UKHO/RYA Chartplotter

[steverow]

Got my new chartplotter prog yesterday, waited about a month for it.
Got to admit that I'm very slightly disappointed. I had no previous experience of raster charts, using C-map as my main system I bought the admiralty prog as a comparison, and also as a quick way to update my charts without paying hundreds.
I cant argue with the value for money which is excellent...what do you want for £37.95 I keep telling myself...but the definition of the charts even at 1:1 is nowhere near as good as C-map. Ive also got used to seeing buoys and cardinals in their correct colours, and looking at murky outlines is a little offputting. And it's so nice to click on a feature and get all the info on it.
To be fair I havent fired it up with a GPS yet so I dont know what bells and whistles it may have up it's sleeve, but it looks as though each chart has to be loaded individually, and of course C-map slides seamlessly between adjacent charts without the user even knowing. Although my C-map, which I inherited with the boat, is about 1998/9 it doesnt have later stuff like the Cardiff Barrage on it, in retrospect I think Ill pay for the C-map updates.
So for the market it's intended for, ie newcomers to electronic chartplotting and as a training aid, it probably hits the spot quite well, but if you have used a vector system then I think you will be left wanting...but at £40 quid I suppose it's useful as a back up.
Oh and the charts all expire at midnight on December 31st this year, whereupon I have to purchase another CD... err perhaps.....
But it is terrific value for money for those yet to make the foray into the electronic world, equally, there are other systems out there for a little over twice as much that present better.

Steve.

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[jfm]

Question from non puter expert

Agree all you say about quality of vector vs raster.

Just wondering, how does a CD know the time/date for the 31/Dec shutdown? Does it use the normal internal clock on the laptop? In which case what would happen if that were accidentally worng?

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[mjf]

What do get for £40? A chart cd that you can run on a laptop/pc?

How big is the coverage for the money?

I was thinking of using this to passage plan at home. I too have C-Map (superwide+)but cannot really justify the £150+£30 for the laptop reader plus memory chip.

Michael

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[steverow]

Re: Question from non puter expert

Well, thats something that I'm going to try and get our network manager at work to look at for me. My guess is that it takes the time from the computer BIOS, or if it's really smart from the GPS or maybe either or both.

watch this space as they say.

Steve.

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[steverow]

Yep thats about it, and you need the CD in to run the charts. I havent yet found a way of transferring everything to the HD.
I have chart pack 8 which is all of the Bristol channel/southwales as well as most of southern Ireland, 16 charts in all. It does represent a more than considerable saving on purchasing paper copies.

It does waypoints and most basic functions, but it lacks the finesse of a vector system.

But for 40 quid I think it's worth it, if only as a backup.

Steve.



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[Talbot]

if you want to passage plan at home and already have a C-Map chip, it would be cheaper to purchase a CD of the same area through Club C-Map (special price).

I think this One year only software is a con. The Arcs system is well past its sell by date, and this is another try by the HO to make you pay through the nose for something that you have already paid for! Once you have used vector, you realise how poor the raster solution is!

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[mjf]

I agree it seems an excellent way to provide emergency back up. Esp. if I can link my little 'emergency' garmin hand held GPS.

Thanks for the info. I have already looked at the RYA web page for further detail.

Michael

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[Kendal]

Re: Question from non puter expert

For your info, I have queried with the UKHO, the expiry date of my copy which arrived on the 1st of April and expires on the 31st of December. Not exactly a one year subscription. I have very little experience of PC based chart plotters but feel it is very basic (still not bad for 40 quid though). I'm dissapointed that it requires the CD to be in the drive at all times since the laptop I was planning to use it on has no CDROM drive - bummer.

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[PhilF]

Re: Question from non puter expert

I have the opposite problem, I have just updated my admitalty charts and the license comes on a floppy disk, I only have cd and dvd drives,
PhilF

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