Help picking out chart plotter
07-09-2012, 05:44 PM
#21
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Inland shores only needs the AIS. This is done by adding the NMEA output from the plotter to the radio so it transmits to commercial vessels. They will be able to see you and anyone else around them because you are transmitting your lat and long at intervals.
I suppose this would be helpful in the narrows of LSC or in the Thousand Islands, but in the open lakes I guess your vision is enough?
It is a very cool feature and all boats can see each other on the plotter screen.
By the way, Standard Horizon is not the only one who makes it. It is available from Icom (which is probably imho one of the finest radios manufactured) Uniden and all other rigs with the new DSC. they are all climbing aboard the same technology recently. Older radios are still being sold without these options, but beware as I just threw six radios in the garbage that I could not even get 25 dollars for!!! Brand new in the box- had them on the shelf as a blowout sale, but they had no DSC and no one wanted to buy them , even for their little aluminum fishing boats?
One other neat option is the MMSI numbers inputs for the DSC equipped radios. It is free to get these numbers and your encouraged by government to do so and register your vessel. The MMSI number is inputted into the rig and cannot be changed once installed, so therefore the radio is now "fingerprinted" so to speak.
This has cut down on radio theft from marinas in the last few years.
The neat option is that you can set up "groups" of have all your pals in a list and you can talk on the radio and see each other on the plotters.
***note of caution***
When applying the MMSI number into any rig you only have TWO (2) chances to get it right! If you fluff it up the rig must be sent to the manufacturer to be reset internally.
Read the instruction manual for your particular rig and input these numbers very carefully into the rig.
I hope I answered your questions?
I suppose this would be helpful in the narrows of LSC or in the Thousand Islands, but in the open lakes I guess your vision is enough?
It is a very cool feature and all boats can see each other on the plotter screen.
By the way, Standard Horizon is not the only one who makes it. It is available from Icom (which is probably imho one of the finest radios manufactured) Uniden and all other rigs with the new DSC. they are all climbing aboard the same technology recently. Older radios are still being sold without these options, but beware as I just threw six radios in the garbage that I could not even get 25 dollars for!!! Brand new in the box- had them on the shelf as a blowout sale, but they had no DSC and no one wanted to buy them , even for their little aluminum fishing boats?
One other neat option is the MMSI numbers inputs for the DSC equipped radios. It is free to get these numbers and your encouraged by government to do so and register your vessel. The MMSI number is inputted into the rig and cannot be changed once installed, so therefore the radio is now "fingerprinted" so to speak.
This has cut down on radio theft from marinas in the last few years.
The neat option is that you can set up "groups" of have all your pals in a list and you can talk on the radio and see each other on the plotters.
***note of caution***
When applying the MMSI number into any rig you only have TWO (2) chances to get it right! If you fluff it up the rig must be sent to the manufacturer to be reset internally.
Read the instruction manual for your particular rig and input these numbers very carefully into the rig.
I hope I answered your questions?
Maybe I will spend the extra loot and go with AIS, I learned all about the MMSI when I took the VHF radio license course, VERY COOL!!
I guess with everything now required to be class "D" and everyone wanting DSC there is probably a pile of antiquated stock out there. Although, I think you can still buy a handheld VHF thats not class D?
If you could recommend a good model VHF with AIS I will look into it, Thanks Stinger!!
Michael
07-13-2012, 09:38 AM
#22
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I have heard that the Standard Horizons customer support isn't as good as Garmin? Since you seem to be well versed on the various GPS makers, What do you recommend for a guy that runs 70+ in Northern Lake Huron where the bottom changes radically and boulders are big as a house?
Your question regarding the charts for Huron, Garmin is very good but like I said before the charts are pricy at 125-175 per lake, as the Standard Horizon chart is 125 and includes all five lakes and the St.lawrence Corridor inclusive.
Bothe charts are very good it's just a matter of how much you want to spend.
07-13-2012, 10:04 AM
#23
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Thanks! I actually DO boat in the 1000 Islands area, our cottage is on Wolfe Island, its right at the mouth of the St Lawrence where the lake ends and the river begins, nice area, but, A LOT of ship traffic
If you could recommend a good model VHF with AIS I will look into it, Thanks Stinger!!
Michael
If you could recommend a good model VHF with AIS I will look into it, Thanks Stinger!!
Michael
Not sure what kind of boat you have or your resriction on dash space but you may consider looking at these models and figuring out where to put them.
As I said before I think the Standard Horizon is a good deal for the model CP350 with the built in radio. All inclusive it has a nice 7 inch plotter easy on the eyes and is menu driven so it's quite easy to operate without reading the four inch manul seven times like some units have.
Second choice is the Garmin however you better have a thick wallet. Very good quality but pricy and charts are only avaialble in singular lakes so if you boat on more than one lake you need multiple charts (gets expensive at 125-175 per chart)
Maybe I'll see you at the Poker run next month? I will be navigator in my buddy's Profile. I actually cut a hole in my buddys Profile in the dash and mounted the unit solidly into the upper dash as a flush mount. On my boat I just mounted it on the bracket that came with the unit above the dash. Both work very well.
I just did some work on a customers 39 Top Gun Cig this past week and saw that it had dual Garmins flush mounted ( a bit overkill I think?) It was very well done though!
