help me buy the best chartplotter gps for my budget

[sailingdog]

If you can find the 498C.. get it... it's a decent unit, with a larger screen than the 4x0 series of chartplotters. I have the predecessor to the 498C, a 192C and it's a solid unit. Also, the 498c has the older keypad setup, which is better than the new soft-menu setup on the 4x0 series IMHO, at least until Garmin works the bugs out of them.

It is also one of the earliest model GPS chartplotters with G2 chart support.

[cnc33voodoo]

o.k, so last night i went to radioworld and viewed all of their models and the guy there was saying i should get this one as its a great deal and above and beyond all of its features it did have the best screen ive seen so far GlobalMap 5300C [LOW-GLOMAP5300C] - $485.00$475.00 : Radioworld Canada Amateur Ham Radio GPS Marine VHF SSB radios Shortwave Wideband Radio Scanners CB FRS Central Toronto Ontario Canada

he said at time of purchase he would give me this
SD-14XG [NVN-SD14XG] - $219.99 : Radioworld Canada Amateur Ham Radio GPS Marine VHF SSB radios Shortwave Wideband Radio Scanners CB FRS Central Toronto Ontario Canada

for $180.
aparently lowrance is made by eagle or vise versa.
later, i went to a local marine store to view a few more as radio world doesnt carry every brand.
that marine store offered and in stock standard horizon cp180 including the charts i need for $600 plus tax.
heres all the details Welcome to StandardHorizon.com
they also had a couple garmin units for about the same price but the one i really wanted is $750 plus the card so thats not really an option.
so basically its between the standard horizon or the lowrance.
going to buy one tonight.what do you guys think?

[sailingdog]

I'd go with the Lowrance.

Why? It has a NMEA 2000 port by the looks of the specs on it... the SH does not. It is also less money...being <$500 for it and the free card. Be aware that there is a firmware update that you may need to download, which you can find here.

[Idiens]

Difficult choice isn't it. I went for the SH CP300i because it has more of everything compared to the CP180 and was dragged towards SH because its the compatibility with the 1500E version of their radio - which got some best-buy reviews. I wanted an AIS interface too, as well as more outputs for NMEA for radar, Yeoman, etc.. The local C-MAP charts were packaged half price with it too. It was a bit of a tug, because I had preferred Garmin from previous good experience.

[sailingdog]

One point...the Lowrance doesn't say it supports AIS, while the SH does.

[cnc33voodoo]

SD-sorry if this sounds stupid but....
what is NMEA2000 and AIS?
IDIENS-thats one thing i thought of aswell.i have a shakespear marine radio that came with my boat and im thinking of replacing it in the near future.secondly i like the idea of all the acessories you can add to it.
Welcome to StandardHorizon.com
i found a kit for $250 that comes with all the available sensors/transducers listed.

[Idiens]

AIS - Automatic Identification System - legally required on all SOLAS ships and optional for us guys. Very handy for seeing big guys coming - and knowing what their names and MMSI numbers are.

NMEA 2000 - a better faster replacement for NMEA 0183 - a serial data system.

I'll leave it to the experts to explain the rest.

I am legally required this year to carry two VHF radios, Belgium decided dual-watch did not count as watching two channels simultaneously. So I got a SH 1500 to add to my 31 year old Sailor RT144. - I bet the new one will not last as long, too much plastic.

[sailingdog]

Idiens-

Plastic actually does quite well in a marine environment...since it doesn't rust.

CNC-

Most future equipment will be coming out with NMEA 2000 connectivity, which is designed to be easier and less confusing to work with than the NMEA 0183 stuff is...and higher bandwidth. If you can get a Chartplotter that will interface with NMEA 2000 specification gear, it would make sense to do that rather than one that is only NMEA 0183 capable IMHO.

[JimsCAL]

One additional point on the Lowrance. The 5300C has an internal antenna. The 5200C is identical and is same price but has an external antenna. Depends on where you want to put it.

[sailingdog]

BTW, I've used internal antenna GPS units, and on most fiberglass boats they're okay... but YMMV, getting the external antenna is safer, just in case your boat is one that doesn't work with an internal antenna.