electronics assistance

[wshelton]

I am requesting advice as to the best value for a combination GPS/Chartplotter with addition to adding a depth sounder.

I have upper and lower stations and already have a Raymarine Radar.

The depth sounders are original Data Marine which I think have bronze thru hull transducers 2" holes.

The boat wil be hauled next Monday and I need to do transducers at this time.

Do not want to spend a fortune I am leaving for Destin Florida from mouth of Tenn Tom so chart plotter is small item, but necessary.

Please advise.

 

[MikeP]

All the major brands make excellent chart plotters; I have a pair of ancient (4 years old) Garmin 3010Cs that I like a lot (just added the second one a few weeks ago).

One thing to consider pricewise is to buy an older, discontinued unit ( the second 3010C was one of those). They are much cheaper but do the job. Another possibility is to use a computer with a nav program. IMHO they are better than any of the real chartplotters BUT they are not water-resistant and they are not viewable in the flybridge. Therefore they are not suitable as primary systems though they are great for backup. I use MacEnc which is an excellent program. It's for the Macintosh but I'm sure there are programs for Windows PCs that are just as good.

 

[bobk]

I run both a laptop (old Toshiba) with Nobeltec and a Garmin 2010. The lap top is in a home made aluminum hood, black on the inside and white on the outside. Works fine except if in direct sun. It has made 8 round trips to Florida on my boats. The Hatt came with the Garmin and it has made three round trips. I much prefer the Nobeltec/laptop.

Bob
Chateau de Mer
1981 48 MY

 

[bostonhatteras]

as for true mountable waterproof/resistant chartplotters i dont think you can beat the 12" screen si-tex, standard horizon units.cost about $1250. they are not glamorous but certainly are the price leaders and the units ALOT of lobster boats run in maine. you can run a fish finder through both of them and, i believe, there computers are identical making only the external packaging the biggest difference. si-tex now makes a radar that will interface with both of them. get a stand alone fish finder(s) instead of running it through the chartplotter. i'm not much for the extreme multipurpose machines.

 

[Trojan]

As stated in the past I like Foruno.

BILL

 

[GJH]

For reasonable pricing, I'd second the Standard Horizon units. Good customer service too. The Humminbirds are nice also. Invest in a good transducer.

Otherwise, the step up is to Garmin or Furuno network system; the one-generation old models are still available (3200 series and NavNet VX2 respectively). The Garmins are easy to learn, but they charge a lot for their charts. The Furuno, which I have, uses the reasonably priced Navionics Gold charts, which also have an economical trade-in/update offer.

The network systems allow you to use one set of cartography for both stations and one transducer. I sure feel better having redundancy on the latter, myself, and kept the Datamarine alive and working. Having a 'ducer on each side of the keel is a nice detail as well.

I am not sure if the Garmin offers it, but some of the Furunos allow you to hook up a second monitor, which can be a basic PC LCD, so at the lower helm you can see the output of both units. I have this and really like it.

 

[REBrueckner]

Don't fail to check E-BAY boat parts....if you have time, there are many excellent electronics values there of all kinds....but they vary in choice from week to week...

 

[Trojan]

I have 3 Furuno 1700 series monitors, along with a GP-32, GD-30, BBFF1 dual freq. sounder & fish finder, PG1000 heading sensor. All linked together. Each monitor can operate all functions. One is used in the lower station. All the rest are on the bridge. One I use for a chart plotter. The other is ether the radar or a depth sounder. Some times I split screen the radar and depth. At night I use the chart plotter and radar. The GD-30 is a depth sounder that is good to one foot. I offset it to read water depth under the keel. I also have the old Depth finder that reads the water depth. The GP-32 is a GPS that functions with the 1700 monitors. I like the system real well.

BILL

 

[Brian Degulis]

IMHO nothing beats PC navigation especialy now that you can by daylight viewable screens for cheap money at chain stores. The PC runs around $700 the monitor around $400 and a good program around $400. So for $1500 you've got a very powerfull large screen plotter that's more intutive and capable than any dedicated plotter you can find. Of course you need the room and if the monitor going on an open bridge it needs to protected from weather.

Brian

 

[Skip]

My only suggestion is to stay away from RAYMARINE. They are capable units, but so user unfriendly compared to other integrated systems like Furuno. Plus they are very pricy.

Coastal Explorer is one on the best software programs I have seen. I run it on my laptop as a backup system. You can get a USB plug in GPS antenna for about $100 for your laptop to run the program. What the laptop gives you is great trip planning anywhere you want to do it.