Laptop v Chartplotter

P

petehoehill

Active Member
Joined
11 Aug 2006
Messages
52
Visit site
As a new boater,(well maybe if I can ever get the thing off the cradle and back into the water, the surveyor did warn me that they are a black hole you chuck money into, and what started as some TLC, has already turned into major surgery).
Already I have found this forum very helpful, friendly, and
reassuring. Even if its the fact i see others with there own black holes.

my question?
I need an electronic chartplotter, my wife has a spare new laptop from her business,
I have a Garmin 76, which although basic does a very good job on local navigation,but the memory is nearly full, so coastal is out on that without stripping the memory down.
I also have a Garmin ique 3600, which i have used a few times, but I have not been over impressed with as it is not user friendly like the 76.
Do i invest in a new chartplotter with somthing like C-map?
Do I try to convert the laptop, using new software and one of the Garmins?
or do I get a new Gps feed to the laptop and a new chart system? the laptop can be dedicated to the boat if necessary.

My wife mistakenly also invested in the 3G sateliite link and now stuck with it for a year, so one arguement for the laptop
is it can also be used for the net and e-mail anywhere at the moment.

Any opinions on chartplotters V laptops appreciated, and also the best and most user friendly software or gear.
thanks
 
Many of us have both because they each have their strengths.

Plotter (I have Navman 5500)
low power consumption, waterproof, sited so it is available at the helm. convenient. Great when in confined waterways, or bad conditions. Difficult to passage plan due to small screen.

Laptop (I use Maxsea)
Decent size display, high power consumption, more vulnerable, definitely not waterproof. Good for passage planning, able to view AIS on same display.

There are many variants that provide a reason for one rather than the other, and some plotters have a screen as large as a laptop, but then their power consumption rises, and they are harder to site for use by the helm.
 
We have a Yeoman Plotter which uses proper paper charts but it is linked to our Garmin GPS so we can see where we are at any time; where potential hazards are lurking and keep a plot of where we have come from. The two talk to each other. The Yeoman does range and bearing to and from any charted object or waypoint and the GPS does the ETA, SOG etc. Maybe we are old fashoined but we can't see any advantage of a small electronic screen over a big Admiralty chart.
 
I bought a Raymarine C80 and wouldn't be without it. I can do all the navigation at the helm including passage planning, and pilotage in particular is a dream.. Ideal when sailing with the family.

Cost nearly £3k after all the extra bits (e.g. Navpod) and labour though.

I'm also worried that I'll forget how to navigate with just paper!
 
Agree, the Yeoman is a much under rated bit of kit. Not as techie as a plotter etc, but brilliant for looking at the 'big' picture, love mine, no your not old fashioned, just clever!

However, I do also have a chartplotter at the helm, great to assist piliotage, tides etc.
 
Claymore_July_06_112.jpg


The secret of laptops is that they like to stay dry and the secret to using them is that they need to be sited where you can see them easily.
Why not, for the remainder of this season, use paper charts - supported by your GPS positioning which will keep your skills up to speed then have a look at other boats.
Act in haste - repent at leisure!
 
I currently use a laptop with maxsea. Just bought an 8" monitor,the type which are getting cheaper by the day (approx £65 on ebay) and this connects via the svideo connection to a £5.99 svideo/av adapter then to the av socket on the monitor. This also worked on my 7" lcd tv. I assume that the smaller screen will use less power than the larger laptop screen. This remedies the issue of getting the laptop wet. I am going to buy one of the small flexible waterproof keyboards as advertised in PBO and due to the impracticality of moving a mouse about I have decided to buy a rollerball mouse with usb extension. Display settings have to be adjusted to use this system and I now have a top of the range chartplotter ,dvd player, email/internet access, photo editing and so much more for a fraction of the cost.
 
Is your 8" monitor daylight viewable? If not it doesn't have the advantage of a dedicated plotter sited in the cockpit and the power consumption will still be higher with a lap top.
 
There several questions you need to ask yourself which will probably lead you to the answer which is best for you:

1. How much battery capacity do you have, is it sufficient for all existing loads and for supplying a laptop for the duration of voyages you think you would want an active plotter for? If not the laptop is best used for voyage planning use only.

2. Where would you locate the laptop such that it is working in an envoronment it is designed for and how would you ensure it is physically secured against the boat's motion? If on the chart table are you likely to drip over it from wet clothing? IMHO any onboard PC is best located totally out harms way which means a separate LCD monitor and remote keyboard.

3. Do you want to see your plotter from the cockpit or even more specifically from the helming position? If yes to either, standard PC and laptop monitors are not daylight viewable, so you need a dedicated plotter.

4. How sophisticated a plotter do you want? For example do you want tidal flow information to be taken into account automatically for the course to steer information it provides? If so, you need sophisticated and expensive software such as MaxSea running on a PC.

5. What charting systems are you happy with? If you want a plotter that gives you the identical information to paper charts then a dedicated plotter won't provide it.

6. How are you going to use your electronic setup? For example, taking into account the possible failure of your PC or plotter, or the connections thereto, do want to be able to transfer routes and waypoints to your GPS such that it can still be used as a stand-alone electronic navigator? IMHO this is an important requirement and should be one of the things which determines what GPS you use.

