Hi SA sailer,
Having a
chartplotter or the nore modern multi function displays at the helm are a must in my opinion. When sailing on long or short passages thats where we are all the time and to me its imperative you can see at a glance your exact position, speed,
depth etc.
I can only comment on the charter boats I have seen here in
Australia and in the majority of cases I have seen Raymarine
equipment. I swapped out all our older Raymarine
gear and changed it to
Simrad. One of the big reasons I went to
Simrad is its ease of use and the fact that it comes with easy to read
manuals. While Raymarine chartplotters normally have the manual installed to read I found it impractical to read and also try and go back to the main
screen have a play. Raymarine do have the
manuals online which can be downloaded and printed but its way to cumbersome do so and keep a copy on the
boat (IMO).
The major players all
work and normally operate with
NMEA 2000 connection systems. I dont know if its still the way but Raymarine used to only talk to other Raymarine products whereas most other systems can be used with other systems. Most new systems have LED or similar screens which can be viewed in full sunlight. At the end of the day it comes down to personal preference and what you are happy with and of course cost. Best advise I can give is
head off to your next
boat show and compare units and ease of use.
Greg H
SV Sunshine