Older Raymarine Chartplotters

[PaulRainbow]

My laptop is touch screen! Brain wifi?

Can you not use a wireless keyboard and mouse ?

 

[PaulRainbow]

Chum bought a used Garmin 4010 last year and we added a depth module, worked perfectly until a week or two ago.
Goodbye £300.00 quid.
We cannot find anybody who actively will even look at "legacy" Garmin chartplotters.

This is true of all makes. Throw away World

It has gone off to a company who normally repair SatNavs and do not hold out much hope.
If you do buy any "legacy" chartplotter, buy on the assumption that if it fails the day after, you will be throwing it away.
Would stick with your existing kit and hope it continues to give good service but would be buying something like below today and using as main chartplotter, with your old kit as reassuring backup.
Samsung SM T395 Rugged Chartplotter Tablet : by VisitMyHarbour [Turn Key Android chartplotters] - VisitMyHarbour articles
Have some fairly modern kit on my boat but use something similar to above with Navionics as main navigation aid.
Have found Ipads far too fragile for the job, in the real world, screens crack, they can over heat and battery life on extended cruises is rubbish even when supplied with constant 12v.

Brand new 10.4" Android tablets £120. These run all day if on charge. Not great in bright sunlight, but perfect down below.

 

[pawl]

Chum bought a used Garmin 4010 last year and we added a depth module, worked perfectly until a week or two ago.
Goodbye £300.00 quid.
We cannot find anybody who actively will even look at "legacy" Garmin chartplotters.
It has gone off to a company who normally repair SatNavs and do not hold out much hope.
If you do buy any "legacy" chartplotter, buy on the assumption that if it fails the day after, you will be throwing it away.
Would stick with your existing kit and hope it continues to give good service but would be buying something like below today and using as main chartplotter, with your old kit as reassuring backup.
Samsung SM T395 Rugged Chartplotter Tablet : by VisitMyHarbour [Turn Key Android chartplotters] - VisitMyHarbour articles
Have some fairly modern kit on my boat but use something similar to above with Navionics as main navigation aid.
Have found Ipads far too fragile for the job, in the real world, screens crack, they can over heat and battery life on extended cruises is rubbish even when supplied with constant 12v.

hi, thanks for your response, I take your point about possible failure so it might be better to buy really cheap and hope for the best. I was very happy with the kit I had but it went with my boat when I sold it.

 

[[2574]]

I am put off buying new by the adoption of touch screen.
I need knobs.

Agreed. I bought Raymarine which is both touch screen and knobs. We use the touch screen mostly, knobs very occasionally.

 

[laika]

Does anyone have thoughts about this or any advice about these models.

If you’re looking at old raymarine plotters I’d prefer the C/E series “wide”s over the “Classic”s. Excellent connectivity (NMEA-0183/seatalk1/seatalk ng/ seatalk HS), supports AIS (although won’t display newer target types such as atons with special symbols) and displays dsc alerts. Takes navionics cf cards. Do they still do these? Well people on here were telling me they were long discontinued when I bought my last one 3 years ago so who knows? My c90w currently works with an evolution AP, AIS, icom radio and a bunch of st50 instruments. Would I personally buy an old plotter like this? Maybe not but there’s nothing I desperately need that this one won’t do so I’m not about to upgrade.

 

[jwilson]

If you don't want up to date you could buy a 12" Onwa plotter new for not that much more than a used 12" Raymarine C-Series. As a secondary chart table plotter I bought a 7" one last year. It works, the built in K-charts seem OK, the screen is significantly brighter than the old Raymarine C70. The only downsides I can see are that for off-axis viewing the LCD screen gets dull, and I was not impressed with the lack of a good flush mounting arrangement. It's not as good as the Raymarine Axiom+ I have as the main at-helm plotter but for the same size screen it was under a third of the price.

C-Series plotters often suffer with the "stripe screen" fault: fixable by disassembly and wiggling internal ribbon connectors, but mine eventually did fully die.

If at a chart table base I'd also look at a decent tablet and the Navionics app........

