ATTN: SW Tom
 

Short Waisted Tom?

Anyway, I'd like to get a dialogue going about specific
GPS/Chartplotters. You mentioned last week you had heard some "horror"
stories about Lowrance. We are gravitating towards that brand and
towards a Standard Horizon. Both companies have 7" horizontal units that
sell for well under a large, seem not overburdened by silly features,
and seem to work smoothly and almost logically.

The problem, as always, is finding a store that has a large number of
units side by side so you can fiddle with them.

What are you using now, and what have you tried?

The unit will be mounted either inside an electronics cabinet on a
center console or on top of the console and removed from the boat when
the latter is not in use.

We've pretty much decided to go with a handheld VHF only.

Still undecided about a fishfinder.

Your turn...

ATTN: SW Tom
 

On Sun, 24 Jun 2007 08:12:28 -0400, HK wrote:

Anyway, I'd like to get a dialogue going about specific
GPS/Chartplotters. You mentioned last week you had heard some "horror"
stories about Lowrance. We are gravitating towards that brand and
towards a Standard Horizon. Both companies have 7" horizontal units that
sell for well under a large, seem not overburdened by silly features,
and seem to work smoothly and almost logically.

Please understand that anything I say is strictly anecdotal based on
conversations with owners and a couple of dealers I know. I have no
direct personal experience with Lowrance's newer units.

The problem as I understand it is that Lowrance quality is hit or
miss. When they work, they work fine, when they don't, it's a
problem. You send the units back, reportedly fixed, get it back on
the boat, it's still broken. Parts mixups. DOAs. Lost units.
Customer support from Lowrance reps isn't terrific.

As I said, anecdotal - I have no direct experience with any of this. I
trust the information because these folks aren't prone to
exaggeration. One dealer that I know very well told me that the
Lowrance DOA rate on their boats was pretty significant.

It could just be a bad batch of units, but in my small boat world, the
sample is getting greater every year - you keep hearing more and more
complaints.

As to all-in-one units, Standard is a sound name. I've never heard
anything bad about Standard which is kind of unusual.

I have old style DS600 Raymarine sonar and use a Raymarine RC400
handheld GPS in a fixed mount on the console - justwaitafreakinminute
has seen the setup - it's pretty simple.

I prefer Raymarine, but they don't really have anything that would be
similarly priced to the Standard - the C series display w/sonar/GPS is
a good, but pricey. And I've heard odd things about Raymarine
recently too - nothing horrible. They've always been very good to me
and I can't complain.

That help any?

ATTN: SW Tom
 

Short Wave Sportfishing wrote:
On Sun, 24 Jun 2007 08:12:28 -0400, HK wrote:

Anyway, I'd like to get a dialogue going about specific
GPS/Chartplotters. You mentioned last week you had heard some "horror"
stories about Lowrance. We are gravitating towards that brand and
towards a Standard Horizon. Both companies have 7" horizontal units that
sell for well under a large, seem not overburdened by silly features,
and seem to work smoothly and almost logically.

Please understand that anything I say is strictly anecdotal based on
conversations with owners and a couple of dealers I know. I have no
direct personal experience with Lowrance's newer units.

The problem as I understand it is that Lowrance quality is hit or
miss. When they work, they work fine, when they don't, it's a
problem. You send the units back, reportedly fixed, get it back on
the boat, it's still broken. Parts mixups. DOAs. Lost units.
Customer support from Lowrance reps isn't terrific.

As I said, anecdotal - I have no direct experience with any of this. I
trust the information because these folks aren't prone to
exaggeration. One dealer that I know very well told me that the
Lowrance DOA rate on their boats was pretty significant.

It could just be a bad batch of units, but in my small boat world, the
sample is getting greater every year - you keep hearing more and more
complaints.

As to all-in-one units, Standard is a sound name. I've never heard
anything bad about Standard which is kind of unusual.

I have old style DS600 Raymarine sonar and use a Raymarine RC400
handheld GPS in a fixed mount on the console - justwaitafreakinminute
has seen the setup - it's pretty simple.

I prefer Raymarine, but they don't really have anything that would be
similarly priced to the Standard - the C series display w/sonar/GPS is
a good, but pricey. And I've heard odd things about Raymarine
recently too - nothing horrible. They've always been very good to me
and I can't complain.

That help any?

ATTN: SW Tom
 

On Sun, 24 Jun 2007 16:27:13 -0400, HK wrote:

Short Wave Sportfishing wrote:
On Sun, 24 Jun 2007 08:12:28 -0400, HK wrote:

Anyway, I'd like to get a dialogue going about specific
GPS/Chartplotters. You mentioned last week you had heard some "horror"
stories about Lowrance. We are gravitating towards that brand and
towards a Standard Horizon. Both companies have 7" horizontal units that
sell for well under a large, seem not overburdened by silly features,
and seem to work smoothly and almost logically.

Please understand that anything I say is strictly anecdotal based on
conversations with owners and a couple of dealers I know. I have no
direct personal experience with Lowrance's newer units.

The problem as I understand it is that Lowrance quality is hit or
miss. When they work, they work fine, when they don't, it's a
problem. You send the units back, reportedly fixed, get it back on
the boat, it's still broken. Parts mixups. DOAs. Lost units.
Customer support from Lowrance reps isn't terrific.

As I said, anecdotal - I have no direct experience with any of this. I
trust the information because these folks aren't prone to
exaggeration. One dealer that I know very well told me that the
Lowrance DOA rate on their boats was pretty significant.

It could just be a bad batch of units, but in my small boat world, the
sample is getting greater every year - you keep hearing more and more
complaints.