07-13-2012, 12:31 PM
#24
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Thanks Stinger! I will look into that Standard Horizon radio, I AM pretty limited for space, its a small [25ft] boat, but, I will figure out a place to mount it if its gonna work for me.
NICE work on the Cigarette, Jeez thats a nice boat, I doubt that thing was cheap, I always loved the Cigs!
I will be at the Belleville Poker run and at the 1000 Island run as well, but, just as a spectator, since the 1000 Island run is usually full of "big dollar" boats [That cigarette with 2 plotters would fit right in!]
I have a cottage about 10 mins from Kingston, so, I will be there all weekend, we should meet up at the run? Thanks again for the info!
Michael
NICE work on the Cigarette, Jeez thats a nice boat, I doubt that thing was cheap, I always loved the Cigs!
I will be at the Belleville Poker run and at the 1000 Island run as well, but, just as a spectator, since the 1000 Island run is usually full of "big dollar" boats [That cigarette with 2 plotters would fit right in!]
I have a cottage about 10 mins from Kingston, so, I will be there all weekend, we should meet up at the run? Thanks again for the info!
Michael
07-13-2012, 12:34 PM
#25
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Stinger
I already have a Raymarine A50 chart plotter now, I am just looking for a good VHF radio, might look at mounting it in the cabin, I have seen a few people mount them there, dash is pretty cluttered, maybe I should look at a bigger boat! LOL
I already have a Raymarine A50 chart plotter now, I am just looking for a good VHF radio, might look at mounting it in the cabin, I have seen a few people mount them there, dash is pretty cluttered, maybe I should look at a bigger boat! LOL
07-13-2012, 04:20 PM
#26
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Thanks Stinger! I will look into that Standard Horizon radio, I AM pretty limited for space, its a small [25ft] boat, but, I will figure out a place to mount it if its gonna work for me.
NICE work on the Cigarette, Jeez thats a nice boat, I doubt that thing was cheap, I always loved the Cigs!
I will be at the Belleville Poker run and at the 1000 Island run as well, but, just as a spectator, since the 1000 Island run is usually full of "big dollar" boats [That cigarette with 2 plotters would fit right in!]
I have a cottage about 10 mins from Kingston, so, I will be there all weekend, we should meet up at the run? Thanks again for the info!
Michael
NICE work on the Cigarette, Jeez thats a nice boat, I doubt that thing was cheap, I always loved the Cigs!
I will be at the Belleville Poker run and at the 1000 Island run as well, but, just as a spectator, since the 1000 Island run is usually full of "big dollar" boats [That cigarette with 2 plotters would fit right in!]
I have a cottage about 10 mins from Kingston, so, I will be there all weekend, we should meet up at the run? Thanks again for the info!
Michael
Second...Apologies for the coming hi-jack!
Belleville has a poker run???
07-14-2012, 08:49 AM
#27
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Make sure you get a new rig with the DSC whatever flavour you purchase.
07-14-2012, 03:51 PM
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We had a Std Hrz CPV350 until last year (went with the boat) and I really liked it, for all the reasons Stinger stated. It was all inclusive, radio, DSC, AIS & Radar capable, depth, weather etc. Plus hailer and a number of other features. We opted for the C-Map NA-M026 card as it covered the Great Lakes plus. We used it in Southern Lake MI, Lake St Clair - Lake Huron, Charlevoix area and running between Cheboygen - Drummond and in the Les Cheneaux Islands. Worked great - and as Stinger said, one card. It is the benchmark I'm using as we search for a GPS for our current boat.
Unfortunately, it looks like Standard dropped it from their line-up. I don't think they pushed it enough. Anytime people looked at our boat / radio they never heard of the set-up. Too bad. We never had any issues with it, never let us down. On thing I like about Standard is all their manuals etc are on-line to download, useful when researching. The CPV is still there, under the archived tab. There may still be stock out there if interested, do an I-net search.
What we're looking at now is the Std Hrz CP190i and Lowrance HDS5. I'm leaning towards the Lowrance as I'd like to be able to monitor fuel use, and with the addition of a $60 sensor the HDS5 can do it.
Good luck on your search.
Unfortunately, it looks like Standard dropped it from their line-up. I don't think they pushed it enough. Anytime people looked at our boat / radio they never heard of the set-up. Too bad. We never had any issues with it, never let us down. On thing I like about Standard is all their manuals etc are on-line to download, useful when researching. The CPV is still there, under the archived tab. There may still be stock out there if interested, do an I-net search.
What we're looking at now is the Std Hrz CP190i and Lowrance HDS5. I'm leaning towards the Lowrance as I'd like to be able to monitor fuel use, and with the addition of a $60 sensor the HDS5 can do it.
Good luck on your search.
Last edited by CC&H2O; 07-14-2012 at 03:53 PM.
07-15-2012, 09:31 PM
#30
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Can't beat the Icom series radios. The 400 series or anything along that line is a good match for the Raymarine and you can run a small wire from the radio to the Raymarine for the NMEA output for the MMSI connection no problem. Average price for a reasonable radio is about 175-250 approx.
Make sure you get a new rig with the DSC whatever flavour you purchase.
Make sure you get a new rig with the DSC whatever flavour you purchase.
Will definately look at the ICOM stuff, its within my budget and sounds like a perfect fit!
