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CFR · 02-04-2012, 06:48

Hi, here in Germany one can buy cheap chart plotter from Seatec ( made in China ).

I found the manufacturer called ONWA Huayang Technology ( HK ) Co.,Ltd - FISH FINDER, MARINE GPS, CHART PLOTTER, MARINE RADAR, AUTO PILOT, CB RADIO, SATELLITE PHONE, ISATDOCK

Does anyone know this radar and plotters. They look like a copy of some Furuno GPS , esp the KP 32 is lookalike the Furuno GP 32........

As today most electronic is comming from China i wonder is such manufacturer could be a good buy. The prices are great..... 12 " plotter 800 USD

Maybe they are sold under different names in the world.

**chris07732** · 04-04-2012, 10:01

This is the user manual for the ONWA chart plotter. I'm reviewing its specs against other chart plotters to see where it falls down. Here in the states, I'd have to buy it direct from ONWA, China. Customer support will be limited to emails, although the staff does seem responsive at this point.

Does anyone see major deficiencies in the specs? At $530 + shipping to me, it might be worth a flyer if I'm willing to assume the no warranty/poor support issues.

CFR · 04-04-2012, 23:17

Hi Chris, i was thinking the same and maybe i will be in China this year and i consider to visit them directly and handcarry one plotter, ofcourse the 12 " one back home to avoid any VAT. A friend just bought the 5 " version which is sold under the name SEATEC and via Spain in Europe and so far it looks ok . Actually i do need to many gadget but only an nice big screen and seeong the price maybe incl AIS and fishfinder one could take the risk with the warranty issue.
Only the cheap 5" model is sold here but not the bigger ones....i dont know why?
Hopefully somemore here in CF have add info about ONWA

miro010 · 04-04-2012, 23:37

Hello,
I'm also interested. Today I received the prices. The 1299 should cost $560 excl shipping.view.pdf.
Any one some experience?

stara · 05-04-2012, 07:17

yes I have Onwa KP-8299 and KP-6299. As they were so cheap I bought both of them. Shipment arrived from China with air freight in a couple of days after wire transfer payment. Installed on the boat, one at helm, one at chart table. The smaller one seems to have more brilliant display so that one went to helm. Shows AIS targets as chart overlay and as AIS radar view, 38400 baud NMEA input. 4800 baud NMEA output to autopilot. Very substantial build, heavy cast aluminium. Only drawback that cannot show wind, depth info received from NMEA but the new firmware on SVB.de website now seems to include wind and depth http://svb.de/out/1/html/0/images/wy...av6_update.pdf
plus some additional languages. Not sure if the firmware will work on KP-8299 though. Analysing the firmware update content could it be linux based? Would it be possible to run OpenCPN on this hardware?
Anyhow, so far I'm happy with these units...

**chris07732** · 05-04-2012, 17:18

stara: Are you satisfied with the supplied K-chart? Have you tried C-Map Max maps in the unit yet?

Glad you're experiencing good performance. You can't beat the price!!

stara · 06-04-2012, 01:36

I use C-map Max in these. The base chart in the unit seems to have full detail on areas around China and south east asia, but not for my sailing area and thus I needed to use C-maps. The sales person from China said this in an email before I made the order so no surprise.

CFR · 19-10-2012, 04:21

hi all meanwhile i also received my Onwa plotter 1299 A with AIS transponder, screen is very brilliant, GPS fix in my basemant at home was very fast and i can trace 3-7 satellits even from the basement, seems to be a god antenna. I installed a C map Mega wide and so far everything is working.

I have some ideas to improve some of the sreens and i am talking with Onwa and it looks like they are interested to fix it with new firmware. fast and good respone by email so far.

TO STARA: if you have any comment or ideas to improve something please let me know so that Onwa maybe can use the info for the new firmware.

**chris07732** · 19-10-2012, 09:10

I also recieved my ONWA KP 1299 chart plotter, along with their radar. Looking forward to setting up in basement this winter and playing with unit also. What kind of screen improvements are you considering? I'm hoping to interface my GSX2100 radio+ AIS NMEAoutput. Will let everyone know how it works out. Glad to hear ONWA has good email for tech service. I certainly was happy with the buying/shipping process.