[great8]

Need some help. Have a 30' Sea Ray weekender which is my first boat. Got some experience on Lake st clair this summer close to home but plan to take several trips next summer to Kellys Island, Bayfield, etc. Definately need some navigation assistance. Was in a heavy mist one day trying to find the North Channel and decided best to get with it and find a Chartplotter.Have searched the internet for a Chartplotter but somewhat confusing as i have no experience with them. Would like one easy to use in the area of $500 to $900. Have looked at a Garmin 182, Raymarine 425 and Standard 170 but just get more confused. Would appreciate some advise. By the way this is a great site. If I were a little younger I'd probably get into the fun you have at Jacks and the Tin Fish. Live 5 min from Jacks.

Bill Veit
"Another Thousand"

 

[fordman]

Bill,

I purchased an Icom gp-360ml at boatu.s. this past year. I thought it was a good deal at $300. It has a nice size screen on it and fairly easy to use. I would recommend buying the nav chip that goes with it for $150-$200. The only thing I wish it had was a color display. The lcd display has an adjustable brightness control.

Hopefully this helps.

Steve

 

[No More Mini]

Look at the units by Lowrance. There are electronic charts that you can purchase by Navionics that will give you the actual chart on the screen.

Lowrance website

Navionics web site

Mini

 

[Tango 7]

QUOTE(great8 @ Nov 3 2003, 05:08 PM)If I were a little younger I'd probably get into the fun you have at Jacks and the Tin Fish. Live 5 min from Jacks.

Bill Veit
"Another Thousand"
Age has nothing to do with it. It is all a state of mind. Come on out and join in the fun.

 

[ThreeCrabs]

Join us~Age is nothing~I am one of the really old members myself~

 

[hammer]

I have a 10" Sitex chartplotter with DGPS myself. Love the fact I can watch myself drive around the lake and see all the depths. It holds two c-map nt chips for more detail and longer trips witout having to change chips. Bob at Mikes marine 10 and Jefferson is a great guy to talk to. Seaview at 15 and harper has a good selection but might be a bit more pricey.

 

[Aggressortom]

I purchased a Garmin 176C with a chip for St Clair. I think I was under $800 for that and I am pretty satisfied with it.

 

[damn yankee]

I've gotta Gamin GPSmap 76 and I hook it up to my laptop. Works great, the laptop gives me the advantage of a really big screen! And you can download additional data from the CD that you can buy, but I haven't found the need. If you're on a limited budget this maybe an alternative that you might wanna look into.

just my $0.02

 

[JABBERJAWZ]

QUOTE(Aggressortom @ Nov 4 2003, 05:56 PM)I purchased a Garmin 176C with a chip for St Clair. I think I was under $800 for that and I am pretty satisfied with it.
I have the same. I bought it from gpscity.com and I didn't have to pay any sales tax cause I bought it online. They have the best prices that I have seen around and I think I saved almost 200 bucks.

 

[PocketChange]

I have been looking around at the GPS 76 series to add to the wish list of Xmas. The Gander Mountain on M59 in Shelby has a good display to try them out(handhelds and fixed mounts). Check out www.marinegeneral.com for some pretty good prices as well.

 

[Joyce]

Bill:
The Sea Ray we purchased this summer came with the Garmin GPS Map 182 C. I bought the Blue Chart chip for it which covers part of Lake Ontario, all of Erie, and the southern portion of Huron(as well as Lake St Clair and the rivers, of course). I really love it and find it easy to use. My old boat had a similar Garmin chartplotter (model 130, I think). Used it for three years and never had a problem.
Joyce

 

[Eaton007]

I added the Navan 5600 with twin Navman fuel transducers this summer. What a great addition! I really like the fact that you can display just about anything you want on the Navman, including your fuel flow which will save you a lot of money from purchasing the guages. I attached a pic of my setup and the custom dash I made.

If you are interested in purchasing any brand chartplotter, let me know. I'm an authorized distributor of several brands of marine electronics so I should be able to save you some money!!

Bob