Flybridge Chartplotter Dilemma

[Jim Cooper]

I am thinking of installing a new flybridge chartplotter and have narrowed my choice down to Furuno GP1870F and Sitex SVS1010C, both have internal antenna with external option. I am leaning toward the Sitex unit only because of the 10" screen vs. the Furuno's 7" wide screen. This is a complete standalone (backup) configuration.

Can anyone comment on both or one of these units?

 

[tpbrady]

What do you have down below? I say that because, if it can networked through N2K or manufacturer network you might be able to share data and devices (transducers, radar, GPS sensors) without a whole lot of effort. I had a similar setup and it was great to share waypoints, routes, and transducers by running only a single cable. I didn't have that manufacturers radar but that you could have done that also.

Tom

 

[Jim Cooper]

What do you have down below? I say that because, if it can networked through N2K or manufacturer network you might be able to share data and devices (transducers, radar, GPS sensors) without a whole lot of effort. I had a similar setup and it was great to share waypoints, routes, and transducers by running only a single cable. I didn't have that manufacturers radar but that you could have done that also.

Tom

That's the interesting part...I already have both Furuno and Sitex electronics below and up top. I was thinking this particular unit would be solely a standalone backup plotter for the bridge, both units have an internal antenna and an option to connect to my existing WAAS antennas.

 

[Peter B]

That's the interesting part...I already have both Furuno and Sitex electronics below and up top. I was thinking this particular unit would be solely a standalone backup plotter for the bridge, both units have an internal antenna and an option to connect to my existing WAAS antennas.

I regard my iPad with Navionics &/or iSailor on it I take up top, as my back-up to the main GPS down below. How much redundancy do you really need..?

 

[Capt.Bill11]

Can anyone comment on both or one of these units?

I've installed and used a number of Sitex units.

I and my clients like them, found them easy to use with a lot of bang for your buck.

And in my opinion the bigger the screen the better.

 

[Capt Kangeroo]

The Sitex unit reads/plots both C-Map & navionics, the Furuno only C-Map.

I think if it were me and the unit was strictly for redundant backup, I would go with a plotter that used whichever charts that your main units did not. ie: if your main units are using navionics or c-map charts, I would have a redundant unit that will accept SD cards and can read the official NOAA raster & vector charts. (laptop, Ipad, etc) It seems pointless to me to have redundancy in electronics without redundancy in the charts you can use.

Quite frankly I think that the days of these "proprietary" ECDIS systems and chart distributors (read bandits) are numbered anyway. With the US leading the way, many of the worlds Hydrographic offices today produce charts in both vector and raster. A growing number are now free, all are easily updated from anywhere at anytime and the accuracy can not be beat. Why would anybody today choose to lock themselves in with expensive hardware purposefully designed so that it can only read some expensive goofy chart card or format. (C-Map has this down to an art form)

Oops, sorry folks, got a little off topic there, a wee bit of a personal pet peeve of mine In any case my vote for a redundant plotter would be one that could read and plot multiple formats or at least normal Enc's and Rnc's.

 

[Jim Cooper]

The Sitex unit reads/plots both C-Map & navionics, the Furuno only C-Map.

I think if it were me and the unit was strictly for redundant backup, I would go with a plotter that used whichever charts that your main units did not. ie: if your main units are using navionics or c-map charts, I would have a redundant unit that will accept SD cards and can read the official NOAA raster & vector charts. (laptop, Ipad, etc) It seems pointless to me to have redundancy in electronics without redundancy in the charts you can use.

Agree 100%...I believe the SiTex unit will meet those criteria and as Bill mentioned, it also has the larger screen. You just don't run into that many recreational boaters using SiTex for whatever reason although I've enjoyed their chartplotters on past and present boats.

I also do not believe there is as much a price tag associated with the SiTex name as there is with Furuno even though they appear to be very similar in function and capability.

 

[MVDarlin]

Seems a wasre of money to use anything but NOAA charts in the US

 

[tpbrady]

I find in SE Alaska, the rendering of the C-Map charts is better in many situations than the NOAA vector charts. I never have like the raster charts on a display. Running Coastal Explorer I often run two windows, one with the C-Map charts and the other NOAA vector charts. I don't know if you can do that on a Furuno or Sitex chartplotter.

Tom