want to turn laptop into chartploter recomendations?

Memory Map -40/50 pounds, all UK raster charts. (my current, used Transas in the past)

Open CPN(?) loved by many here is free. (Dload slightly dodgy charts to go with)

Connect a USB or Blue tooth GPS, 15/20 pounds, works from cabin of grp boat

Can dload maps/routes to phone or ships GPS (routes only) if fitted

Nick
 
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Tiki Navigator Pro which uses Maptech charts is good, simple and cheap. Total tide is compatible with this and is free/almost free. You can attach photos to waypoints, harbour entrances etc if you wish.
 
Open CPN and CM93 Ed2 charts.

World-wide plotting for free, if you exclude the download times and the hassle of the 9Gb of NOAA charts.

Will run easily under any flavours of WinOS, most Linux distros and on an Atom or lower chip.

All the recommendations so far are for clunky, proprietary systems with little or no support and running, frankly, 3rd rate charting systems.
 
Bear in mind that a laptop is probably one of the biggest draws of power on the boat. I always think of it as like leaving the fridge door open, around 5A draw, even when using with a voltage converter, rather than an inverter.
I have many years experience with Sea Pro and apart from the inconvenience of the dongle find it excellent.
 
nigelmercier said:
I hope you are not saying that like raster charts are a good thing?

SeaPro has come out best in many tests, and in my experience also.
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Raster charts are inherently inaccurate, require considerable computing power to redrawn and are obsolete.
A reliable charting system needs to conform to ECDIS and, though C-Map ed2 is an obsolescent commercial chart system, it is far more accurate than ECS systems all of which bear the prefix "do not rely on this product as your primary source of navigation".
See http://en.wikipedia.org/wiki/Electronic_Chart_Display_and_Information_System
 
timchapman said:
Bear in mind that a laptop is probably one of the biggest draws of power on the boat. I always think of it as like leaving the fridge door open, around 5A draw, even when using with a voltage converter, rather than an inverter.
I have many years experience with Sea Pro and apart from the inconvenience of the dongle find it excellent.
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Not an extreme statement - however some of the newer CULV chips use about 30% of the power of conventional laptops - I would consider single-core Atom chips inadequate, but the dual-core ones can do a reasonable job.
Look at the AMD E2 processors - better video than the Intel, if less processing power, use a Linux distro rather than Win7 and get about 40% more work out of your battery capacity.
Screen size has a significant effect on power-usage - probably more than CPU - one of the reasons netbooks are so economical, though I, personally wouldn't go below 13".
Many of the business (not domestic) laptops cost no more than a decent tablet and are far more utilitarian.
Dongles - that takes me back - definitely archaic technology, ups price and power usage.
 
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Niander said:
Do Any have the arrows for tidal stream direction in real time?
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I don't bother, as the on-screen information is pretty scarce and imprecise. For my regular fishing 'patch', I've made-up custom raster charts with tidal arrows super-imposed for every hour, and simply change charts as needed. 'Tis good enough. For any planning further afield I use Total-Tide.

Seaclear/ Scanned Admiralty Charts/ Thinkpad 600/ Win98
 
I use IMray ID10. Good thing is it matches your paper charts if you use Imray ones. Updates happen on a monthly basis for corrections and if a new chart comes out during the year of yout subscription you get that for no extra charge. The tidal add on allow you to toggle on and off tidal diamonds, set and speed, and real time tidal arrows like a tidal atlas. I'm checking on my home PC not the laptop on the boat but I'm pretty sure that if you are on the boat with the gps dongle attached, the console will show you the current speed and set of the tide affecting your boat.

The passage planning option makes tidal predictions easy - just put in your route and the machine will give you options for the passage - the best tiome to leave, time predicted if you have to leave at a certain time etc.

Much more powerful than I'll ever need for coast hopping but for aroud £100 inclusing tides, and £25 for the laptop dongle I have a spare chart plotter for less than the cost of a new Jeppeson card for the plotter on the boat.
 
Burnham Bob said:
I use IMray ID10. Good thing is it matches your paper charts if you use Imray ones. Updates happen on a monthly basis for corrections and if a new chart comes out during the year of yout subscription you get that for no extra charge. The tidal add on allow you to toggle on and off tidal diamonds, set and speed, and real time tidal arrows like a tidal atlas. I'm checking on my home PC not the laptop on the boat but I'm pretty sure that if you are on the boat with the gps dongle attached, the console will show you the current speed and set of the tide affecting your boat.

The passage planning option makes tidal predictions easy - just put in your route and the machine will give you options for the passage - the best tiome to leave, time predicted if you have to leave at a certain time etc.

Much more powerful than I'll ever need for coast hopping but for aroud £100 inclusing tides, and £25 for the laptop dongle I have a spare chart plotter for less than the cost of a new Jeppeson card for the plotter on the boat.
Click to expand...

what areas do they cover
 
ID10 is North Sea South and East - basically east coast of England and Scotland plus the coasts of the Netherlands and Belgium and the Dover Strait so you get France as far south as Boulogne and German waters as far north as Suderberg.

On the website you can see the different packages available.
 
I went the Netbook route (for the better battery life - 6 hours allegedly) and OpenCPN... details here... I'm pleased, but I'm a day sailor in a small boat so I don't have a requirement (or ability) to charge from ships power - I run it solely off it's internal battery... in power saver mode I recently got a whole weekends use out of it on one charge...

OpenCPN supports tidal streams - more info here
 
Laptop charting

Laptop chart plotting is so much easier to use than messing around with chart plotters and entered waypoints and routes! Point and click is all you need.

More or less any laptop will do.

Set your laptop up for minimum power draw. Use a separate screen (we now have a Currys Essentials 16" TV that has a VGA input, runs on 12 volts), and switch the laptop screen off. Get a wireless keyboard and mouse that runs off USB. Serial interface USB adapter for NMEA input/output, plus a second one if you have AIS engine. You keep the screen switched off except when you need it.

We use OpenCPN with some legitimate C-Map NT+ charts, and worldwide (dubious origin, but no reason to suppose inaccurate) charts.
 
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