Chart Plotters

[ebs001]

What chart plotter would you recommend? Which one has the best cartography?

[sailingdog]

It depends... some are better in certain areas than others... it also depends on your budget and what kind of coverage you're looking for.

Garmin has several small units that have the coastal charts for the USA integrated into their base chipset, and you don't have to buy any additional maps for the USA. Other brands use other mapsets, but most charge you per map region that you need.

[camaraderie]

EBS...the problem with chartplotters is not so much who makes the best one but rather who has the best cartography for where you are going to be sailing. The US based charts are pretty much the same everywhere and RayNav's Navionics charts are excellent. The Bahamas are another story where in paper...the Explorer Charts are the best and the only way to get them on a plotter is Garmin or C-Map (Foruno, NavMan). I'm sure similar situations exist in other parts of the world. I would suggest determining what charts are best for your planned cruising grounds and what plotters are compatible and then making other decisions on technical plotter specs from there. For just th USA I am kinda partial to Garmin right now.

[ebs001]

Let me rephrase the question. What chartplotters and cartography do you like?

[sailingdog]

I personally like the Garmin units. They're solid, self-contained, play well with others... and several have the entire coastal USA chart set pre-installed. They also have a fairly decent User Interface and most have user-upgradeable firmware and software—although on some units you do have to buy a proprietary Garmin memory card and USB card reader to do so.

[camaraderie]

EBS... if you don't need a CP right away, the new Garmin line looks worth waiting for. Will be available in early 2007. Don't know what size display you want or how interconnected you want it to be or what your budget is so it is hard to recommend a specific model. They all DO use the blue charts which I like and some come loaded with the entire US and Bahamas.
Take a look here:http://www.garmin.com/marine/product...#chartplotters

I presently have a RayNav RL70..radar/chartplotter and while I am happy with the performance of the electronics, I have not bee happy with their mapping AND they abandoned their customers with a switch to Navionics...leaving us holding the bag with our old maps and unable to upgrade to newer models without throwing away our charts. They will not get any more of my business.

[ebs001]

I am in no hurry. I am going to the Miami Boat Show in Feb. and was looking for ideas. Thanks

[sailingdog]

I've seen some of the new Garmin models... very nice...if they come out with them on time and with the same specs as the "demo units"