[KAMASU]

Plan on Purchasing a new Chart Plotter and would like some feed back from fellow private boaters who are using them. At this point Iâ??m looking at Furuno to match my other electronics and noticed there were options between Navionics and C-MAPNT. What are the pros and cons between them? Does one have better details or resolution than the other? Are the Channel Islands Closure areas accurately listed on the maps? Is Garmin better than furuno or Ramarine? Any input would be appreciated since I fully don't have a clue about this topic.

Thanks,

Daniel

 

[KAMASU]

Hey guys,

Thanks to those few of you that have responded on the Technical board. I did some more research and found the following:

Navionics was co-founded by an Engineer named Bianchetti in 1984 who then left Navionics in 1985 and created, on his own,C-Map.

For the sixth straight year, dealers, Certified Marine Electronics Technicians and other members of the National Marine Electronics Association (NMEA) selected C-MAP electronic charts as the industryâ??s best. C-MAP was honored with the Best Electronic Charts for 2004 award at the organizationâ??s recent national convention in Florida. C-MAP has won this award at each yearâ??s event since 1999.

The Latest Software â??MAXâ?? released in 05 just blows the S%$# out of whatâ??s on the market now and I do believe upgrades are available. Increased speed, details and resolution. Iâ??ts all there. I â??m sure they will win the best chart award this year as well.

The Plotter Iâ??ve selected is the new Furuno GP7000/NT which runs under â??MAXâ?? and also released in 05â?? should do me just fine! I hope this helps start the research for those of you who are also looking to upgrade and/or Purchase a plotter for the first time.

Daniel

 

[Magic Rod]

Daniel,

You should also look into getting the usb adapter for your computer.
Its a great addition. You can input all of your way points on your computer and download them straight to your unit. You can also save everything from your unit and download it on your computer. Saves you a lot of hassle if your unit breaks down.

Danny

 

[KAMASU]

Hey Danny,

Thanks for the input. You led me in the right direction for sure! What chart are you currently using? Now that I have figured out what plotter and software I'll be getting I think I need to how and what chart to select for my region of interest.

Daniel

 

[JigStrike]

My friend recently purchased and installed a furuno combo unit in his commercial boat in alaska. It had radar,FF,GPS and chartplotter. I compared it to his older magellan unit and the furuno was lacking in lots of detail and resolution for that particular area of alaska. Many channel buoys, markers and detail found on the magellan unit were not found on the furuno unit. I also found the front panel user interface to be not as user friendly. A few times it looked like we were gonna run aground on the map and we were actually at a deeper depth about a 1 mile from shore. I was really disappointed in the unit and my own boat's electronics is mostly furuno.

 

[DeanJ]

Sorry to hijack this, but I've been considering buying a hand-held gps/chartplotter with a color screen. Any suggestions?

Thanks
Dean

 

[KAMASU]

Eddie,

Do you know what sofware the unit was using? From my research I would think he had a furuno using furuno or Navionics.

Daniel

 

[Long Beach Bob]

Recently, in on the water testing, Navionics software bested C-Map in several respects. Their birds eye photo views of harbors and marinas is first rate...Accuracy was also better than C-Map and Garmin products..