Plotters and auto helm: What are your prefered brands?

[JumbleDuck]

Hi
I need to buy a new plotter and auto-helm. Anyone recommend any particular brands? The one in it is very old it is for a Moody 30. I would like it to link together with radar and AIS etc

I use a Portland plotter and a Navico auto-helm. Both have been very reliable.

 

[Tryweryn]

i decided to go for an EV-100 for wheel and not to hook it up to the plotters. Having thought about it in a sail boat the autopilot shouldnt really be doing what i can do better. I'll use it more for holding course while i do things on the boat. Many thanks for all the replies you saved me a few bob.

 

[ricky_s]

This is an interesting question and as someone who is about to purchase an autohelm system for my boat, what would people consider the best? I have a Garmin 4012 and a 4008 so was going to go for Garmin but should I consider Raymarine? Garmin is expensive but then again Raymaring may be too!

 

[johnphilip]

To be certain it all works together, it's better to get the autopilot and plotter from the same manufacturer. .

That's how Raymarine have sold so much despite their high prices over the years. I have Garmin and Raymarine happily working alongside each other. Don't need to be tied by this consideration.

 

[pvb]

That's how Raymarine have sold so much despite their high prices over the years. I have Garmin and Raymarine happily working alongside each other. Don't need to be tied by this consideration.

Yes, they will of course interface. But it can be the case that some features are missing when different makes are mixed.

As for Raymarine's "high prices", I don't see Garmin being much different.

 

[maby]

Yes, they will of course interface. But it can be the case that some features are missing when different makes are mixed.

As for Raymarine's "high prices", I don't see Garmin being much different.

Don't make any such assumptions - I fitted Lowrance plotters and a Raymarine autopilot - all latest models - on our previous boat, all linked via NMEA2000 - and they absolutely refused to work together. I spoke to both Raymarine and Lowrance on the subject and each blamed the other for being unwilling to discuss the protocols that their products expected and offered.

On the new boat, I've stuck with Raymarine throughout and everything works together perfectly. I would have preferred Simrad - because of the availability of the 3G radar, but the boat came prewired for Raymarine and with a Raymarine plotter fitted, and it would have been too expensive to throw out a new plotter in order to change over.

 

[pvb]

Don't make any such assumptions - I fitted Lowrance plotters and a Raymarine autopilot - all latest models - on our previous boat, all linked via NMEA2000 - and they absolutely refused to work together.

So, in your case, it wasn't "some features are missing", it was "all features"!

It's usually easier to get everything working together when it's one make, and you're wise to stick with Raymarine if that's what's already fitted. My next boat will have Garmin plotter, radar, autopilot, instruments, VHF and AIS, so I'm expecting it all to interface seamlessly.

 

[maby]

So, in your case, it wasn't "some features are missing", it was "all features"!

It's usually easier to get everything working together when it's one make, and you're wise to stick with Raymarine if that's what's already fitted. My next boat will have Garmin plotter, radar, autopilot, instruments, VHF and AIS, so I'm expecting it all to interface seamlessly.

In fairness, I think it depends to a large extent on the nature of the interconnect. Neither NMEA0183 nor NMEA2000 specify standard interactions for autopilot control, so the manufacturers either make it up as they go along with proprietary messages, or string together standard messages like waypoint sets. Manufacturers using NMEA0183 seem to keep it simple and the interoperability issues are probably less. NMEA2000 just seems to give them more scope for incompatibilities.

 

[maby]

So, in your case, it wasn't "some features are missing", it was "all features"!

It's usually easier to get everything working together when it's one make, and you're wise to stick with Raymarine if that's what's already fitted. My next boat will have Garmin plotter, radar, autopilot, instruments, VHF and AIS, so I'm expecting it all to interface seamlessly.

P.S. - in the case of mixing Lowrance plotters with Raymarine autopilot, it did actually appear to work sometimes, but the location of the waypoint that the autopilot steered for was way off - potentially dangerously off. On one occasion running in the Thames Estuary, it tried to steer me to a point a couple of miles inland.

 

[Ripster]

So, in your case, it wasn't "some features are missing", it was "all features"!

It's usually easier to get everything working together when it's one make, and you're wise to stick with Raymarine if that's what's already fitted. My next boat will have Garmin plotter, radar, autopilot, instruments, VHF and AIS, so I'm expecting it all to interface seamlessly.

Mine is a mix of Raym (which came with the boat) and Garmin. VHF, Wind, log and depth by Raym. Plotter, AP, Radar (HD of course) and AIS by Garmin. All talking to each other happily through a network.

 

[maby]

Mine is a mix of Raym (which came with the boat) and Garmin. VHF, Wind, log and depth by Raym. Plotter, AP, Radar (HD of course) and AIS by Garmin. All talking to each other happily through a network.

OK - but all the "difficult" stuff was being done by Garmin gear. There is a decent amount of standardisation around scalar measurements like wind, speed and depth.

 

[TonyBuckley]

i decided to go for an EV-100 for wheel and not to hook it up to the plotters. Having thought about it in a sail boat the autopilot shouldnt really be doing what i can do better. I'll use it more for holding course while i do things on the boat. Many thanks for all the replies you saved me a few bob.

You will use it far more than you currently suspect! Helming is fun for a while, but always better things to do.

And yes, it does not need a plotter to drive it - or at least I would not want that.