Chart plotter advice

Nordburg2001 · 02 October 2016, 23:23

Never really had the need for a chart plotter, but now venturing further afield due to the purchase of my first rib. I would have been lost or in danger of crossing shallow water without my free iPhone chart plotter app!!l
Although handy it's not practical for obvious reasons, can any of you guys recommend the best value user friendly plotter for occasional use? Thanks in advance....

Poly · 02 October 2016, 23:35

Everyone will have their own favourite brand, and the prices/technology are always improving. Generally I find the Garmin stuff slightly more intuitive to use, but the Lowrance stuff better priced. Probably the main thing to be aware of is does the plotter come with the chart(s) you need [at the resolution you want]? and if not what is the cost? If you get down to a short list and need things to separate them then ease of route planning at home and transferring to the plotter on the boat might be your decider.

Nordburg2001 · 02 October 2016, 23:44

Never had the opportunity to use one, would be handy to plan routes on the sofa and resolution would play a big factor due to my eyes not being what they used to!
Maybe one of the combo units would be handy and with a larger screen? I really have no clue where to start looking and really don't fancy spending £1000 on something that's only going to get used very little

GuyC · 03 October 2016, 06:59

I bought a Garmin Echomap 75SV in January and I think it's fantastic. You can plan routes using the Homeport software which you transfer to your device. It's the 7.5" screen which works well particularly if you have a combination of sonar and navigation view at the same time.

I use it all the time when I'm on the boat. It was expensive - just shy of £1000 including decent transducer but I think it was well worth it.

My only additional likes is that it would have the option of lifetime map updates similar to their land based systems and you could plug the unit in at home to either play with it or check you've downloaded your routes properly. I could buy another wiring loom and transformer to sort out this issue though.

sailrib · 03 October 2016, 07:53

Check out this chart plotter. It's been getting good reviews

GO7 XSE TotalScan 7" Multi-Touch Chartplotter with Built-In Sonar, wi-fi, charts & GPS for £400. It's essentially a big waterproof navigation tablet.

You can easily connect it to your engine for built in engine monitoring gauges. Pretty much anything is accessible through it that has NMEA 2000 network. You can send data to your smart phone and tablet via wifi if that floats your boat.

It can kill many birds with one stone and help save on the very precious and limited space on a center console. There's lots of other excellent chartplotters to choose from but nothing I've seen new at prices this low., it's usually around the 1,000 mark or just below. I recommend checking this one out.

They do a have a smaller 5" version but I'm aware of its features and price.

Contact member "Wellhouse" http://www.rib.net/forum/f10/chartpl...tml#post729488 to get the good price from the dealer, 400 pounds delivered.

Nordburg2001 · 03 October 2016, 08:10

Cheers guys, £400 sounds great, I'll check both out and let you know how I get on

sailrib · 03 October 2016, 09:09

Hope that info helps but please make sure to first do your own research, look around and read up a bunch before pulling the trigger; we all have our own opinions on what is or what is not the best. Make sure you get what works for you and not for us internet people.

Also to edit some things I left out in the above post. I inadvertently left out the name of the chartplotter, it's Simrad but I'm sure you figured that one out. Also, I left out that I am not aware of the smaller models features and price.

Good luck and let us know what you end up deciding on.

9D280 · 03 October 2016, 19:21

I'm on my phone so no easy way to tell what your new rib is.. but other things to consider. .....

Talking to the engine is great. .... If your engine spits out NMEA2K. Having said that Lowrance do sensors that will fit to most engines.

Also console space. No point in buying a whopping wide screen plotter if like me your console is tiny. I had to build an "instrument pod" to take mine.

My advice is go and play with a few in the chandlers or friends boats you will quickly find the features etc you like.

Nordburg2001 · 03 October 2016, 20:36

It's an old Northcraft 5.8 with an equally old Suzuki V4 100
Tried to post a picture but can't seem to manage it from my phone, doubt very much that anything will communicate to it unless it's in morse code!!

boristhebold · 04 October 2016, 08:04

If your going to use your rib all year round then think about a plotter with buttons so you can use it with gloves on. I use a raymarine E7 that has buttons and touch screen, is working great but not that cheap.

