Comparative tests of boat electronics?
 

On Fri, 15 Jun 2007 22:01:14 -0300, "Don White"
wrote:

Why do you keep calling Harry an "idol".

It's a play on words.

Harry - Idol.

Get it?

Hairy? Idol? Hairy Idol?

Um...on second thought - never mind.

Comparative tests of boat electronics?
 

Tom Francis wrote:
On Fri, 15 Jun 2007 20:46:50 -0400, HK wrote:

Short Wave Sportfishing wrote:
On Fri, 15 Jun 2007 08:15:18 -0400, HK wrote:

Anyone publishing these?

As in, $1000 chartplotters/fishfinders, six new units tested.

That sort of stuff.
I'm surprised I didn't comment on this. Here's my take.

1 - Anything you buy today will be automatically obselete tomorrow.

2 - Instead of comparision, figure out what features are important
then look at different units to see if any match your criteria. It's
not like there are a ton of manufacturers out there.

3 - Once you find that match, it's just a question of price.

Recently, I've been in the market for a combo unit - radar/gps, etc
and have looked at quite a few. I'm kind of constrained to units that
use the Navionics package in the CF card format - I have a lot of
money invested in Navionics Gold and Platinum CF cards and I don't
want to lose that investment.

There isn't a lot of choice.
It's not easy to find stores that offer a decent selection. We have
three or four chains active in this area, plus a couple of indys.

I think I am going to recommend a lowrance GPS/Plotter and a separate
Lowrance fishfinder. I always like the ergonomics of the Lowrance stuff.
The new Lowrance stuff looks very nice to me.

Um..well, takt this for what it's worth. The recent quality of
Lowrance units leave a lot to be desired from what I've been hearing.
I talked to somebody who I trust about the small boat electronics and
from what he said, Lowrance is a hit or miss proposition - when they
work, they work, when they don't, they don't and reliability is
problematic. There isn't any happy middle ground. Iv'e also heard
their customer service has slipped in recent years and that has come
from several different sources.

Just a thought.


That's not good news.

Comparative tests of boat electronics?
 

"Short Wave Sportfishing" wrote in message
...
On Fri, 15 Jun 2007 22:01:14 -0300, "Don White"
wrote:

Why do you keep calling Harry an "idol".

It's a play on words.

Harry - Idol.

Get it?

Hairy? Idol? Hairy Idol?

Um...on second thought - never mind.


That's ok.. You're still making more sense than Johnny Golf.

Comparative tests of boat electronics?
 

"Short Wave Sportfishing" wrote in message
...
On Fri, 15 Jun 2007 22:01:14 -0300, "Don White"
wrote:

Why do you keep calling Harry an "idol".

It's a play on words.

Harry - Idol.

Get it?

Hairy? Idol? Hairy Idol?

Um...on second thought - never mind.

Wait a minute...is he any relation to Billy Idol?
http://www.billyidol.com/

Comparative tests of boat electronics?
 

On Sat, 16 Jun 2007 07:04:08 -0500, John H.
wrote:

On Sat, 16 Jun 2007 00:43:35 GMT, Short Wave Sportfishing
wrote:

On Fri, 15 Jun 2007 08:15:18 -0400, HK wrote:

Anyone publishing these?

As in, $1000 chartplotters/fishfinders, six new units tested.

That sort of stuff.

I'm surprised I didn't comment on this. Here's my take.

1 - Anything you buy today will be automatically obselete tomorrow.

2 - Instead of comparision, figure out what features are important
then look at different units to see if any match your criteria. It's
not like there are a ton of manufacturers out there.

3 - Once you find that match, it's just a question of price.

Recently, I've been in the market for a combo unit - radar/gps, etc
and have looked at quite a few. I'm kind of constrained to units that
use the Navionics package in the CF card format - I have a lot of
money invested in Navionics Gold and Platinum CF cards and I don't
want to lose that investment.

There isn't a lot of choice.


Your approach, which seems quite logical, is what Chuck was suggesting.

I know - only I used three thousand fewer words. (Just kidding Chuck).

Actually, the comparison approach could be enhanced using a weighted matrix
for a little attribute analysis. But most of us do that in our heads
anyway.

True enough.

Comparative tests of boat electronics?
 

On Sat, 16 Jun 2007 00:43:35 GMT, Short Wave Sportfishing
wrote:

On Fri, 15 Jun 2007 08:15:18 -0400, HK wrote:

Anyone publishing these?

As in, $1000 chartplotters/fishfinders, six new units tested.

That sort of stuff.

I'm surprised I didn't comment on this. Here's my take.

1 - Anything you buy today will be automatically obselete tomorrow.

2 - Instead of comparision, figure out what features are important
then look at different units to see if any match your criteria. It's
not like there are a ton of manufacturers out there.

3 - Once you find that match, it's just a question of price.

Recently, I've been in the market for a combo unit - radar/gps, etc
and have looked at quite a few. I'm kind of constrained to units that
use the Navionics package in the CF card format - I have a lot of
money invested in Navionics Gold and Platinum CF cards and I don't
want to lose that investment.

There isn't a lot of choice.


Your approach, which seems quite logical, is what Chuck was suggesting.
Actually, the comparison approach could be enhanced using a weighted matrix
for a little attribute analysis. But most of us do that in our heads
anyway.

Comparative tests of boat electronics?
 

On Sat, 16 Jun 2007 00:38:26 GMT, "Calif Bill"
wrote:


"HK" wrote in message
...
Calif Bill wrote:
"John H." wrote in message
...
On Fri, 15 Jun 2007 18:15:20 -0400, HK wrote:

Snipped


I have a friend who is boat shopping right now...
Harry, is Donnie buying a boat? Or are you really trying to convince
someone you've got another friend?

That was not nice.


No one cares what Herring posts.

And only Don gives credence to what you post.


That was not nice.

Comparative tests of boat electronics?
 

On Sat, 16 Jun 2007 00:43:35 GMT, Short Wave Sportfishing
wrote:

I'm kind of constrained to units that
use the Navionics package in the CF card format - I have a lot of
money invested in Navionics Gold and Platinum CF cards and I don't
want to lose that investment.

I understand your issue but the technology has changed a lot and you
can now buy a single CMAP NT+ wide area chip that will cover your
entire boating area and well beyond. I'm using 3 year old Furuno
chips which have considerably less capacity than the latest and
greatest, but I can still go from south Florida to New England on 4
chips (including all of the Bahamas).

Comparative tests of boat electronics?
 

Wayne.B wrote:
On Sat, 16 Jun 2007 00:43:35 GMT, Short Wave Sportfishing
wrote:

I'm kind of constrained to units that
use the Navionics package in the CF card format - I have a lot of
money invested in Navionics Gold and Platinum CF cards and I don't
want to lose that investment.

I understand your issue but the technology has changed a lot and you
can now buy a single CMAP NT+ wide area chip that will cover your
entire boating area and well beyond. I'm using 3 year old Furuno
chips which have considerably less capacity than the latest and
greatest, but I can still go from south Florida to New England on 4
chips (including all of the Bahamas).




What sort of dip do you prefer with those chips?

My Standard Horizon plotter uses NT/NT+ chips. If you are in the C-Map
club, you can update them annually for a nominal charge. The Bay doesn't
change much, so I've only gotten one update chip. I wonder how
frequently the navigable data is updated on the chips. I know the depth
data on virtually every chart or chip I have seen over the years is out
of date, and that re-scanning depths happens infrequently.