PC Based navigation and radar and ...

[tjshuler]

I have always been impressed (that is not necessarily a good thing) by the high cost of flat screen chart plotters out there. Many thousands for basically a proprietary personal computer and flat screen.

I am presently looking at purchasing a personal computer with a solid state hard drive. Tiki navigation software and a Garmin USB GPS antenna for navigation. All NOAA charts in raster format are free for download now.

Garmin has PC based radar also for under 1K.

May also look into PC based engine management software in the future, but right now all analog gauges work.

Add webcams for security so I can check out da boat when I am not there.

All of this may require more than 1 computer, but it is still a much less expensive way to do all of this, I think?

Yes, I will still have a hand held GPS and hard copies of all charts wherever I go.

When I bought my 43DC 14 years ago, I bought Nobeltec software and plugged in my handheld GPS when I took my new aquisition from St Clair MI to Grand Haven, MI. Worked great and got us there without issue. That was a 600 mile ride in 3 days.

Has anyone else decided to take this route for navigation and radar?

 

[Boatsb]

Save your money. Garmin has an 18" dome thats already out of date and mostly sold to blowboaters.

it is not PC based. It is connected via a cat5 cable and there are hacks for software. Open cpn I think.

a pc is not a good navionics device. As a chart plotter its somewhat useful but not as reliable as purp9se built electronics. Its not water proof or shock proof nor is it supported by Garmin.

If you want a cheap radar furuno makes an 18" dome and head for $1500 or so.

Im sure ill get a note from this but.


It's a Hatteras not an oday. Be a man and do it right. Your boat deserves that. And when you need it most chances are real good that a conventional system will not be the thing that lets you down.

 

[Boatnut]

The pc based equipment is very popular with some people. One thing to note, if you have a bridge and want to use a pc based unit, you might find viewing the pc in daylight difficult. The brightness is not there, the measure of brightness in a nit, the higher the nit rating the brighter the display. I have not looked into a multi function monitor to feed everything into, it may be a less expensive solution.

 

[tjshuler]

Just trying not to throw money at a nameplate. I work in the industrial controls business. They do the same thing. Big bucks and it comes with a really nice nameplate, but I have often done the same for my clients for a fraction of the cost.

I know my laptop does not have the nits in full sun. I have a towel for that. I also have a really nice lead on a LED display that is 1500 NITS that I will have as part of this configuration. That is right up there with the sunlight readable displays, I thinK?

So other than throwing money at a nameplate and sunlight readable, what am I missing. I know I have a Hatteras, but that doesn't mean I need to feed money to something that I can do reasonably for substantially less.

Provides more funds for diesel fuel!

No disrespect intended, I just don't see the value of the highfalutin packages out there.

 

[Boatsb]

Just trying not to throw money at a nameplate. I work in the industrial controls business. They do the same thing. Big bucks and it comes with a really nice nameplate, but I have often done the same for my clients for a fraction of the cost.

I know my laptop does not have the nits in full sun. I have a towel for that. I also have a really nice lead on a LED display that is 1500 NITS that I will have as part of this configuration. That is right up there with the sunlight readable displays, I thinK?

So other than throwing money at a nameplate and sunlight readable, what am I missing. I know I have a Hatteras, but that doesn't mean I need to feed money to something that I can do reasonably for substantially less.

Provides more funds for diesel fuel!

No disrespect intended, I just don't see the value of the highfalutin packages out there.

12 volt power, small kernel based os for reliability. No moving parts. Water proof. Interfaces with other devices fully, tech support, far better user interfaces. Sunlight readable. Mountable. Secure connections. Abyc and cg approved construction and materials.....

I have years of working with amx and crestron control systems and can not make as user friendly or reliable interface myself. There is some value to all the r and d that garmin, furuno and others put into it.

By the way I install many systems each year. Having a computer alongside is one thing. Making it your main system never works as well as people think it will. Especially on boats under 50 foot with exposed areas and humidity.

