How Old is Your Nav Equipment?

[redhead]

In 2014 we bought a Garmin chartplotter/radar set up, never dreaming it would take us this long to do the refit.

We are on the hard now for bottom work and a new transducer for depth sounder. While talking to our friend in the business he made a remark "Well your equipment is so old it'll break down soon, so don't commit to Garmin unless - yaddah, yaddah."

We were shocked at the remark, mostly because even though it's 2014 we just took it out of the box about 2 months ago and even more so that 3 year old equipment would be expected to break down - that it's just a fact of life.

I am now making a sound like a dinosaur - is this the offhand remark of someone in marine electronic sales or can this be so? I know many people want the newest equipment and that's not who I'm asking. I'm asking old farts on a budget like myself. Is my big investment really on it's last legs?

[model 10]

I bought a new 2002 color chartplotter in 2007 and it still works perfect, so far.

[UNCIVILIZED]

I've got an RDF from the 1970's, & a Sextant that's a few years newer.

[JPA Cate]

Redhead,

It is a technology that it having a lot of changes. However, there is "infant mortality" with electronics, occasionally: right out of the box or shortly after installation, your brand new "x" may not work properly. Your warranty may no longer be valid.

Imho, it doesn't matter what its age is, if it works, we use it, and try and fix it if it fails. It is becoming more common to be told to buy a new one. This does not mean the item is necessarily irreparable, merely that there is more money to be made by selling a new one. If you do encounter infant mortality with your Garmin, first try to deal with Garmin, then bring the problem here. There may be someone who can help.

Some folks like to have the newest and greatest. The latter is a way to stay put and never actually start cruising.

Your friend in the business, well, I don't really know what was on s/his mind. Maybe you could get it in writing from him/her, clear enough that you can evaluate their reasoning..

Ann

Some of our navigation instruments are roughly 30 yrs old!

[belizesailor]

My Raymarine electronics were installed new in 2001. RADAR and chart plotter a couple of years younger. Ive made some repairs/replacements since then, but most of them are original and all are the same era/models. Work fine, meet my needs.

SSB, ICOM 710-RT, is even older. Still going strong.

Ive also got a Laptop running FUGAWI and Tablet running Navionics, Plan2Nav, and OpenCPN (I like options).

InReach Explorer has now replaced my ancient, and now dead, handheld GPS.

[redhead]

It appears to be working perfectly. I have no need (that I know of ) for new. I was just astonished to hear that someone considers 3 years old to be antique. Very reassuring to hear there's more like me who will use it for a decade or more if I can.

[belizesailor]

Originally Posted by redhead

It appears to be working perfectly. I have no need (that I know of ) for new. I was just astonished to hear that someone considers 3 years old to be antique. Very reassuring to hear there's more like me who will use it for a decade or more if I can.

Technology changes fast. Any tech gear a few years old maybe somewhat obsolecent, but if it still works and meets your needs, so what.

[sailorboy1]

My nav electronics are 16 years old

[roland stockham]

Yep this just a con to get people to change to new gear that does..... that the old one didn't. With the exception of better resolution in map screens which means you can use a smaller display I can see no really significant change. My oldest bit of gear is a Garmin GPS bought when I got my first cruising boat and they still had selective availability switched on. Still works fine and gives Lat and Long plus SOG and dist/direction to a way-point so what else would you want a GPS to do?

[Lepke]

I have a sextant that's over a hundred years old, a 50 year old compass, and a Koden radar from the 80s that came with the boat. All still work fine. Also an old RDF. If things still work I keep them as backup when I buy something new.
Normal nav is PC based TZ Navigator and OpenCPN as backup. 3 gps.

[Snore]

The more important question is how old are the charts in the plotter?

I just moved an older boat with an old Garmin. It still had the original charts. As a delivery captain I rely on my iPad since I load fresh charts before every job and carry paper too. But 99% of recreational boaters rely on their plotter. So--- if you are going to keep the old plotter (I would) consider buying an updated chart chip.

Now if you cannot update the charts, that is a different issue.

[Sailmonkey]

I'm not an old fart, but I am stingy. Our "chartplotter" is a Garmin gps176, 12 years old and still doing what it was meant to do. It's backed up by a quiver of handhelds and the gps on the vhf.

[TacomaSailor]

Install Date for our navigation equipment:

1995 Raytheon 4kw radar
1995 Whitlock pedestal compass (rebuilt 2005)
1995 Autohelm depth sounder
1995 Autohelm wind instrument
1995 Paper charts for all of Salish Sea
1995 Hand bearing compass
1995 Dividers, parallels, straight edges
1996 Garmin 75 GPS
1999 Raymarine VHF
1999 ICOM 710RT SSB/HAM radio
1999 Raymarine Foghorn & Loudhailer
1999 Garmin 128 GPS
1999 Laptop for navigation software
1999 Jeppsen Marine Map navigation software
1999 Paper Charts for all of Vancouver Island
1999 Electronic Charts for all of British Columbia and Vancouver Island
2000 Paper Charts for Cape Flattery to Pt Loma (US West Coast)
2000 Paper Charts for Baja Pennisula, Sea of Cortez, Western Mexico
2000 Electronic Charts for Baja Pennisula, Sea of Cortez, Western Mexico
2000 Electronic Charts for Cape Flattery to Pt Loma (US West Coast)
2000 Sight Reduction tables and paper work books
2000 Sextant
2000 Sight reduction software
2000 Coastal Pilot for US West Coast
2000 Garmin handheld GPS for life raft
2002 Visual Suite Navigation software for laptop
2002 Raymarine GPS antenna
2003 Raymarine Tridata (knot meter, depth sounder, log)
2005 Garmin 175 GPS
2008 Intel Atom CPU home built 12V navigation computer
2017 Dell Pavilion i3 Laptop
2017 OpenCPN navigation software
2017 GPS antenna with USB connector
2017 Electronic charts for Florida and Bahamas

At this time everything on the list still works perfectly.

I download ENC chart updates on a regular basis.

[SV Siren]

I have some vintage LORAN equipment I am wiling to part with....

[Tetepare]

Originally Posted by SV Siren

I have some vintage LORAN equipment I am wiling to part with....

No joke, I just removed my functional LORAN unit last week (finally).

Last year I replaced my 1994 GPS plotter with a GPS Chart plotter! The 1994 unit still worked perfectly.

God knows how old the charts and dividers are.