there any make mid-way between the two, in terms of price and quality?

Jeremy Flynn

 

[Modulation]

Jeremy

You might try Raymarine ST40 series. They are about 1/2 the prico of ST60s and use the same software.
I've just fitted a set for wind depth and log and find them v user friendly and clear. Like you, I'm not entirely convinced about interfacing but at least the option remains open. You can link up other manufacturer's stuff provided it has a NMEA183 output - not quite as simple as Seatalk but ok. I think I'm right in saying that the Nasa Clipper series don't have this - that's why I looked elsewhere.

Brendan

Brendan

 

[Chris_Stannard]

If you are planning ahead and may in future fit a radar and/or an autopilot then my advice would be to bite the bullet and keep to one manufacturer. Raytheon may be expensive but it works well and is reliable. I have had the experience of a mixture of equipment and it never really worked properly.

One of the things you might want to consider for example is fitting a multi unit at the navigation station. This will give access to speed, depth, wind and if you fit and autopilot heading.

Incidentally if you have a Raymarine wind and then fit an autopilot you can tell it to steer a constant wind angle going to windward. This allows the boat to make the most of the gusts and lulls, rather than trying to steer a compass course.

Greenham Regis are pretty hot on discounts if you need a suppiler in the South.

Chris Stannard

 

[LORDNELSON]

I have a hotch-potch of instruments Raytheon Radar, Micrologic GPS, Autohelm chartplotter, Nasa LOG, sounder and wind, Nasa Navtex (very low current demand) Autohelm 6000 autopilot (old but seems to keep going), Simrad DSC VHF. The NASA instruments do not talk to the others but you can have repeaters. The other instruments, on the whole, talk to on another and I have no problems with them. The NASA instuments have only been on the boat for about a year but I am very satisfied. The readout is good at night and day and they are so much cheaper; of course, I have to see how long they last! On the whole I am not keen on the type of instrument where you rely on one read out changing and being a log one minute and a sounder the next depending upon which buttons you press. What happens if the actual display fails? How do you quickly train non technical crew about which buttons to press? I do like to know when I look at a particular disdplay what it always shows. Hope this may help

 

[JeremyF]

Good point, Chris. Ive looked at the options, and there's a new range fron Navman that seems to fit the bill in terms of quality, price and NMEA output. £300 for their wind instrument, and £150 for a GPS repeater, all in standard 110mm cases

Jeremy Flynn

 

[yachtbits]

Consider Silva Star

Silva's recently introduced Star range are extremely competetive on price. The systems use the same high quality transducers as used in their Nexus and NX2 systems.

wind system can be interfaced with the Star Log to give true wind speed & direction, but apart from that no other interfacing.

Wind system £249.95

www.yachtbits.co.uk
sales@yachtbits.co.uk
marine electrical/electronics specialists

 

[Allanrichard]

My wind instrument packed up recently and I was in the same situation as you. On recommendation I had the Silva Star unit fitted. An excellent bit of equipment and I am very pleased with it. As pointed out by another Post the wind transducer is identical to the more expensive Nexus range.

 

[JeremyF]

I think I'll follow Chris Stannard's advice and go for one with an NMEA output, which means a future autohelm can sail to a wind bearing, rather than compass

Jeremy Flynn

 

[Guest]

For what its worth I'm on my third ST60 depth unit in 9 months.

For me they are simply not living up to the perceived quality.

Go for summat else

Rgds
Stan