Chris, I use to think that what mattered was what one’s needs were. Day and weekend sailing have different needs than offshore and long distance cruising. I purchased my first C&C for $5k, and no way in hell would I justify spending $1,500 - $2,500 on a chart plotter. I used a laptop, handheld GPS, iPad, and finally ended up mainly using my iPhone and a cheap fish finder.
I currently have a decent chart plotter, and I love it. I still keep the iPhone handy, in fact my chart plotter has WiFi and I use the iPhone Navionics app to simply sync Navionics maps and routes on the chart plotter. The main benefits of a plotter is that they are environmentally robust and always active. Some may say I’ve had too much of the cool aid, as I have AIS-VHF, wind, speed, depth, and autopilot all connected, but I enjoy all the features and more importantly enjoy not worrying about massive sheets of water from a bow wave soaking the cockpit. At the end of the day, just rinse and repeat. But while chart plotters were very expensive, as Fred points out, prices now are very reasonable. The low coast along with functionality and added features, makes using a dedicated tablet no longer a cost advantage. Tablets do make for good back ups or along with smart phone, make good "personal plotters”. When a plotters costs about as much as a monthly slip fee what’s the point in going cheaper. Case in point, check out these deals (link below) for a 9” Garmin echoMap CHIRP Mid-Band/ClearVu/SidVu and US BlueCharts for just $570! If that’s too much, check out the Raymarine a78 7” MFD Touchscreen with CHIRP DownVision™ and ClearPulse™ Digital Sonar for only $370. https://www.imarineusa.com/garmin010-01805-01.aspx https://www.imarineusa.com/RaymarineE70202.aspx - Paul E. 1981 C&C Landfall 38 S/V Johanna Rose Fort Walton Beach, FL http://svjohannarose.blogspot.com/ > On Oct 19, 2018, at 8:14 AM, cnc-list-requ...@cnc-list.com wrote: > > Date: Fri, 19 Oct 2018 12:13:27 +0000 (UTC) > From: Chris Graham <sabre28...@yahoo.com <mailto:sabre28...@yahoo.com>> > To: cnc-list@cnc-list.com <mailto:cnc-list@cnc-list.com> > Subject: Stus-List inexpensive chartplotter > Message-ID: <315634372.98516.1539951207...@mail.yahoo.com > <mailto:315634372.98516.1539951207...@mail.yahoo.com>> > Content-Type: text/plain; charset="utf-8" > > So I'm a bit torn over what to do here, the boat has a mount for an iPad and > the past owner use the iPad with Navigation apps and I am tempted to go that > route, but I know that iPads have their drawbacks with visibility due to > glare, limited functions and are not designed to withstand the harsh elements > of the marine environment. > I really don't need much so I am probably leaning toward the ipad due to > cost, but if I were to consider a small dependable unit what suggestions > might you have for me? There are too many choices to scroll through on the > internet and it leaves me more confused than when I first started the search. > What models have you had success with?
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