Nordburg2001 · 12 October 2016, 09:41

Thanks for your help guys, went for a Hummibbird Helix 5 xd
Cheap and cheerful, does the job but find it a bit hard to use, would be handy to select start and end point and let the unit suggest a route? Also can't use it when not on the rib, nor can I get the Navionics/Humminbird to work on the PC

!! Well I have it now and will have to live with it, maybe need a little more time to sus it out...

9D280 · 14 October 2016, 21:18

Quote:

Originally Posted by Nordburg2001

It's an old Northcraft 5.8 with an equally old Suzuki V4 100
Tried to post a picture but can't seem to manage it from my phone, doubt very much that anything will communicate to it unless it's in morse code!!

Never say never. My clamshell tells my plotter how hot it is and what pressure the cooling water is.

Lowrance sensors. They also do things like fuel flow

Nordburg2001 · 14 October 2016, 21:25

Wow! I'm old school, still work in binary and dot matrix!!!��
It may take me a while to get used to it, I just reckoned that a £380 unit before maps would be better than a £20 app.

But it appears so far that I'm wrong, maybe somebody in here can help?

sailrib · 14 October 2016, 21:37

Quote:

Originally Posted by Nordburg2001

Wow! I'm old school, still work in binary and dot matrix!!!��
It may take me a while to get used to it, I just reckoned that a £380 unit before maps would be better than a £20 app.

But it appears so far that I'm wrong, maybe somebody in here can help?

Just out of curiosity, why did you go for the Hummingbird over the Simrad GO7 XSE TotalScan 7" Multi-Touch Chartplotter for £400? Was there something you found that was better in the Hummingbird? Were there any others you also found better?

Nordburg2001 · 14 October 2016, 21:51

Ummm!!! It was the only one in the shop and I intend to use it during the winter. Gloves would be a no no with the totalscan. I won't try and defend the Humminbird, maybe I should have done more research, so far I'm not impressed and it makes me want to smash it, set it on fire and jump on it some more! I certainly wouldn't recommend it as a first chart plotter. The Navionics app. For the iPhoneat £20 is much better than the £480 Humminbird with maps! In fact the app. Includes all of the U.K. and Ireland whereas the Humminbird with Navionics maps only includ Portrush to Dundalk and Lough Neagh!!! Really not impressed TBH...
The app. Let's you pick start and finish waypoints and selects the safest route but the Humminbird is just a Bo@#%*^ks to work! Wouldn't recommend it to my worst enemy.

sailrib · 14 October 2016, 22:17

Quote:

Originally Posted by Nordburg2001

Ummm!!! It was the only one in the shop and I intend to use it during the winter. Gloves would be a no no with the totalscan. I won't try and defend the Humminbird, maybe I should have done more research, so far I'm not impressed and it makes me want to smash it, set it on fire and jump on it some more! I certainly wouldn't recommend it as a first chart plotter. The Navionics app. For the iPhoneat £20 is much better than the £480 Humminbird with maps! In fact the app. Includes all of the U.K. and Ireland whereas the Humminbird with Navionics maps only includ Portrush to Dundalk and Lough Neagh!!! Really not impressed TBH...
The app. Let's you pick start and finish waypoints and selects the safest route but the Humminbird is just a Bo@#%*^ks to work! Wouldn't recommend it to my worst enemy.

Ok.

You do know there's quite a few gloves made to be used with touch screens. Sounds like you really need to return the Hummingbird, something wrong/hated that badly should not be kept . By the way, the Simard includes/comes with Uk maps.

A lot people also like Lowrance.

Good luck

Nordburg2001 · 14 October 2016, 22:23

Too late now, more haste less speed and all that! It will do what I need for now, please don't rub salt into my wounds. I did ask the question, but unfortunately we don't have the same opportunity to test or ask the questions that you guys can on the Mainland! I had no real choice on the matter, but believe me when it comes to an upgrade I will know what I want before I buy