Plotter or what?

[David Bienvenu]

Ms. Clause want to buy me something (with my money of course). I would like a plotter I think. It's been all work and little play for last 20+ years. Now have a Seacraft for fun. Will fish Louisiana Gulf inland waters and offshore on good day. I'm like Columbus- Leave and don't know where I'm going- Get there don't know where I'm at- Back and don't know where I've been- only difference I can't get a woman to finance the trip! [img]images/icons/wink.gif[/img] Have plenty friends to follow around and learn my way. When on my own don't want to spend the night on a mud flat in marsh! Searched the site. Found topics from 2002. What's hot items now in plotter world? $500-$1,000 range. Need to make list quick! Less than 2 weeks till Christmas. [img]images/icons/grin.gif[/img]

[John R]

Color - Mono? How much Real Estate to mount it? Chart Accuracy or Redraw speed? Built in FF?

[ScottM]

David,
In the $500-1000 range you could definitely find a color GPS chart plotter. Check out the Garmin 176C if your interested in a portable unit, or the Garmin 182C for fixed mount. I did a lot of shopping around recently and found Dave's Marine Electronics ( www.brokenlegdave.com ) to have the best prices. Good luck.

[Briguy]

David, I agree with the garmin products, the color ones are REALLY good. I did see an ad for Standard Horizon with a WAAS gps plotter and high power fishfinder built in (monochrome) for about 400 bucks. I don't know how you could go wrong with that one.

[jw]

for the money I would check out Consumer marine electronics, they do occasionally sell closeouts from Furuno,and the deals are there sometimes. Also Check out electronic installers in your area, I have picked up great stuff a a fraction of the retail price, it may be a year or teo old but generally great stuff ex. i got a 64nm radar with a 10 inch daylight display, a furuno for about 2k, also picked up a 1850 d gps plotter, discontinued , but half the cost of a new one, that was at consumers.
jw

[Miles Offshore]

Hey JW- great website, enjoyed the tunes!!!!

[Scott]

To add to JW comments ....wait for a boat show that Consumer Marine is a vendor at ...i.e. Atlantic city, Miami, Ft Lauderdale .... They already have great prices then discount even more ..and no you dont have to buy at the show they offer the discount during the show period..I’m a fan of CME … but I’m also very close to their awesome retail showroom !!! They have everything on display … all operational….and people that know the equipment and how to run it. Like being a kid in a toy store!!!
Like others have mentioned ...Garmin would be a great choice in that price range...

[ December 12, 2003, 10:22 PM: Message edited by: Scott ]

[LorenB]

I have a Garmin 182c GPS/Chartplotter and I love it. You can get it from Boaters World and other places for $999. You can also get the black and white version for about $675.

[kricharda]

I'm a big Garmin fan, but I've got a Raymarine 435 and like it a lot. Features are similar to the Garmin 182, but for my money it has a faster redraw time and better color. The track feature is not quite as good though. Another option - They may be too new to find out anything about the reliability, but Navman can be bought with a fuel flow monitor in case you don't have Floscan.

[TUGBOAT]

I'll 3rd the consumer marine , at a Boat show bought a Icom 4208 ?? VHF $120. New !
Scream'n Reels' [img]images/icons/cool.gif[/img]