wot chartplotter

[ianainge]

going to buy a chartplotter soon, ive read the test reports in MBM couple of months ago, but want to hear from people with personal experiences, got about £800 to spend what do you recommmend.what about the raymarine 425 for example ?

 

[tcm]

800 isn't lots, cos you need the "chips" which go in and have all the map detail onnem which cost 100 a pop. So, I'd have a portable, and be able to take it home and put routes into it etc. But small screen. But easily good enuf - watches have even smaller screens. Also no pratting about with wires, no theft, no breakage due to leaving it in boat overwinter. Needs 12v fablighter socket.

Garmin 175 and Magellan 6000 are the only options here. BUT I will not go into another discussion about which is best! Except that I've got a Garmin 175, and Magellan is nearly going down the pan.

 

[DepSol]

Im going for a Garmin 238 cos I am short of dash space so I get a fishfinder/sounder all in.

Looks like a good package and Garmin too.

Dom

 

[JerryHawkins]

I've got a Simrad CP32 colour plotter. A little over your £800, but not much! Got mine from MES (http://www.mesltd.co.uk - currently £849.95). Colour is, in my opinion, essential to pick out the detail. The C-Map charts are not too expensive unless you travel extensively and need a large number. I'm very pleased with mine.

Cheers,

Jerry

 

[andyball]

navman 5500 looks OK, although colours darken v.noticeably in bright o/cast conditions ( I think they all do?), better in sunlight maybe?

Price is £699 + cmap card.

 

[Freebee]

being a bit of a pc buff with an Ipaq. I have invested heavily in software that runs on pc and ipaq and a gps that fits both with C map charts and ........its utter cr.p. Trying to get equipment running thats been bought from several sources is a minefield. Take my advise buy a chart plotter thats made for the job.

 

[terryw]

Absolutely agree about the Handheld. I have the Garmin 176C, which IMHO is a fantastic plotter. I paid £720 for plotter and cartridge covering South coast from Eastbourne to Cornwall, and Channel Islands along with large chunk of French coast. As said,you can do all the hard work of course plotting and Waypoints from the comfort of your living room, (which is the only place you ever read the instruction manual), before you leave, and it does not get stolen. If the sun is on the screen when cruising you can just turn it round, or even take it below deck.
One other advantage which was pointed out to me by an RNLI member is that if ever you need to use your liferaft, your GPS and plotter are where you need them, with you and not on your boat. (Let's hope none of us ever prove this advise to be correct).

 

[jfm]

Agree comments about handhelds, except that Magellan 6000 is better than Garmin IMHO becos it uses CMap charts which are miles better than Garmin's scanned Navionics, and it has a clearer screen

Magellan has just been bort by Thales (fka Thomson) the French electronics group, so not sure going down pan?

If you want colour then look at the Garmin 176C (which takes Garmin's new blue charts I think? These are similar technology to CMaps, not like the scanned Navionics). Or if you want built-in then the Simrad CP32 mentioned by others is excellent, except screen not very visible in bright sunlight or if wearing polarised sunglasses