As to all-in-one units, Standard is a sound name. I've never heard
anything bad about Standard which is kind of unusual.

I have old style DS600 Raymarine sonar and use a Raymarine RC400
handheld GPS in a fixed mount on the console - justwaitafreakinminute
has seen the setup - it's pretty simple.

I prefer Raymarine, but they don't really have anything that would be
similarly priced to the Standard - the C series display w/sonar/GPS is
a good, but pricey. And I've heard odd things about Raymarine
recently too - nothing horrible. They've always been very good to me
and I can't complain.

That help any?

Speechless huh?

I have that effect on people sometimes. :)

ATTN: SW Tom
 

Short Wave Sportfishing wrote:
On Sun, 24 Jun 2007 16:27:13 -0400, HK wrote:

Short Wave Sportfishing wrote:
On Sun, 24 Jun 2007 08:12:28 -0400, HK wrote:

Anyway, I'd like to get a dialogue going about specific
GPS/Chartplotters. You mentioned last week you had heard some "horror"
stories about Lowrance. We are gravitating towards that brand and
towards a Standard Horizon. Both companies have 7" horizontal units that
sell for well under a large, seem not overburdened by silly features,
and seem to work smoothly and almost logically.
Please understand that anything I say is strictly anecdotal based on
conversations with owners and a couple of dealers I know. I have no
direct personal experience with Lowrance's newer units.

The problem as I understand it is that Lowrance quality is hit or
miss. When they work, they work fine, when they don't, it's a
problem. You send the units back, reportedly fixed, get it back on
the boat, it's still broken. Parts mixups. DOAs. Lost units.
Customer support from Lowrance reps isn't terrific.

As I said, anecdotal - I have no direct experience with any of this. I
trust the information because these folks aren't prone to
exaggeration. One dealer that I know very well told me that the
Lowrance DOA rate on their boats was pretty significant.

It could just be a bad batch of units, but in my small boat world, the
sample is getting greater every year - you keep hearing more and more
complaints.

As to all-in-one units, Standard is a sound name. I've never heard
anything bad about Standard which is kind of unusual.

I have old style DS600 Raymarine sonar and use a Raymarine RC400
handheld GPS in a fixed mount on the console - justwaitafreakinminute
has seen the setup - it's pretty simple.

I prefer Raymarine, but they don't really have anything that would be
similarly priced to the Standard - the C series display w/sonar/GPS is
a good, but pricey. And I've heard odd things about Raymarine
recently too - nothing horrible. They've always been very good to me
and I can't complain.

That help any?

Speechless huh?

I have that effect on people sometimes. :)


Every anecdotal bit helps. We may go with Standard Horizon again; it's
what I have as a GPS Plotter on Yo Ho. So far, we are undecided on combo
vs. individual units. Hell, I'm not even sure what color adds on a
fishfinder. I remember catching too many fish using my old greytone
Lowrance: stuff in the water column looks like stuff in the water
column, no matter what color it is.

ATTN: SW Tom
 

On Sun, 24 Jun 2007 17:05:29 -0400, HK wrote:

Hell, I'm not even sure what color adds on a fishfinder.

In today's market, everthing is pretty much DSP and you get much
better definition. Color allows you to "see" a little better if you
will - you can detail debris vs fish for example just by looking at
the size and density as represented by the colors. That's not the
case with grayscale displays.

When I switched, it made a big difference.

ATTN: SW Tom
 

Short Wave Sportfishing wrote:
On Sun, 24 Jun 2007 17:05:29 -0400, HK wrote:

Hell, I'm not even sure what color adds on a fishfinder.

In today's market, everthing is pretty much DSP and you get much
better definition. Color allows you to "see" a little better if you
will - you can detail debris vs fish for example just by looking at
the size and density as represented by the colors. That's not the
case with grayscale displays.

When I switched, it made a big difference.


Not for me. I have a Furuno color fishfinder on Yo Ho in the cabin, and
a grayscale Lowrance out on the second steering station in the cockpit.
Visually I prefer the latter. Shows bottom structure to me a bit better.

ATTN: SW Tom
 

"HK" wrote in message
...
Short Wave Sportfishing wrote:
On Sun, 24 Jun 2007 17:05:29 -0400, HK wrote:

Hell, I'm not even sure what color adds on a fishfinder.

In today's market, everthing is pretty much DSP and you get much
better definition. Color allows you to "see" a little better if you
will - you can detail debris vs fish for example just by looking at
the size and density as represented by the colors. That's not the
case with grayscale displays.

When I switched, it made a big difference.


Not for me. I have a Furuno color fishfinder on Yo Ho in the cabin, and a
grayscale Lowrance out on the second steering station in the cockpit.
Visually I prefer the latter. Shows bottom structure to me a bit better.


That's another decision for me. I had planned on installing a modestly
priced depth guage on my Sandpiper 565... but some of the other owners have
had good luck with a Hummingbird fish finder. I'll see what's available
with an in-hull transducer.

Now a compass... I was looking for a suitable bulkhead installed Ritchie...
but my favourite marine store has the Plastimo mini-Contest on sale at
$40.00 off.
I see it comes with a 5 year warranty.. so I may take advantage of this
sale.
http://ca.binnacle.com/product_info....roducts_id=129

ATTN: SW Tom
 

On Sun, 24 Jun 2007 08:12:28 -0400, HK wrote:

Anyway, I'd like to get a dialogue going about specific
GPS/Chartplotters.

Go to an area that has a lot of commercial fishermen and take a look
at what they are using.

Can you spell F U R U N O?

Their stuff works, and works well. Best electronics investment I ever
made.