Raymarine-vs-Garmin-vs-Lowrance

[gljjr]

Pat,

I have a Humminbird Legend 2000 Deep on my sled. It is a decent finder. And I really like having knobs instead of buttons! I don't think you can go wrong with a Humminbird. They make nice units. My biggest concern would be the maps.

For a bit more you might look into the Lowrance 334/7/9. These are nice little units that can use either Lowrances NauticPath charts or Navionics charts. You might even be able to find a used 332 on EBay for about what you would pay for a new Humminbird

Pete, how about some new pics and a report? I would love to hear how you like the new unit!

[Phantom]

I chose the C-80 after checking out what was available. I like the size since it allowed me to mount it directly on top of the dash in front of the helm. I can easily see over it, and it's close enough to access the buttons and options without leaving the seat. The smaller size mounted closer is more than equivalent to the larger size farther away.

A larger display would not work there, and moving it up and hanging it from the overhead blocks access to the hatch and visibility as well.

Very functional. A pleasure to use.

[Adeline]

Since Gary and Byrdman asked I'll offer my first impressions of the new plotter. Please remember that my thoughts are relative to the only plotter and sounder I have experience with. 1st, it's big and colorful. Here is a view from the cockpit http://www.c-brats.com/albums/album137/From_the_Cockpit.sized.jpg . The detail seems great as seen in this screen-shot of my downrigger ball in search of Kokes on Merwin Lake Washington http://www.c-brats.com/albums/album137/Sonar_Image.sized.jpg The transducer(SH DST 521(Airmar P58)) has performed flawlessly at all speeds. The GPS Antenna is so sensitive it even picks up 3d WAAS signals inside my outbuilding where Adeline resides. The screen changes are lightning fast. AND, contrary to my Lowrance GPS, there is none of the musical interference that forced me to up-squelch my vhf. In fact, there is no noise from the sonar either. None at all! However, since I promised to be completely honest, I want to share my dislikes. I've always depended on my shallow alarm with the Lowrance. It has alerted me to trouble many times. Here is where the SH falls short. The plotter has various alarms and the sounder has various alarms. In stock trim none are loud enough to hear over the motor and the volume is not adjustable. I installed a Radio-Shack Piezo Buzzer Alarm to the black-box sonar accessory wire bundle and it is plenty loud. But it only serves the sounder. All the wonderful alarms on the plotter/highway page are inaudible. While I can silence the sounder alarm from the plotter/highway page I must move to the sounder page and then to alarms to reselect a new shallow setting. This requires considerable button pushing and distraction time. I suppose this is the price one pays for an all-in-one unit. The plotter/CMAX has a really cool feature called an "anti-grounding alarm". When activated it projects a 30 degree cone ahead of the vessel for a user determined range. When any of a number of hazzards appear in this cone the alarm sounds to alert the skipper to the danger. Sadly, the volume is so pathetic that it can't be heard. To be fair, all alarms also appear visually on screen(alarm windows) but I'm used to audible alarms with adjustable volume levels. A second issue I have is that there are data windows that are present at the top of the sounder page that cannot be disabled. They can be customized but not eliminated. To me they waste valuable vertical pixels. When I'm trolling I generally don't care what my course is, or dst, or ttg, or whatever. I told SH how I feel about this. Hopefully it will be addressed in a future firmware upgrade. Finally my last complaint. When navigating a route any plotter will "auto-sequence" ahead when you arrive at a waypoint. With my Lowrance I could set an arrival radius that would trigger this transition. However, the SH is not adjustable and the manual doesn't tell me what it is. For example, if the arrival zone has a .2 sm radius and I only come to within .21sm, I'll continue to navigate to a waypoint that I've already passed and is disappearing behind me. To be fair again, I didn't have a problem in my limited experience so far but I need to contact SH to find out how big the arrival-zone circle is. In sum, I'm very impressed with the quality and detail of the new plotter/sonar/transducer. I think it was the correct choice for me. It is a quantum leap from my older(and endearing) Lowrance units. I hope I haven't belabored what I see as shortcomings but I want to be completely honest with you all. I have no stock in SH(Yaesu). BTW, the Standard Horizon, Interphase, and Si-Tex units(at least the 10.4"ers) are all made in Italy my C-MAP. The features offered vary slightly among them.

[gljjr]

Pete,

Thanks for the excellent report!

[lcapo511]

Hey guys I was looking for some Troubleshooting Tips for the CP1000C and stumbled upon this forum. If it's worth anything I'll give you guys my 2 cents worth. First of all I live in Miami, FL and and own a 29 Seaswirl Stripper (similar to a Wellcraft). I have used the SH CP1000C for about 3 years now and we love it! Mind this is the first CP we have ever owned. Especially now with the new updated MAX firmware, SH has done a really good job with the CP, so for those of you who still haven't done so upgrade to the new version, it is worth it. But like all electronics they sometimes have their hiccups. This is our second CP, SH had to replace the first one because after beign sent THREE times to SH for repairs for getting stuck they finally gave us a new one. Yesterday we brought our boat back from the Florida Keys using a handheld b/w that we keep on board, just in case. We get an AQUIRING message when the CP turns on but no information from the SAT's. The good thing is that SH has a three year warranty, so hopefully they will cover this. I will keep you guys updated on the situation.

[Adeline]

Thanks for sharing your experiences. There is some good info in the electronics forum at "The Hull Truth".