 

[stuartwineberg]

Interesting thread. I have 2 networked old E80s on my Moody fully wired up to Ais receiver, wind instruments, radar and autopilot and I forsee their demise at some point. I get the feeling that if they do die I will be faced with a massive bill to replace all the connected devices. I use all the functions I currently have, sailing to way points, using chart vectors etc. Thoughts?

 

[boatmike]

Absolutely nothing wrong with older Raymarine plotters. The 120 series are quite adequate for general use and usually come with Navionics for home waters installed. The only drawback is that the charts will undoubtedly be out of date so don't rely on the charts too much but they will still give you accurate positional GPS and used intelligently are a good bit of kit that can be bought second hand for a budget price. I personally don't like touch screen stuff. Operating in a small boat in any sort of choppy conditions is a nightmare. Old fashioned knobs are very much more user friendly IMHO. The built in GPS usually makes installation easy and AIS can be imported easily too. Screens are quite good resolution and bright enough to be read in an open cockpit and I disagree about larger screens being "slow." Unless you are belting around at 25knots the refresh rate is quite adequate. If you want a good bit of kit at a budget don't be put off. They are old now but so am I and I still work well!

 

[oldgit]

I have a mono RC435 plotter which still works fine, must be 25 years old. The only problem is the back up battery is dud so it always restarts in the USA and does not hold any settings. Not a huge problem for a back up set.
The battery is secured to the board in fine style so not easy to replace.

suspect it might be generic battery.anybody who knows what they are doing with a solder sucker and soldering iron can probably sort that.

 

[PaulRainbow]

Absolutely nothing wrong with older Raymarine plotters. The 120 series are quite adequate for general use and usually come with Navionics for home waters installed. The only drawback is that the charts will undoubtedly be out of date so don't rely on the charts too much but they will still give you accurate positional GPS and used intelligently are a good bit of kit that can be bought second hand for a budget price. I personally don't like touch screen stuff. Operating in a small boat in any sort of choppy conditions is a nightmare. Old fashioned knobs are very much more user friendly IMHO. The built in GPS usually makes installation easy and AIS can be imported easily too. Screens are quite good resolution and bright enough to be read in an open cockpit and I disagree about larger screens being "slow." Unless you are belting around at 25knots the refresh rate is quite adequate. If you want a good bit of kit at a budget don't be put off. They are old now but so am I and I still work well!

You have a C120 with built in GPS ?

 

[Poecheng]

If you’re looking at old raymarine plotters I’d prefer the C/E series “wide”s over the “Classic”s. Excellent connectivity (NMEA-0183/seatalk1/seatalk ng/ seatalk HS), supports AIS (although won’t display newer target types such as atons with special symbols) and displays dsc alerts. Takes navionics cf cards. Do they still do these? Well people on here were telling me they were long discontinued when I bought my last one 3 years ago so who knows? My c90w currently works with an evolution AP, AIS, icom radio and a bunch of st50 instruments. Would I personally buy an old plotter like this? Maybe not but there’s nothing I desperately need that this one won’t do so I’m not about to upgrade.

Yes, although there was a lot of 'chatter' about it, a couple of years ago, it is available, easy and it works well.
You buy an update pack which is about half price* - this is a new CF card from Navionics. I bought mine last year (almost to the day) from Navionics Update card - CF format BLANK - Yachting Software but there are others. Gavin was v. helpful.

With a CF card reader for your 'puter, you log onto Navionics and create and account. You need your existing card to validate the update card and then, once that is done, on the update card you download the area that you want. Then you can update it for free for a year. You keep your old card and can use that as well if it for a different area.

 

[KompetentKrew]

My experience is that a small screen with a rapid refresh rate is easier to use than a slower large screen. I had an SL70 B&W set and changing to an e7 was a bit like having a much larger screen, as you could zoom in and out more or less instantly, as well as scroll across. I think you will find any modern small screen a much better buy.

This has been in my head since I read it a few hours ago.

When I say that the pinch and zoom is really good you're gonna think "oh my god, this guy uses an Apple Mac" but it does make a big difference - a new plotter is just much easier to use; you can get a view of the harbour in a moment, instead of futzing around pressing buttons (press, press, press) to slowly access the same information.