 

[Pascal]

It really depends on how you use your boat and the setup

I have seen many new owners talked into spending thousands of dollars on electronics they don't will never need and features the will never used when as you said money could have been better spent

If you have an enclosed helm like so many hatt MY, there is no reason not to use a computer or tablet there. On a open FB, even with a Bimini the average laptop will be very hard to read and too exposed. By the time you spend $$ for a notebook capable of handling this you re better off with with a marine plotter

Now if all you do is short weekend trips in good conditions, a tablet can be all you need... Most boaters never run at night or in fog so radar may not even be needed. Obviously in areas prone to sudden fog like New England you need radar... But for instance here in Florida 90% of boaters don't need one yet they are talked into it. And usually don't know how to use it.

I have used a PC for nav for years, in an enclosed sky lounge. I ve used seaclearII, openCPN then polar navy which I prefer. Thousands and thousands of miles and never a hick up

About a year ago I switched to an ipad with garmin Blucharts and love it. I have a lifeproof cover (waterproof to 6'). Only downsides are that while usable in the sun it is not as readable as a marine plotter and if left in direct sunlight it will shut down because of heat.

But the charts and build in GPS are as accurate as any marine unit and much easier to use.

There are a number of other benefits such as been able to do other things like plying music, checking weather and also not being tied to one location when planning the next days. You can take it elsewhere more comfortable on the boat. Finally at night you can take it down below a dues it as an anchor alarm

So there are many benefits but again it depends on your boat and usage

 

[Boatnut]

Well put Scott, pc for back up. I prefer dedicated units, a single monitor always makes me wonder, if the monitor fails I'll loose everything.

I have to agree that many uneducated owners buy equipment and never learn to use it properly. Radar is one that fer people know how to use, not to mention what would happen should an accident occur. The rules state if you have a radar you should have a certificate to prove you know how to use it. If it is on the boat it has to be turned on. As for radar in Florida, I wouldn't be without one. Granted we don't get a lot of fog like New England, but we sure get our share of thunder storms with winds,using radar to see these storms approaching is a great tool. We have avoided many storms using thew radar.

 

[captainwjm]

Here's another recommendation for Polar Navy.

 

[thoward]

Depends if you run outside the ICW and/or need other utilities. The Garmin has a radar overlay, XM radio/weather, depth sounder, water temps, radar, auto pilot, bathy charts, pics of inlets and much more. I think their newest unit has bluetooth.?.

 

[Pascal]

I ve never been a big fan of cramming too much data on one screen starting with radar overlay as I rarely want both the plotter and radar on the same scale. Same with depth, better have it on a separate display and AUto pilot

As too weather nowadays when in range of cell towers, I prefer having it on a separate device whether tablet or smart phone than cluttering the nav screen

Yes Marine radar comes in handy to track thunderstorms but again you are going to track these a much longer range than your plotter so overlays are useless

 

[Boatsb]

Why not have networked screens. Then you can combine or not, reposition as needed or have a redundant system .

 

[thoward]

I ve never been a big fan of cramming too much data on one screen starting with radar overlay as I rarely want both the plotter and radar on the same scale. Same with depth, better have it on a separate display and AUto pilot

As too weather nowadays when in range of cell towers, I prefer having it on a separate device whether tablet or smart phone than cluttering the nav screen

Yes Marine radar comes in handy to track thunderstorms but again you are going to track these a much longer range than your plotter so overlays are useless

Sounds like you need to go offshore a little more

Radar overlay is great for navigating inlets at night and in bad weather.
Autopilot is one of my favorite integrated features, simple as touch and go.(uses no room on MFD)
Weather overlay gives the ability to accurately navigate areas based on SSTs.(it's a fishing thing)
Integrated sounder allows you to scroll back and mark a spot based on the sounder recordings.
(I do run 2 MFDs)

If you are fair weather pleasure boater running the ditch then get a iPad with the Navionics app and call it a day. If you are going offshore especially at night then use the best tools available for the job.

