Raymarine ST6002 Vs. ST70 AP Heads

[SS Little-Devil]

Can anyone relate some experience here? I have been debating the ST6002 as a package at a great price for all Raymarine stuff against the Simrad AP24. I really liked the patterns you could use for fishing and some of the features on the simrad. Suddenly I notice the ST70 has many of those features plus a color display. It's a bit more money, but it's marginal.

I see that the remotes won't work with it, but since I'll be using an e7d integrated chartplotter system, I can use my iPhone iPad wirelessly to emulate the system anyway.

Is there any reason I would NOT want to use the ST70?

[goboatingnow]

I've used both heads , just back from an all st70 boat. While I prefer the st60 style ergonomics ( I actually like the 700o series head, the one with the knob). The st70 is a more comphrensive head and has menus that's access all the facilities of the latest autopilots.

So yes use the st70 autopilot head. ( I still miss the knob all the same) the st70 has some good additional features like multiple ways to correct gross xte errors etc, that are not in the older control heads.

Dave

[noelex 77]

The "knob" is great. ( I cannot believe I just wrote that), but be aware that you can only use the power steer option if you tell the autopilot that your a powerboat. Then it disables the auto tacking and wind vane modes.

Very stupid from Raymarine. I sent them an email and they responded, by saying the "knob" version was designed only for power boats !

I have not used the st70 so cannot comment if it's better or worse.

[SS Little-Devil]

I spoke to one of the rep ysterday and he recommended the new P70 non rotary versions. Apparently they use less power and has the nav patterns like the Simrad AP24.

Interesting comments about the knob on the ST70. So if you TELL the pilot you are a power boat, is that a permanent situation? IOW, can you do that on the fly without recalibrating everything? Why would you want to use it in the first place? Is the knob that big of a deal?

[noelex 77]

Originally Posted by SS Little-Devil

I spoke to one of the rep ysterday and he recommended the new P70 non rotary versions. Apparently they use less power and has the nav patterns like the Simrad AP24.

Interesting comments about the knob on the ST70. So if you TELL the pilot you are a power boat, is that a permanent situation? IOW, can you do that on the fly without recalibrating everything? Why would you want to use it in the first place? Is the knob that big of a deal?

it's not practical to often switch between sailboat and powerboat modes.
The knob is a better interface than the buttons. It will still work in sailboat mode to change the compass heading, but not the power steer function.
Make sure Raymarine have not made a similar stupid software decision for the p70 ie it needs to be in powerboat mode for the fishing patterns to work.

[SS Little-Devil]

I bought the P70 and the X-30. It does not require powerboat mode to use the fishing patterns.