Depth, speed and ?

[rikhall]

Hi all my knowledgable and opinionated virtual sailing friends.

We have an Irwin Citation 34. We have:

• Furuno Radar 1623
• Garmin 440 chart plotter
• Standard Horizon Matrix GX1280S
• Raytheon autohelm

There is an old knot meter (does not work) and an old depth meter that works 95% of the time.

I know there are enough opinions to keep me reading until Christmas, but, I am looking for (I think) new depth, log and maybe temp. I am leaning toward a ST60 Tridata, but, as you can see, I am not married to any one manufacturer. I am, however, frugal and would prefer to not spend any more than I have to. The difference of $100 is a big difference to a retired guy.

Thanks in advance.

Rik

[SEMIJim]

Personally, if I were going to do it today, I'd be taking a serious look at Garmin's new stuff, where, with a single, configurable display you can have depth, speed though water, all your wind data (real and apparent speed and direction), water temp, air temp, barometric pressure (I believe). Will integrate cleanly with your GPS and I believe will display (some?) GPS data.

We currently have ST60+ knot meter and depth sounder. They work well and we're happy with them.

Jim

[Pub911]

most of 'em are OEM'd by the same supplier so it may not matter, except for the name-brand warrantees.

[billyruffn]

We have the ST 60 speed (which gives you water temp), depth, and wind instruments. I also have the graphic display unit so I could see the data from the GPS (mounted below) in the cockpit. All have performed well over the last 5 years.

The wind instrument is nice to have, but not as critical for safe navigation as speed and depth. If you stay with one manufacturer you can add new instruments as budget permits.

[Omatako]

Originally Posted by SEMIJim

Personally, if I were going to do it today, I'd be taking a serious look at Garmin's new stuff, where, with a single, configurable display you can have depth, speed though water, all your wind data (real and apparent speed and direction), water temp, air temp, barometric pressure (I believe). Will integrate cleanly with your GPS and I believe will display (some?) GPS data.

We currently have ST60+ knot meter and depth sounder. They work well and we're happy with them.

Jim

The problem I have with the integral units you describe is that if something goes wrong with just one display unit then you lose depth, speed though water, all your wind data (real and apparent speed and direction), water temp, air temp, barometric pressure.

And also, every time one wants a different bit of information, you have to start pushing buttons. Unless it's all on screen at the same time in which case it's a pretty large screen or pretty small characters.

I have recently installed ST60 wind, speed and depth and so far I'm happy with it too but it's early days for me. In all honesty, I went for the ST60 stuff because I already had their autopilot and the whole instrument setup integrates with the AP.

And it just seemed so uncomplicated to simply connect up the Seatalk cables.

And they will integrate with my GPS.

And they were on special.

And everything is one integrated system.

But I'm still relatively safe from a catastrophic failure

And BillyR, while the wind stuff is not a threat to safety, it's pretty indispensable for me when sailing at night.

[oceanscapt]

The ST60 Tridata is about the cheapest way to get two important pieces of navigation gear into your kit - dept and speed. IIRC, the kit comes with the sensors, thruhulls, and instructions. You could go with dedicated instruments but I think the cost would be higher. FWIW, I'm planning on installing 2 Tridata displays in case one of them fails, but then I'm going offshore.

[brak]

ST40 depth/speed is a cheaper option, and quite readable - though instrument size isn't as large as ST60.
Uses the same thru-hull as ST60 afaik.

[PorFin]

Originally Posted by oceanscapt

The ST60 Tridata is about the cheapest way to get two important pieces of navigation gear into your kit - dept and speed. IIRC, the kit comes with the sensors, thruhulls, and instructions. You could go with dedicated instruments but I think the cost would be higher. FWIW, I'm planning on installing 2 Tridata displays in case one of them fails, but then I'm going offshore.

Oceans,

Your call, but you may want to consider a Multi instead of a second redundant Tridata. The Multi will not only duplicate the speed, water temp and depth data you get off the Tridata, but will also give you GPS, nav, pilot, wind, and voltage data. We've got a Tridata in the cockpit and a Multi at the nav station - the only complaint I have is that the Multi doesn't log max wind speed like it does with max/min depth.

[estopa]

What are some of the multi's in Garmins lineup? Any other multi manufactures?

[RocketScience]

Originally Posted by estopa

What are some of the multi's in Garmins lineup? Any other multi manufactures?

Furuno:
FI-503 Digital Display
DST-800 Depth, Speed, Temp Transducer

Garmin:
GMI 10
Compatible with above transducer