Raymarine ST1000 or simrad TP10

Mhvoiceuk

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Does anybody have a view on which is better - the Raymarine ST1000 or Simrad TP10 tiller pilot? The Simrad is cheaper (£180.00 with the current 10% off in the Compass24 store). I don't have any Seatalk instruments for the Raymarine to hook up to and both accept NMEA input so I can hook up either to my GPS. My boat came with an autopilot but it is an early model and doesnt take an NMEA signal. Hopefully I can sell it.

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jfm

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This is a bit of a half-@rsed answer but I have had Raymarine and Simrad nav gear (plotters and stuff) and imho Raymarine is way superior. Better design of "user interfsce", ie everthing is intuitive.

Also, I dont know the layout of your boat but the Raymarine allows you to plug in a wired remote control, about £80. Might be handy - the remote has jog jog +/- 1 deg or 10g, so can steer the boat a long way from the cockpit.

Not really answering your question properly, sorry

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Spyro

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I have a Simrad TP10 which I have had no problems with it suited the layout of my cockpit and tiller better. From what I remember if I had went for the Raymarine it is fitted slightly further away from the rudder stock so mounting would have interfered with the cockpit locker. Also unless the TP10 has been upgraded it does not take NMEA input. you will need the TP20 for that.

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FWB

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The Raymarine model has a compass display, this is very useful. I may be wrong but I don't think that the Tillerpilot has this feature.

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paulrossall

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I had a Raymarine ST2000 which I looked after. It began bahaving erratically so I sent it off to Raymarine for a quote. They said it had suffered from water ingress and the compass and PCB needed to be replaced at cost of about £150. I declined repair. I was annoyed it had suffered water ingress as this must be down to a design fault. The outer case had no damage at all. I bought a Simrad TP30 which I have been delighted with. It looks well made and the instructions are easy to follow. Paul

<hr width=100% size=1>" there is nothing-absolutely nothing-half so much worth doing as simply messing about in boats".
 

fireball

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We've got the ST1000 (not the plus with the optional remote [sad]) nice and easy to use, not sure of the benefit of the nmea input though - the instructions I read meant that you had to acknowledge a course change, which for us means being at the tiller - far easier (IMO) to disengage, alter course (and sails) then re-engage the AP ... but then I've not used it much.
The remote (seen some offers of it coming free with the ST1000+) would be handy though, change course whilst down below!

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Mhvoiceuk

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I managed to download the instruction manual from the Simrad site and it doesn't mention NMEA
for the TP10. NMEA was mentioned in a chandlery ad for the TP10 that I saw but I'm now presuming the ad was wrong. Compass24 are doing the ST1000 with a free remote at a reasonable price and that would be handy - although it is worrying to hear about water ingress on another Raymarine unit. I've never used a tiller pilot (although I have an old one) and I have assumed that the ability to follow a GPS course - particularly when motoring - would be useful when short handed (which means me on my tod).
 

fireball

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Being able to follow a GPS route was what I thought was possible - but apparently only after acknowledging it (should be able to do that on the remote - but isn't that a wired remote?) so couldn't see any real advantage for us.
The electronic compass display is handy - you can +/- 10 rapidly to give you the desired course change and then leave it to it's own devices - without the compass you would have to either count and hope or manually alter course and then reset. Does the T10 really not have a compass display?

My personal opinion is to go for the Raymarine model - by and large you pay for what you get.... not that the Simrad isn't any good, it's like choosing between Lewmar and Harken winches - it depends a) what you like b) what fits and c) how much you can afford!

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2383

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I have the raymarine with ("free") remote. (Most ads give remote free at present.) The remote (which is wired) lets me tack on the autopilot easily from the companionway so I can tack the jib sheets over

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wooslehunter

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Got a Raymarine 2000+ at the beginning of this season. I had an old 800 but that died earlier this year. Reason I got the 2000 was that it's significantly faster end-end. The 1000 would have just about been OK for my sized boat but is slower & the old 800 used to wander loads if the boat was rolling around. It was too slow to respond. The 2000 still wanders but no-where near as much.

It came with free remote but I've yet to fit. Haven't fitted the NMEA input either. I'm not convinced about the "take me to a waypoint" mode yet. For a short leg it's fine but for a longer leg where the tide will vary, it's faster to add up the tide for the leg & compensate for the lot than to continually compensate to keep on track. Having said that it's got to be easier.

Fluxgate compass readout is good. 2000 took a bit of adjusting but is OK now. The book's easy to follow. It overshot headings, wandered around & sometimes lost lock with default calibration.

Overall - happy with the 2000.

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Georgio

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I was asking a similar question a year or so ago. I went for the ST1000+ with free remote and have found it great. I especially like the tack function that turns the boat through 90 degrees, v-usefull when single-handed.

