Instruments ? What brand

[jimmyb116]

I would like to add the following instruments to my SJ24 that I use for club racing and family sailing
WIND
COMPASS
SPEED
DEPTH
There are so many brands i.e. Simrad, Nexus, SignetMarine, Raymarine, Tacktic etc I am looking for some advise.

1) Quality verses cost and reliability.

Thanks James

[Giulietta]

ST 60 hands down for me.

I use it for amny years now, and are my favorite.

Many here don't like them, but I don't really care...

[Valiente]

They are fine, Alex, but they are discontinued!

http://www.raymarine.com/Default.asp...PAGE=92#CBM321

A San Juan 24 is a light, speedy club racer. Due to power and complexity of wiring consideration, I would think that the solar-powered, wireless TackTicks might make sense.

http://www.tacktick.com/

They have become quite common on the race-oriented boats around here, and they can be mounted all over the place.

[Giulietta]

Val...VAl...VAl.... ehehehehehe

No they're not, they're called "Plus" now..

kinda like when tide says a better product now and changes the colour of tha packaging!!

They just rounded the corners on the plastic trim....

[blakew1]

I had a Tack Tick wind instrument on my old boat and I loved it. I will definitely by another one if the Datamarine on my new boat ever breaks down.

[jimmyb116]

I like the idea of the Tacktic wireless instruments but how reliable are they on a cloudy day? Are they not solar powered?
Also the cost is out of this years or any year’s budget, as I just purchased all new sails from UK and the better half is still pissed.

[Gryzio]

Ozark Trail from Wal-Wort around $5. Similar to this;
http://www.flickr.com/photos/forrestcook/54521779/

Engineer Compass a friend gave me. Similar to this;
http://www.kitefarm.com/oregontrailm.../23d3c8760.jpg
But, my sighting wire not broke.

For wind I made an Arrow looking thing mounted top of mast to spin around easy.

For a Depth Finder. My favorite is a weight on a rope that have Knots tied every one foot (Lead Line) but, I do keep a Sounding pole for quick measures.

For boat speed (Dutchman's Log).

The above, I never had a battery go dead or something get out of adjustment.

A friend has been trying to make me a Wind Speed "Thing-a-ma-jig" (Whirly Gig) and connect it to an old Bicycle Speedometer (I guess). He said I will see it, when he gets it to work and knows it is fairly accurate. I am excited to say the least.

I did have a Hand Held GPS. Garmin eTrex. Similar to this;
http://www.mobilewhack.com/images/ga...end_cx_gps.jpg
But, it not have an external antenna jack, so, I took it back. I will get one cost a little more with an external antenna jack and more memory.

OK, I guess no one wants to hear about my Sextant.

[jimmyb116]

Now that’s funny. Yes I have a Windex the arrow thing at the top of the mast. But you tend to hit things on the starting line if you spend all your time looking up. Yes I have a GPS but that only gives you speed over course and ground not hull speed. Depth is good as its hard to win if you are hard aground half way up the windward leg.

[Gryzio]

Yes, you would need better equipment than me. I just enjoy playing around with some of the old ways of doing it. Really not have a boat for racing or anything like that.

But, I am looking for a bigger boat and will probably get some nice stuff then. Or what it not already have. Will watch here for ideas.

[sailingdog]

I replaced the Raymarine ST60 gear on my boat with TackTick gear this past season, and have been very happy with it. The TackTick gear is designed to charge a small internal battery and can run for up to 300 hours without any additional direct sunlight. This obviously depends on how high you have the backlighting turned up...

Originally Posted by jimmyb116

I like the idea of the Tacktic wireless instruments but how reliable are they on a cloudy day? Are they not solar powered?
Also the cost is out of this years or any year’s budget, as I just purchased all new sails from UK and the better half is still pissed.