Jack's right about LORAN. If you've got it it's OK, but LORAN can help you
navigate to the harbor, GPS can help you get to your slip.

"Jack Erbes" wrote in message
...
Andy Saunders wrote:

Thanks for your responses. The boat in question is a 44 Viking. The
2006C
is built in the console on the bridge. The debate has been to update
the
present radar (in need of repair) with a new radar that is a
multi-device
unit (which includes the chartplotter) (Raymarine for example) snip

The newer displays (a Raymarine C120 I used recently immediately comes
to mind) make a combined radar/chart plotter display very practical.
They can be dimmed down for night use to where they no longer overwhelm
your night vision and ability to see out of the cockpit while using them
in darkness. And they are large enough to provide good detail on both
the radar and chart plotter when in the split screen mode.

I recently made a night arrival to Portland, ME in darkness and in party
with another boat, and was able to dim the C120 down until I was very
comfortable that I had "the big picture" and also could discern detail
out of the cockpit. I was very impressed with it.

With earlier color displays, I often had to cover up fully dimmed
displays to keep their brightness from overwhelming my ability to see
outside of the cockpit. The newer color LCD's will dim down much better.

The older monochrome LCD or CRT chart plotters and radar displays were
fine after dark as they could both be dimmed way down. But as the color
chart plotters became more common and the radar display were combined
with them, their suitability for night use became questionable to me.

I don't have any experience with the Garmin 3006 or 3010, I have heard
favorable comments about them from boat owners though. But if I were
going to buy a new radar and/or chart plotter with either separate or a
combined display I would certainly try to get a demo in a dark room or
see the display in use at night on another boat.

Most chart plotters and radar systems have built in simulator modes that
are adequate for for giving you a feel for their use. But seeing them
in daylight in a brightly lit showroom won't give you the whole picture.

I do some boat deliveries so, while I don't own one of everything, I do
get a chance to see quite a few different systems in use.

The last time I owned a boat it had loran... over 10
years ago. There are more products affordable and available now.

You'll not miss having Loran on your new boat. It is a good system and
works well enough. But GPS with a chart plotter will take up much less
of your time and give you more info. You can use that time to use your
charts, get you head up out of the cockpit, and have much better picture
of where you are and what's going on around you.

Jack

--
Jack Erbes in Ellsworth, Maine, USA - jackerbes at adelphia dot net
(also receiving email at jacker at midmaine.com)