First Chartplotter

KimB said:

Knobs and buttons ?

Hi we are looking to replace our chart plotter with an Axion , the main unit being on the chart table and a roving cheap tablet. What are your thoughts on the main unit having buttons or should we stick with the no buttons option?

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Hi Kim I had a Simrad Chart Plotter down below that was fitted in 2004 that finally gave up the ghost. I used to be able to view it at a glance from the cockpit, my boat is 26ft. It was linked to my Raymarine instruments but I found the autohelm wasn't particularly effective steering to wind but OK steering to waypoints. I've replaced it with a Raymarine Element HV, got a great deal from Hudson Marine and he threw in a Raymarine Lighthouse chip which gave me two free chart downloads. I loaded one to cover my sailing area , the Thames Estuary, Medway etc, but was waiting for Lighthouse to bring out their chart of the North Sea and Netherlands. Raymarine eventually gave me a free download for Western Europe. I chose the Element because the screen seemed brighter then the Axiom and I'd been warned against touch screen when one's fingers are cold or wet. If I decide to purchase different charts in the future I will go with C-Map as they use similar colours to Imray charts which I also carry on board. I'm not tech savvy so it's fine for my needs.

onesea said:

Yup enough experience without plotter.
Long story it started a replacement for a old dead GPS, I don’t feel the need to see the plotter all the time,
There was once a time when a position on the chart every hour was enough.

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I was happy enough rock-hopping in Sweden’s archipelago with a chart in my hand, but it was really the ease of setting up routes that justified having a plotter for me. With just GPS it could take me more than half an hour on the Garmin GPS to set up a route by keying in all the waypoints. At this time we were often sailing in new waters with numerous turning points, so this became almost a daily chore. With a plotter I could do the same in a couple of minutes and get on with the serious business of enjoying my evening drink, knowing that I hadn’t mis-entered any waypoints.

Yes touchscreen makes waypoints simple to enter linked to the autopilot but just look out for reefs or suchlike which have disappeared on the plotter scale used. I’m sure none here would do that of course .