What are the best electronic charts for the Scottish West Coast?

[murrayman]

Hi Everyone
I'm new to chart plotters (and to this forum) and wondered what advice members had on the differences between the various charts. Is there a strong preference for, say, C-Map over Bluechart? All my cruising is on the west coast of Scotland so I wasn't sure if one covered that area better.

About to splash out on a plotter for the new season and want to avoid buying a lemon, so to speak! Any help greatly appreciated.
Cheers, Murrayman

 

[Fascadale]

Welcome aboard

I have Nautipath(chart), I wish I didn't

Various parts of the West coast not shown, parts of Lismore etc

Not too happy with my Lowrance CP

Giving odd messages about not acquiring the GPS, and all less than a year old

Good luck

 

[Clyde_Wanderer]

What plotter are you thinking of buying?
The navman seems to be getting good write ups in the recent past, and I got myself a 5607 yesterday, along with the C-Map Max Mega wide, EW-M009, which covers, Greenland, Iceland UK Ireland Faeroe and Shetland Is, and most of Europe.
The Max Wide will only opperate on certain plotters, (I Think?)
The Navman will run AIS.
C-Map do charts with more local areas that the EW_M009 though.

 

[murrayman]

Thanks for the comments so far.

Looking at a few on www.mesltd.co.uk. January's Yachting Monthly picked Standard Horizon CP180i as a 'best buy' and it's £410 with C-Map mega wide MW2 chart.
Or maybe Raymarine A60 with Navionics gold UK charts at £530.
Third option is Garmin 550 with UK Bluechart at £400.

Oh.. the agony of choice (with ignorance!)
Murrayman

 

[stevebirch2002]

I like the Garmin stuff but each to their own.....

 

[AngusMcDoon]

I've always used C-Map charts for that area. No complaints.

 

[Aja]

I'm using garmin. Stops just north of Belfast Lough though.

Donald

 

[Trop Cher]

Hi, I use a Navman with the C map on the west coast with no problems.

 

[Cloven]

Second the comments by simonmaclellan - Navman with C-map served me very well for several years.

 

[Alrob]

I got a navman from the USA through ebay - excellant buy del only 3 days + half the price - only downside would be warranty (touch wood) oh I also got my C-map module thro ebay

 

[gordonmillington]

Use Navman with C-Map and found it to be excellant on the West coast and Outer Hebridies as well as the whole Irish coast.

 

[pvb]

Choosing a plotter isn't easy! Whichever you end up buying, you'll probably use it for a number of years, so you want to be certain you're happy with it. Two key factors which influence user satisfaction with plotters are the screen size and the resolution. The plotters you've mentioned all have smallish screens and - crucially - fairly low resolution (320x240 pixels).

Screen size is deceptive. Although a 6.5" screen doesn't sound much bigger than a 5", it's actually about 70% bigger in area! Resolution is easier to compare, and a 640x480 screen has 4 times as many pixels as a 320x240. Having 4 times the pixels means sharper, clearer detail, as well as better text and smoother graphics.

So can I suggest you widen your search and consider some higher-spec models? Take a look at the Standard Horizon CP300 (7" screen, 800x480 pixels) for around £650 inc chart; the Navman 5607 (6.4", 640x480) for around £700 inc chart); and the Raymarine A65 (6.5", 640x480) for around £750 inc chart.

 

[murrayman]

Great - thanks to all for your advice. Cheers and happy sailing!