Standard Horizon 500 Chartplotter.

[sailingval]

Boat we are thinking of buying has a Standard Horizon 500 Chartplotter - don't know anything about them. Age, what it does, etc etc etc!

Will it be OK or should we look to changing it to a Garmin (which we are very familiar with).

Val

 

[Charlie Boy]

dont know about the 500 but our 300 was a joy. Simple, clear, effective.
Sadly obsolete and largely unrepairable, use it while you can

 

[PaulRainbow]

Boat we are thinking of buying has a Standard Horizon 500 Chartplotter - don't know anything about them. Age, what it does, etc etc etc!

Will it be OK or should we look to changing it to a Garmin (which we are very familiar with).

Val

Was OK in the day, but the day was several years ago now. Worked well enough stand alone, integration was poor. If it needs charts, C-Map wide, max, will set you back nearly £300. That's a good way towards a new Garmin Echomap (if you don't need radar).

 

[RAI]

If it uses the C-Map chip card for charts then they are probably not updatable. The old chips and data will work but slowly get more incomplete.

 

[LadyInBed]

Standard Horizon made good CP's I have a 180 and a 300 both still working well, they interface with AH, my (old) RADAR and my new AIS. It's a pity that they pulled out of the CP market.

 

[CAPTAIN FANTASTIC]

Superb quality but are getting old now. I still have the 300 which is standalone chartplotter. Also, have a look at the ONWA chartplotters with integrated AIS.

 

[Baggywrinkle]

I've had a SH CP300 since 2012 .... Still going strong and networked with Raymarine auto-pilot and SH AIS VHF.

If it still works I'd have other items higher on my replace/upgrade list.

 

[Charlie Boy]

Was OK in the day, but the day was several years ago now. Worked well enough stand alone, integration was poor. If it needs charts, C-Map wide, max, will set you back nearly £300. That's a good way towards a new Garmin Echomap (if you don't need radar).

Ours was replaced with a Garmin Echomap and I’d still take the SH if I could. OK, it wasn’t nmea2000 but AIS was ok and it output position to the vhf ok.
It applied the rule of KISS.

 

[PaulRainbow]

Ours was replaced with a Garmin Echomap and I’d still take the SH if I could. OK, it wasn’t nmea2000 but AIS was ok and it output position to the vhf ok.
It applied the rule of KISS.

There was an error in the way AIS targets were overlaid. If you have your own waypoints an AIS target could be rendered beneath a waypoint.

They also completely ignored external heading data, even though they had options for "course up" and "heading up", they would only orientate based on GPS data. If drifting or at anchor the orientation doesn't work properly.

In their day, they were a decent stand alone plotter and cost much less than other makes. But, they didn't invest in updates or new technology, instead, they pulled out of the market.

They do make very good VHF sets and their service is extremely good.

 

[CAPTAIN FANTASTIC]

I've had a SH CP300 since 2012 .... Still going strong and networked with Raymarine auto-pilot and SH AIS VHF.

If it still works I'd have other items higher on my replace/upgrade list.

How did you integrate the SH300 to the Raymarine autopilot? what are the advantages? I have both and SH300and Raymarine autopilot.

 

[Baggywrinkle]

How did you integrate the SH300 to the Raymarine autopilot? what are the advantages? I have both and SH300and Raymarine autopilot.

This was the wiring I used - wire colours are accurate.

Advantage is that I can move the cursor to a waypoint on the plotter and press "Goto" and accept "Ent" - (make sure the course line is green or there is an obstruction somewhere on the route.)
With the Autopilot in "Auto" I then press "Track" - it beeps when it has the bearing etc. from the plotter, then I press "Track" again and it happily steers to the waypoint using bearing and cross-track error as reported by the plotter - and keeps the boat in a corridor regardless of tide, leeway etc. I use it all the time.

The COM1 and COM2 ports just allow me to read the AIS and Plotter info on a laptop or Tablet.

PS: Note of caution, over the 8 years I`ve had this installation it has worked so well I've succumbed to complacency a few times and left it alone when I shouldn't have .... it really does deliver you to the waypoint along the track drawn on the plotter so the temptation is to go below and forget it's on autopilot. ooops.

 

[LadyInBed]

How did you integrate the SH300 to the Raymarine autopilot? I have both and SH300and Raymarine autopilot.

SH Book p19
**NOTE: AUTOPILOT CONNECTION
Care must be taken when connecting the GPS Chart Plotter to an Autopilot. Normally Port3
(Yellow wire) will be used to connect to an Autopilot Input, however older Autopilots may not
be able to read the sentences due to the talker ID that is being used (II Integrated
Instrument). If the Autopilot connections are made to Port3 (Yellow wire) and the Autopilot
is not reading the sentences, change the connections to Port1 (Brown) or 2 (White) and
change the sentences to APA, APB, BOD, GGA, GLL, RMC and XTE.

what are the advantages?

On CP set Go To WP
ON AH press Track (and confirm)
Boat will turn to new bearing for WP so you can get on with trimming sails.
Very useful if short handed

Set a Route on CP
ON AH press Track (and confirm)
When you reach WP1 AH beeps for you to confirm Go To WP2 . . .etc

 

[CAPTAIN FANTASTIC]

Brilliant, thank you.