Plotter or Laptop

[ka4wja]

Josh,
I'd like to point you to a couple of VERY detailed and informative discussions on this very subject, on the SSCA Discussion Board....

Titled: Dedicated Chart Plotter vs. PC Navigation
SSCA Discussion Board • View topic - Dedicated Chart Plotter vs. PC Navigation

Titled: Navigational Systems
SSCA Discussion Board • View topic - Navigational systems


In addition, I'd like to politely advise you to consider the "software" (charts) which are the best (accurate and updated) for your planned cruising / voyaging areas, with at least as much, or more, thought and care as you're considering the "hardware" (PC / Plotter)......
Some plotters use only some chartography, and others use other chartography......and then with PC charting, you'll need to compare your PC chartography choice with your plotter chartography choice....
This simple task is very important to your decision, as many who have regretted the "plotter decision", have found the real problem being the "charts" / "chartography", and not the functions of the plotter itself.....



I don't use a PC on board, but DO have 2 Raymarine Chartplotters, and E-120 and E-80......although they are my secondary charting source, being that I use paper charts as my primary form of charting....
So, I'll not comment much here, regarding PC vs. Chartplotter......

Read over those SSCA Discussion threads, and I promise you'll learn a LOT.....


Fair winds...

John
s/v Annie Laurie

[andrsn]

wow what a great response overnight
THANKS EVERYONE FOR YOR ADVICE
sounds like long term both is the go,
Im going to look into all of this info you guys have given me.
what a great forum ! sailors really are a good community even on the net (most forums are full of wankers)
ill reply again in a few days when i make a decision what direction to go first, beacuse im sailing my recently purchased yacht back from brisbane next week so whatever I have on board ill definately get to know.


thanks again to everyone that replied hopefully i can pass on help soon too If any of you are ever in the port hacking in sydney and need help with anything from a good mechanic contact to a washine mashine and dryer drop me a line
Josh

[captainKJ]

Nothing wrong with a laptop and a secondary screen put into the cockpit in a waterproof housing,,, easy to run a cord for the display,,, most laptops support secondary screens,,,

[andrsn]

hey thanks for the reply , do you know of any good torrent sites to download electronic charts?
cheers, josh.

[bewitched]

Originally Posted by captainKJ

Nothing wrong with a laptop and a secondary screen put into the cockpit in a waterproof housing,,, easy to run a cord for the display,,, most laptops support secondary screens,,,

and they can be 12V, sunlight viewable, IP67 waterproof and touch screen

and they can do everything that your E-series does

and they can do whatever your laptop does - such as your i-tunes, your vids, the internet, etc

and you can plug in your transducers too and do away with all those expensive instrument readers.

and you can get 3 of them for the price of an E-series unit

Winmate-R15L100-67M5HB--Industrial LCD Display, Panel pc, industrial pc, Digital Signage, Marine LCD,HMI & rugged tablet pc, Rugged pc, panel mount PC & LCD, rugged mobile pc

[richardhula]

Originally Posted by rebel heart

My $0.02:

- You're right not to trust your computer. I write software for a living; it's convenient when it works but there are stories of guys staring into screens as their boats grind up onto rocks.

So you will know that dedicated chartplotters also use software which is equally convenient - when it works!

Example, I left a remote anchorage in the dark from the (false) security of a headland in DR after waiting for the "night lee". Said phenomena had not been listening to Bruce Van Sant & was confronted with nasty seas at which point my Raymarine C80 crashed just when I could have done with a bit of help. My PC chartplotter was switched to drive the autopilot for the rest of the trip.

Raymarine staff later glibly commented that as it used software, like any PC I had to accept the occasional crash!

Bottom line - use both but not at the expense of keeping a good watch.

[Captain Bill]

I vote for both. I have a chart plotter in the cockpit that I use for general reference, but the best I can do is get charts that are several months old for it and in some cases over 6 months old as the chip updates are only published 2 times a year. On the laptop, I can download updated charts weekly in the US for free. In most other areas you have to pay for them but it still costs less than buying out of date chips. Many people will tell you to use paper charts in addition to your chartplotter, but even paper charts are expensive if you keep them up to date. I have a Raymarine chartplotter/radar unit in the cockpit. I keep a netbook with a USB GPS running below. The battery will keep it running for about 8 hours in the event of an electrical failure. The netbook supports bluetooth so I also have a bluetooth mouse and keyboard for convenience. When I'm trying to conserve power I use the small screen on the netbook, but I also have a 23" 1080P Samsung TV/Monitor that I can use when I want to have a larger screen. Once in a very dense seafog off of Georgia (USA) all of my Raymarine equipment just quit, apparently due to the dripping wet conditions. The netbook down below was the only piece of electronics working on the boat besides the radio. When I start doing long term cruising I plan to have a second netbook and GPS stored in a faraday cage just in case. It will take up a lot less room than a bunch of paper charts.

[svcambria]

As for paper charts..... they are old, useless and great as goat food.

Laptops are so much more versatile than chartplotters, with the drawback that they don't work or last very long in the cockpit. I use them with "windfall" electronic charts and "fell-off-the-truck" nav programs that can transfer from one computer to another.
For the cockpit? I use "goat food" in a transparent waterproof map case tethered to the stanchions similar to what one can find at REI:

SealLine Large HP Map Case - 22" x 15.5" at REI.com

Michael

[andrsn]

I ended up buying a raymarine A50D which I found really good mounted in the cockpit in front of helm . even the navionics silver charts it was preloaded with were fine for coming down the east coast I cant imagine how good the platinum charts must be .
I do plan to have a laptop for navigation in the future for more detailed navigation .

[beau]

I agree, you need both.

[sck5]

netbooks are great. i have a lenovo s10 which cost $350. Not too bad for a machine that does everything but read dvd's

[osirissail]

Originally Posted by sck5

netbooks are great. i have a lenovo s10 which cost $350. Not too bad for a machine that does everything but read dvd's

for another $40 you can get an external DVD drive for your netbook. Then you can navigate, do email, surf the web and watch movies that incidentally also have a habit of "falling off the back of a truck" in the southern Caribbean.

[sck5]

or you can just download the movies from the web and do without dvd's alltogether.

[sck5]

by the way, about this "truck" everyone keeps talking about - it wouldnt happen to have sails and a keel would it?

[osirissail]

Originally Posted by sck5

or you can just download the movies from the web and do without dvd's alltogether.

Only if you happen to be anchored in a country that does not honor copyrights. Your IP address is available to anybody who is monitoring your downloading of movies or music and you can get into a world of trouble should a big "anti-pirate" crusader decide to go after you.
- - For the same reason we do not talk about what exactly the "fell off the truck" is about - but you should be able to deduce that yourself. The web is not really as anonymous as you think.