What is considered best navigation suite?

[unbusted67]

I’m in the process of overhauling my electronics and I’m interested in hearing what everyone has been using.

My only requirements are that I need something that is rated for sub zero temps, I’d like a plotter that can take RNC/BSB and ENC, and I’d like something that can conveniently swap routes, tracks and waypoints via gpx to my laptop. It’s got to be a radar/sonar/plotter combo.


What’s everyone using? Garmin, Furuno, Raymarine, Simrad?

[unbusted67]

Originally Posted by unbusted67

I’m in the process of overhauling my electronics and I’m interested in hearing what everyone has been using.

My only requirements are that I need something that is rated for sub zero temps, I’d like a plotter that can take RNC/BSB and ENC, and I’d like something that can conveniently swap routes, tracks and waypoints via gpx to my laptop. It’s got to be a radar/sonar/plotter combo.


What’s everyone using? Garmin, Furuno, Raymarine, Simrad?

Just bumping this. What electronics are everyone using.? What do you like/dislike?

[tkeithlu]

OpenCPN on a small rugged laptop, separate monitor at helm. Backup nav on Garmin GPS and AIS. Position logged on paper chart each 1/2 hour. I'm not wild about glass cockpits for lack of redundancy, but realize that separate units take up a lot of space.

[Woodland Hills]

We have an older Furuno TzTouch system: gps, plotter and radar. We also mostly use Navionics and AquaMaps on three telephones and 4 pads. We get gps info from the phones gps, a Bluetooth gps and our Vesper AIS. We have redundancy

[ranger58sb]

Originally Posted by unbusted67

My only requirements are that I need something that is rated for sub zero temps, I’d like a plotter that can take RNC/BSB and ENC, and I’d like something that can conveniently swap routes, tracks and waypoints via gpx to my laptop. It’s got to be a radar/sonar/plotter combo.

What’s everyone using? Garmin, Furuno, Raymarine, Simrad?

We had a full Furuno suite, and I liked it all very much. Raster, vector, a few choices of brand of vector. Another feature I liked is that I could run TimeZero alongside as backup or for planning, with the same charts. That particular MFD is long in the tooth, by now... and as with all brands I think, it probably depends on what day of this week you're comparing, anyway.

I've touched a relatively recent Garmin system; it was OK, not near as intuitive (for me) as usually described. I had some Raymarine bits and pieces in the past; they worked fine.

Common recommendation is to go somewhere that sells all that stuff and play around with various models for a while.

-Chris

[Be Free]

Garmin 740s at the helm. OpenCPN on a Panasonic Toughbook in the cabin.

[AJ_n_Audrey]

Raymarine Axiom with C-Map at the helm, Garmin secondary at the nav station below, Navionics and Garmin on the iPad. I used to have Furuno, and it was fine if you don't mind reading all 467 pages of the user's manual. I'd say Garmin is easiest to use, but the charts are not as good as C-Map, or as Navionics for the US. Raymarine is pretty good, and is supported everywhere.

[TBW]

Furuno
Good gear
Great Support

[donpjr]

I'll put in a plug for the Furuno TZT2 system (plotter, radar, etc), coupled with Timezero on a PC, connected by Ethernet to the TZT2 system. Plan your routes on the PC, when you plug in at the boat the route is automatically shared with the TZT2 system. I never create a route on the MFD, it's so much easier on the laptop. Through the ethernet connection the PC is also showing radar (separate module if you have TZ Navigator as opposed to Professional), AIS, and whatever else you want to pull off the network. Added advantage if you have to buy charts you can link the Timezero and Furuno IDs and they share the same charts, no need to buy twice. Additionally the TZ iBoat app for Ipad can pull the same routes and data from Timezero cloud so you have one more plotter option using ipad. Overall a well integrated system that fits my needs.

[Apollo366]

Originally Posted by Be Free

Garmin 740s at the helm. OpenCPN on a Panasonic Toughbook in the cabin.

Agree!

If it Ain't Garmin, I Ain't Going!

Long time user of many different systems, but I do agree Navionics charts are not the "Best".

Capt Wayne

[Woodland Hills]

Originally Posted by Apollo366

Agree!

If it Ain't Garmin, I Ain't Going!

Long time user of many different systems, but I do agree Navionics charts are not the "Best".

Capt Wayne

AquaMaps charts are much better and they have the Corps of Engineers latest surveys for ICW travels. They also have the Explorer charts for the Bahamas.

[sv_pelagia]

For PC/Mac and Android: OPENCPN!

[brmoney]

OpenCPN on Windows 10. Running on Mini PC Fanless Intel Celeron N4000. Works great and they have a plugin for just about any chart you can find. For back up I have 2 small Garmins that are used mostly for their Sonar

[SalingSue]

Raspberry pi opencpn below decks, with a mil spec touchscreen at the helm wired to the pi

[HBrew]

Furuno :TZTouch2 plotter, NXT digital radar, satellite compass, autopilot
Timezero on a Panasonic Toughbook (solid state drive is essential) laptop, Airmar sounder and weatherstation

Things I like about this:
Easy to make routes on laptop and smart checking of route with color coding to highlight potential issues. When you activate the route on the laptop it automatically transfers to the plotter and becomes active. As you’re sailing you can plan further changes easily on the laptop and they update the plotter.
I can see radar and sounder information on the laptop as well as other instrument data which gives me a backup in case my plotter fails.
The satellite compass may seem overkill, but I love the accurate attitude information it provides for the radar and autopilot. My autopilot surfs downwind waves extremely well which is a big issue for me doing a west-about circumnavigation. I use Lecomble and Schmitt hydraulic drive and it can steer the boat in tough conditions for days on end without breaking a sweat.
No moving parts on the wind information. I know it’s not as precise as a top of the range wind guage, but it is less likely to break.
Radar with doppler effect course and speed projection combined with color coded targets makes reading complex radar information easy for me and my crew who may not have taken a radar course.
When I buy charts I can use them on the PC and the chart plotter without having to repurchase.

Cons: it’s not cheap.
I like to overlay google earth images for navigating poorly charted areas and I can’t do this on Timezero (or at least I haven’t figured out how to do that).
Furuno doesn’t have a good iPad app, they have a few but they’re not as good as the B&G or Vesper options. If I were doing this again, I would have gone for a Vesper AIS.
Some of the Furuno plotter software updates require access to the SD slot in the back of the plotter. If I had known this I would have made access to the back of the chart plotter easier.

Hope this helps,
Hamish