Platinum, with compatible plotters give 3D approaches, and rather more shore facility data but IMHO are more of a gimmick than value.
Incidentally Lowrance have just announced that their latest range of plotters will be Platinum compatible but the [plotters do demand far more video memory and I suspect you may run into problems of redraw/refresh speed.
The Raymarine C Series has had a software upgrade released so they can now take platinum, however I will stick with Gold. The Gold give the same detail away from land (we wouldn't use 3D really) and the price differential can be substantial (esp if you need to buy a few charts).
However, if I was sticking in one region for a few years I would consider Platinum as a one off purchase.
our plotter takes both but decided to go with the gold just for the coverage area ! south coast down to as far as west med. as mentioned above the gold now with c series software version 4.06 shows all the tidal date on the chart too.
I had my C120 updated recently but I can't see how to get the tidal data to show, I'm using XL2 gold, not updated since August 2006. What do I need to do ?
raymarine C upgrade-it gives SOME of the platinum features only..
I looked at both at LBS.. I really couldnt see the value of Platinum over gold xl9. Well, maybe, if you have a massive screen to watch it on. Pilot book seemed better, as you can read it as a book rather than peer at a small screen, and have it open next to you with the plotter running if need be.
Platinum seemed a bit of a toy to me- spend the money on some rewarding books instead.
Gold XL9 with a pilot book - plus the pilot books normally give more info re passage planning etc.
Platinum would be good if we had a 15 inch screen and very deep pockets! But with a small screen (which is fine for plotter / radar) and finite budget - Gold wins every time for me.