A PC based system is not ideal unless you have a very expensive all weather monitor and input system and they are power hungry. A plotter is not ideal because the screens tend to be small, the basic charting is not always the best and the best location for voyage use is often inconvenient for planning use. I wouldn't go for a PC system just because I happened to have a laptop handy. My ideal is a dedicated "installed" PC system running MaxSea and a dedicated plotter but that said I only got the latter as a result of requiring a cockpit radar display. Perhaps after thinking about it more you might come back with more specific questions?
 
The daylight viewable bit can be partly sorted by locating the laptop screen inside the boat - it can be within sight of the companion way ....

I've thought about a chart plotter - specifically the Raymarine C80, but I'm unhappy with the screen refresh rate - it is very slow compared the laptop, although it does have the advantage of being able to add in a radar (with loads of extra kit!)

The laptop screen is much bigger than even the expensive chart plotters - meaning you can see enough details without loosing too much of the surrounding area.
I have a reasonable supply of "old" laptops - these are powerful enough to run the chart software, connect to the internet via wireless or GPRS and show a DVD or two .... if it breaks (most likely is the Hard drive) then it is possi ble to replace bits - if yo know what you're doing.

The chartplotter does have the advantage of being daylight viewable and waterproof. Pretty much bomb proof and it is all solid state software (no hard disks to go down) ... but it is then limited to the chart plotters capability - the newer E series can also accept video input so I guess you can play DVDs through it.

Mounting is the only other negative issue with the humble laptop - A bit of velcro stuck to the bottom of the laptop will help you secure it in a sensible place, or you can just get a mounting arm.....

I'll stick to a laptop for now- but that is because I've already got charts for it and have a backup ...
 
I think the main answer comes down to your budget. Laptops onboard boats have many benefits but at the end of the day chartplotters are designed to be in a marine environment. Since you already have a laptop, you may as well get that set up. However it might be worth having a play with a few chartplotters.
 
As you already have the laptop, why not download SeaClear from here . Scan a few paper charts, stitch the A4 scans together (the software to do this comes with SeaClear) and try it out. You can get a GPS "puck" that plugs into your USB port for around £70 and you're up and running. If you don't like it, use it for passage planning at home and then buy a plotter!
 
A quick thought and maybe a simple/cheap solution. If its waypoint/route memory you're short of why not get the Garmin PC link and store the info on your PC, only downloading the relevant routes you need before you set off. Or you can take the laptop onboard and download new info the night before, replacing the laptop in a nice, dry safe stowage somewhere.
D
 
That's what I do: plot routes on the pc using Garmin BlueChart, usually at home - occasionally with a glass to hand - and then download to a garmin handheld which I take to the boat.

I do also have a Simrad Chartplotter on the boat which runs C-Map but find that it's much easier to plot on the larger pc screen so tend to use the fixed Simrad unit for simple position and speed data rather than routes.
 
My advice is to go for a chart plotter.
The reason is that laptops are VERY heavy on batteries.
A plotter uses very little battery power

The lap top has its uses and is great BUT
I have just returned from the Scillies with drained batteries and the plotter just had enough power to work from time to time.
Always hace paper charts and a hand bearing compass. I needed both.
I use a Raymarine C120 which I can see from the cockpit and it is brilliant.
 
We use a Yeoman plotter down below (for passage planning, the big picture and backup) and a C70 radar plotter mounted in the cockpit bulkhead (you can see it from the wheel but sit down under the sprayhood to fiddle with MARPA etc). Incidentally the C70 has the same resolution as the C80 but is £400 less. The E screen has a slightly brighter screen but is a lot more (it also has some rather gimmicky features like video support and seabed view). The C screen has been excellent.

A laptop uses roughly twice the power (80w as against 40w) and is more prone to glitches/failure than dedicated, waterproof marine electronics. If relying on a laptop it is essential to carry suitable charts as backup and to have it very securely mounted - so you can use it beating round your nearest big headland with wind against tide in Force 5-7 (even if the forecast was only F4)....
 
A laptop uses roughly twice the power (80w as against 40w)

In fact you will find that most laptops will use half or less of the power.

The mistake many make is quoting the power draw off the laptop's charger label (typically 60 - 90 W and that includes a comfort zone) whereas once the battery is charged, should you have the battery installed, they are very hard pressed to use 2 amps at peaks.

In the case one leaves the battery in and it requires charging (so draws maybe 4-5 amps or whatever while charging) then the next mistake people make is that they regard that as lost energy - which, of course, it is not as it is just energy transferred from the boat's batteries to the laptop's and continues to be available (albeit with a slight transfer loss).

Why is it that the anti laptop brigade always quote their misleading figures? Do they not understand (in which case they are not qualified to comment) or are they distorting reality to their own purposes?

John
 
You must log in or register to reply here.

Other threads that may be of interest

M
Raspberry Pi, Bluetooth and Headless questions
Replies
0
Views
119
mattonthesea
M
D
Raising anchor if electric windlass fails
2 3
Replies
51
Views
2K
elenya
E

Share this page

Top