Chart Ploter

Hello. I have a 17 foot boat and have a fish finder on it. I was thinking of buying a chartplotter now. Does anybody know if I need a chartplotter and if yes which is the best suited for me.

A Garmin 260C is ideal.Works fine for me!
E-Bay is great value!

Hello. I have a 17 foot boat and have a fish finder on it. I was thinking of buying a chartplotter now. Does anybody know if I need a chartplotter and if yes which is the best suited for me.

Do you need a plotter?
Yes if you want to return to marks without having to rely on land reference points. Also if you were caught out in fog you will be able to navigate home. You will also be able to talk "numbers" when dealing with marks with fishing buddies (or god forbid the rescue people)

What is your budget?
I would advise:
get a colour screen
Latest garmins have a built in chart, either that or buy a card
Get a fixed unit like your fish finder around a 5" screen
Get one that takes an sd card so you can download your tracks and marks to your computer
Garmin are user friendly and easy to use.

I am on the look out for a well priced chartplotter too...

But in the meantime I am using a garmin nuvi 205 I picked up in tescos last year for €19 and I loaded that with Garmin bluechart. Works a treat Only complaint is its resolution and screen size... but for €19 its not that much of a complaint... Its no longer in tescos but you can get cheap nuvi's on ebay.

Hi ET Ennis,

If you are looking for a standalone chart plotter, then I would say the best value at present is the "Garmin GPSMAP451" (4" screen) or Garmin GPSMAP551 chart plotters as both these models come complete with free pre-loaded Ireland and UK marine maps and this is a big saving. However the prices do start at €420.00 for the model with the 4" screen.
I would recommend if you can afford it to go for the 551 model with the 5" screen as you get alot more value for money. All of these models come with a built-in GPS antenna, so with just the addition of 12volts it works straight out of the box.

Chartplotters are great for storing your way points and also getting you home safely or just back tracking a spot you just drifted over as all your movements are stored and shown on the map until you clear them.

Depending on how old your current fishfinder is, it may also be worth considering the "s" models of the above as these include a built in fishfinder, so if you wanted to tidy things up around the boat, this may also be an option, but of course more money and you also have to invest in a transducer.
Have a look at Marine Web Store Ireland page, as they have the full range with the prices broken down for each model, the link to their chart plotter page is: http://www.marinewebstoreireland.com/#/ ... 4533773200

Good luck with this and I definitely think even from a safety prospective, its money well spent.

Thanks for the info lads.

Johnny Doc has a fishing tackle shop across from the jail here in limerick, he gives me a ring if anybody’s selling sea fishing tackle,
Last week he told me about a prize that one of the lads won in a comp and the chap doesn’t really need it as he fish’s lakes and rivers that he knows well,

It’s a “ S 55. Techmarine multi function chart plotter v cam” new unused in the box, needs a card for your area,

Check it out on some site to find out how much the card is and if your interested in doing a deal with him PM me and I will give you Johnny's number,

He has it in his shop at the moment.

i knows people that knows people Tony

I second the garmin 551 gps it has great maps and updates are free on the net. have 2 gps on my boat 1 raymarine that i never use as I find the garmin is more than adequate and easier to use. If you can stretch the budget I recomend the 551s with the sounder. check out some of the online chandlers in northern ireland as they sometimes have good deals

would the item in the link below be any use to you ?

http://www.thehuntinglife.com/forums/to ... hone-free/

niall_b73