 

[GJH]

Boy, this ends up being such a personal thing. And to echo others, how and where you are cruising makes a big difference.

I'm like Pascal, I hate cramming the screen with a bunch of info, and especially don't like radar overlay. I bought a boat that had a Furuno networked system that drove two 17" screens in the pilot house, so I could have pure full screen radar on one screen when I really needed it and all the other stuff, including the plotter on the other. Great set up. When I really needed radar, the plotter was tertiary in importance. I wanted to know what was really out there, and where exactly it was not, what was theoretically there. Of course I had the advantage of two screens, so it was easy to glance over to the other for reference. We also always had the paper chart book open at the helm. Up on the FB we had a single 19" so splitting the screen was like having two ten inchers if need be.

Getting a matte, anti glare screen is as important as brightness. Ours were standard Acer PC monitors, 300 nits. The FB unit on a RAM mount which combined with the flip up cabinet cover, made it pretty visibly once adjusted, from the helm seat. I would have like something a little more "marine" up there, but never got around to it. The MacBooks with their glossy screens were worthless up there, and almost worthless under many light conditions down in the pilot house.

I am a gear kind of guy, so also had two Macs (iMac and Macbook) on board each using MacEnc and feeding off a bluetooth GPS, or the Furuno system, or a separate GPS receiver. I only used the Macs as a backup, and planning tool, which they were really nice for, but never to "drive the boat". Too fragile, too finicky as they demonstrated on a few occasions, including early death after three or four years for both. I now some very experienced cruisers who solely rely on PC navigation, but they all have at least two machines.

 

[Pascal]

I don't see how a plotter and autopilot should be integrated.... Personally I like entering a heading in the autopilot and I don't need any fancy network for that. I guess I m old fashioned.

I would never want to overlay radar and plotter when running an inlet at night, never. I want the redundancy. I do a lot of night time running, in fact last week I had to come in to rudder cut in the lower exumas at night. Ever been there? No lights, no markers, no buoys. It s a pretty narrow by US inlet standard. I was glad to have the furuno radar on one Display and an independent iPad with bluechart knowing that should either one fail I could still come in... Plus my iPhone also running bluecharts as a back up.

With a single overlay display, just one failure could have been a disaster. Why woudl I want to do that...

Ever come into cat cay at night. It s not a straight shot, it s like an S and you have to be within 100' of unlit, unmarked rocks (south shore of gun cay)... Again, I woudl never try it with a single networked MFD but with dual fully independent plotters / tablet and independent radar it s pretty safe,

And why would I want to scroll back the depth finder? I care about what I have under the boat not what was there 15 seconds ago... I don't fish so I have no idea what th benefits are, I more focused on navigation than tools to satisfy a hobby like fishing.

Now when offshore at night, which I do quite a bit, I never run the radar and plotter on the same scale so overlay does me no good. Typically if offshore I will have the plotters on fairly long range but I will switch the radar range up and down quite a bit, like to find and check the bearings of the big targets Like ships bearing down on me at 20kts that I will have to stear clear of. Approaching an inlet, I m ay want to zoom in with the radar to make sure I see small fishing boats while keeping the bigger picture of the inlet a ile away on the plotter. So again,overlay is useless. It s cool but useless.

 

[drburke]

Just wanted to chime in with a plug for Nobeltec; I have been exceedingly pleased with the 3D and radar overlay (but shown as split screen in image). Heading, sounder, etc. can come and go from the side of the screen or be pinned. A daylight visible monitor is a must (and will eventually replace the laptop). RadarPC is available in Europe but not here anymore--this is a great alternative.

Ethernet interface is a big deal in this case. Most (all?) small radomes are re-branded Koden, and lower end open arrays are re-branded Antritsu (info from the SiTex chief technician). Owning the Nobeltec unlock for ethernet very likely will let you display high-end Furuno (will try that someday). Nobeltec was purchased by MaxSea, and in turn Furuno bought 50% of MaxSea, thus TimeZero and NavNet3D are based on the same core product.

DAN