Added to this, new charts are probably no longer available for the old plotter you're thinking about buying, and also old plotters hold their value incredibly well (why!?!?!) so a brand new one is actually very good value (yes, it's twice the price, but is has a good screen, a fast CPU and it's more than twice as good).

 

[oldgit]

This is true of all makes. Throw away World

Brand new 10.4" Android tablets £120. These run all day if on charge. Not great in bright sunlight, but perfect down below.

View attachment 177335

Tablet charts £50.00 ? and used on the Flybridge with a 12v supply.
OUKITEL RT5 has to date survived from being dropped and maltreated more than few times and having stuff coming into contact with glass screen in bottom of grab bag without mishap, something a Ipad signally failed to do.

 

[Refueler]

This is a personal thing and based on my wide use requirements. I sail not only sea but also inland waters.

I have plotters and smartphone / tablet based ....

Originally I used to create own charts for areas that had no commercial charting available .. namely upper reaches of rivers .. most charts stop at the port authority border upriver. My old Lowrance Globalmap 3500C has my charting all way up river to Kuldiga ... that's about 40kms worth of 'fun'.
Its basic charting with only limited depth info of course .. based on Ordnance Survey and Google Map ....
I later bought the Onwa with AIS ... but never got round to reformatting my own charts to display on it

Shortly after - I installed Navionics Boating and Lakes on a tablet ... this has full detail of the river as well as the seas I sail .. for less than 50 quid a year sub.

A definite no-brainer .... when I go on the river now ... my tablet or smartphone sits there providing all.

 

[Graham_Wright]

This is true of all makes. Throw away World

Brand new 10.4" Android tablets £120. These run all day if on charge. Not great in bright sunlight, but perfect down below.

View attachment 177335

It looks like you have an indoor boat. Try a touch screen wearing gloves with a force 5 and rain for company.
Knobs every time.

 

[PaulRainbow]

It looks like you have an indoor boat. Try a touch screen wearing gloves with a force 5 and rain for company.
Knobs every time.

I don't have an indoor boat at all, that picture is of the lower helm, to show the 2 £120 tablets.

On the flybridge i have a pair of Garmin GPSMAP MFDs, both totally touchscreen. They both work perfectly OK when it's raining, and no problem in a F5 or even F6, we try and avoid anything stronger, as did the GPSMAP on my previous sailboat. I suspect they won't work very well if i was wearing gloves, but i don't wear gloves.

If you prefer knobs, that's great, buy something with knobs.

 

[PaulRainbow]

Deleted, duplicate post.

 

[Refueler]

I have touchscreen on all sorts of gear - even my latest RC Transmitter has colour touchscreen ...

Gloves ? Plenty of gloves out there with finger tip pads specifically for this ... I have two pairs - one set are light summer ... other are heavy winter.

 

[Pete7]

I am put off buying new by the adoption of touch screen.
I need knobs.

Agreed, which I why I went down the Raymarine Element S route. Still current model and available for about £480 on ebay or £417 from Hudson Marine. Raymarine Element S - HV

Can add radar but we haven't bothered, but do have AIS via a Em Trak transceiver. Chose the 9" version in the end and much prefer the software layout compared to the C80 which sold for a really good price.

We don't miss anything that the Axiom version has and after 6 years no problems. Software updates via the club wifi which also updates the RM wheel pilot etc.

 

[rotrax]

Noah fitted a secondhand Raychart RC630 on the ark, it's prehistoric.

C120/E120 are at the very least 15 years old, virtually obsolete and hanging on by the skin of their teeth.

Where do you plan to fit the plotter, at the helm or at the chart table ?

Very true, but the E120 on our boat was fitted when new and is from 2008.

With an updated Gold card-we did not need all the extras the Platinum gave-it more than meets our requirements. Big screen, easy to operate, splits for radar and plotter.

A friend with the same model of boat has a very new one, with all the bells and whistles.

He spends most of his alongside or on the hook time pissing about with it and trying to get me to update.

His offers little we need-or, more importantly, want.

The money he spent on it would of been better spent elsewhere on the boat.

IMHO, of course.