chartplotters

as santa claus is on the way i have a chartplotter on my list any sugestions as to make or model do some have fishfinders
or are they all basicly the same

some of the lowrance ones have ff built in split screens or single screene a mate of mine has one an excellent unit he also has a standard horizon i would not rate that much, very hard to see the contours on it. i myself have a raymarine chart plotter and im very happy with that quite simple to use compared to the other two makes i mentioned. also if you use seperate units if the ff goes down you only have to replace the ff. in combined units you have two units down

The Standard Horizon is a really nice unit. I have the CP300 (7 inch 800x600), but it has given me some issues as described here. Beautiful screen with a much higher pixel count that anything from Garmin in the same price range. The CP180 (5 inch 640x480...i think) is available at marineparts.ie at a decent price with Ireland and England CMAP NT plus map which is essentional. Make sure you get the cartogtaphy map for ireland, with what ever unit you buy. The biggest problem when you move away from Garmin is that interfacing the unit with you PC is a total pain. For the CMAP I have to buy seperate software and card interface unit (£stg 120) no fecking way. Now I just use Garmin Mapsource for looking at maps and storing my waypoints on and I use the CP300 for in boat navigation no ideal at all.

If I were to buy again, I would buy a Garmin (GPS550 is good for the price €500) GPS as it is very easy to add new waypoints and tracks via your PC, which for me would be ideal. I have no Idea of the lowrance or Raymarine units have these interface issues.

Just you mapsource on your PC ($100 ish) to check map detail contours and such and add the areas you want to fish to you GPS unit.

Kev

Garmin 550 can’t fault it. It has a built-in antenna less wiring to be done; it works fine on my 165 warrior.
The best feature in it is the SD slot. Along with Garmins “trip and waypoint manager” you can edit tracks and waypoints at home on you computer and install them into the unit the next time your on board. You can also save your days track onto the SD card and store it in your computer for further reference. A typical day out of 30 mile trip will save about 1500 point of reference in it "active log". You’ll never worry about deleting your marks as they can be backed up on a spare SD card.

Just to mention that trip and waypoint manager is free from Garmin.com If you want to get a good overview of depth and type of bottom you will need the Bluechart Atlantic chat for Ireland. I think they are about €100 ish. They are really worth it if you tow a lot and want to try pick out some features that you would like to fish. If you all of your fishing on the east cost, you might be better off buying the paper charts and use these to pick out the features. Once you have a good idea of where the feature is you can pin point it on your GPS.

Kev

Derek,

I have the Garmin 550 and find it to be spot on..no trouble to use it...and it has a fishfinder on it also.

Also there is the advantage of the sd card for it as well as the lads have said,

Go on treat yerself it'll go well with the new engine

kev when i read your post above i though for a minute you were trawling when you said you tow a lot

my only thought on this is i would spend more of my budget on the fishfinder as this makes
a big difference, whereas finding your way about isnt hard even with a basic gps or plotter

Derek,

I have the Garmin 550 and find it to be spot on..no trouble to use it...and it has a fishfinder on it also.

Also there is the advantage of the sd card for it as well as the lads have said,

Go on treat yerself it'll go well with the new engine

Thats the 550S version with the sounder
the 550 is a stand alone gps/plotter

i had a look at both marine parts direct there is only 50 euros in the difference 495.00 for the 500 and 545.00 for the 500s
i think il look closer at the 500s as paul has one and lessons on how to use it will be only a mooring away lol

kev when i read your post above i though for a minute you were trawling when you said you tow a lot

Towing a lot no John. I've only launched in Howth twice this year. If I'm not in Greystones, I'm in Cork. I'll have to figure out how to work a week or tow down that way next year. If the weather wasn't such a pain this year I would have travelled down more. My door to Aghada slip is about 3 Hours now with the new Roads.

my only thought on this is i would spend more of my budget on the fishfinder as this makes
a big difference, whereas finding your way about isnt hard even with a basic gps or plotter

Very good Point John... and I agree 100% on this one. I've managed to get Garmin Maps uploaded onto my Car Sat Nav and managed with this setup for a week in Kerry.

ok so lads what fishfinder would you recommend

[steyrman]

hi twinkle ch marine in cork have a good deal on garmin fihfinders at the moment the 320c is 199.00 euro great bit of kit at the right price worth a look also lowrance plotters are good value in redcargps.co.uk the 5150 comes with ireland /uk map under 450 euros

Last edited by steyrman on Fri Nov 06, 2009 12:21 am, edited 1 time in total.

marine parts have a ff320c 5 inch screen for the same money is this a better unit?than the 300

Stick with the 550 S !

jw wrote:
my only thought on this is i would spend more of my budget on the fishfinder as this makes
a big difference, whereas finding your way about isnt hard even with a basic gps or plotter

John.

I very rarely use the fishfinder on the Garmin as I think it can be very misleading.
However I find the chart plotter very useful as you can see the depth and the ground when you use the dual mode.
I have found some very good marks using this.
Anyway thats just mho ...everyone to their own !!

i would also do like kev identify features, marks etc before i set out on a trip and save the marks,
wouldn't be using the chart plotter to look for features while driving along in the boat

ive seen people posting here saying fishfinder are only for looking at the bottom, you cant
see fish on them. The problem is they have only ever bought the cheapest fish finder.
If you spend more on the fishfinder and the transducer you get much better functionality

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At those depths a very good Transducer is required as well. My Raymarine DS500x is Crystal clear to about 180 - 200 feet after that I get a little "noise" on the screen. I've never been over a wreck at those depths so I can't comment of the fish finding abilities, but I would notice the wreck

lads as always your help has been brilliant im going to sort myself with a really good fishfinder first and maybe if the cash runs it [greedy bas---d] igo for a plotter i got gps and fishfinder with the boat there a bit dated so i need to change them for next season

Derek,

Do you have a Garmin Sat Nav?

Kev

i had but it has gone missing i have a funny feeling herslf in doors lost it out shopping as the charger is still in the car and no one knows were it is the usual story kevin