Not installed the remote yet and I'm not convinced that I would actually use it, but nice to have anyway.

I must say that I havn't heared of any major failings in the Simrad unit but felt more comfortable with Raymarine.


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macd

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No experience of the TP10, but I have used TP20, and both the ST1000+ and ST2000+. Simrad is definitely much quieter -- the whirr, whirr of the Raymarine can get bloody irritating. I like the digital compass readout on the Raymarines, though.

All the ones I've used can receive NMEA (for 'go to waypoint', fr'instance). The Simrad is simple to connect up, whilst the instructions in the Raymarine handbook are nonsense (yet, oddly, a search on the Q&A page of their website gives the correct wiring).

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wiggy

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I bought TP0 last year, by the end of the season it was clunking badly, contacted simrad who said the unit had a recall due to belt causing static that could damage circuits. They sent me a brand new unit that has been used for under 10 hours. Today on trip form Chichester to Shoreham in force 0 under engine it started to clunk as soon as it was turned on. E-mailed simrad tonight so will let you all know what they say.

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Mhvoiceuk

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Thanks very much. The Raymarine is looking attractive. I live in Brighton - flat calm today - you must have been motoring a fair bit.

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Plum

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My Simrad TP10 has never been very good at holding a course and Simrad kept insisting it was the boat or the way it was installed. I made serious reworks in order to improve the position and to resite my gas bottle locker based on their recommendations but it got no better. Now that it is out of guarantee Simrad have now hinted that there may be a problem with it but are not offering to fix it under guarantee...... so you can guess which I would recommend!

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fireball

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I'm sure that you could have a nice little talk - fit for use etc etc ... as you raised the issue within the guarantee period and have just been troubleshooting since ... I find a call to the local trading standards is helpful - always plenty of help, especially if they have found a global fault that they are now "fixing" ...

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davey

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Tiller Pilot Problems

I had a Raymarine ST2000 which I looked after. It began bahaving erratically so I sent it off to Raymarine for a quote. They said it had suffered from water ingress and the compass and PCB needed to be replaced at cost of about £150. I declined repair. I was annoyed it had suffered water ingress as this must be down to a design fault. The outer case had no damage at all. I bought a Simrad TP30 which I have been delighted with. It looks well made and the instructions are easy to follow. Paul

<hr width=100% size=1>" there is nothing-absolutely nothing-half so much worth doing as simply messing about in boats".

Re water ingress. I "looked at" an old Nautech tiller pilot several years ago. It had been drowned in a locker when the yachts owner neglected to close the toilet seacocks. Eventually rough weather made waves which started off a siphon and the boat, a biggish Moody almost sank at its moorings. These tiller pilots are held together with self tap screws which are driven into plastic pillars. The pillars usually split and the pressure on the rubber seal is lost. The units then leak. A good dodge is to get some non magnetic tubing such as copper that is a push fit on the pillars. Epoxy the tubing onto the pillars then when the glue has set there will be a fair chance that the screws will hold (I didn't want to drill right through and use nuts and bolts as the unit wasn't mine!) It is however still a good idea to make a raincoat/sunshade for the unit out of light coloured sailcloth as this will help to keep it dry and cool. On this particular unit the motor wiring was very poor as there were two separate wires about an inch apart. (this will create an unwanted magnetic field) The wiring was redone as a twisted pair with a fairly quick twist and a 0.1uF capacitor was wired across the motor. After this it worked better than when it was new. As to tiller pilot size, IMHO it is not the boat size that matters it is the type of rudder. If one has a semi-balanced spade rudder the steering effort will be far less than that of the classical transom hung rudder. The drawback is that if a one ton sunfish bends the rudder shaft and jams it solid one does have a slight problem.
 

Seajet

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I've always used Autohelms, ( well the first was a 'mini seacourse', remember those ?! ) from an early non-display 1000 to the current ST2000 which I'm very happy with; there was nothing wrong with the 1000 but I was in a rare moment of having spare money so 'upgraded'; the 2000 will handle quartering seas which I'm pretty sure the 1000 wouldn't.

I did check out the Simrad jobs, but switchology and the opinions of friends who are users of both made the verdict 'Autohelm every time'.
 

SimonD

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The Raymarine is fine..... so long as it doesn't get wet. Some might say this makes it unfit for the purpose for which it is sold; I couldn't possibly comment! If you buy one (and I wouldn't argue with the advice already given) I strongly recommend you make some sort of waterproof cover for it.
 

BruceDanforth

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I have the st1000+ and it mostly works but it isn't very waterproof. I made a sort of sock for it out of a carrier bag and gaffer tape which is better though I can't see the display (not that useful in 'over there' mode). If it gets salt water on the pcb it goes crazy and needs taking to bits.
 
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