Am considering purchasing a combined chartplotter and radar and would appreciate any feedback with regard to current models on offer and user experience. Thanks in anticipation...
David
I think you need to give the forum a little more detail, like where is it to be installed, how much space is there, how much are you prepared to pay, what is the make of your current intrument/autopilot fit and must it be colour?
If you want features such as radar/chart overlay, ARPA or just a well heading stabilised radar display for accurate manual plotting then avialbility of accurate fast heading data input is a major consideration and can account for substantial additional cost.
On chartplotters some would say select your cartography supplier first and then find a unit that uses it. Have you looked at any electronic chart displays and formulated any preference?
All that said you can't go far wrong with equipment from Furuno, Raymarine and Simrad and there is JRC at the cheaper end of the scale. If deals are still available on the now superceded Raymarine Pathfinder RL70CRC and RL80CRC display units then one of those with the radome that suits your boat would be very price competitive and they are great units as long as you like C-Map NT+ cartography.
If you're in the market for something like a Simrad CX44 (colour screen, radar chart plotter) let me know as I can fill you in. I chose this system over the Raymarine E series recently.
Agree with oldhand, need more info. Furuno has best networking. Raymarine has by far the most intuitive user interface and good netwroking now on Eseries. Raymarine's seatalk system is also easy for add ons and they o ffer plenty eg remote controls etc. Simrad is good kit but non intuitive operation so you keep having to read the manual
If your priority is low price get the phased out Raymarine kit. ebay.co.uk and search raymarine
Thanks for response so far - have a Sealine 360 Statesman (flybridge) and want to install navstation on both the flybridge and lower helm. At present only stand alone Furuno radar and Garmin GPS in place on lower helm. Whilst cost is not the over-riding factor ease of use and reliabilty certainly is.
Thanks again for responses.
David