Stand Alone Chartplotter

[gungadin]

I would like to get a stand alone chartplotter, not one that combines a fishfinder and chartplotter. Don't want too large a screen, 5 inch would be about right. I am considering a Raymarine Dragonfly 5m, it's about the right size. Any other decent ones out there and what is a good chart system for chartplotters.

 

[brutus]

I would like to get a stand alone chartplotter, not one that combines a fishfinder and chartplotter. Don't want too large a screen, 5 inch would be about right. I am considering a Raymarine Dragonfly 5m, it's about the right size. Any other decent ones out there and what is a good chart system for chartplotters.

I have a dragonfly pro 7 and use nav + charts, great litle unit

 

[scott craven]

The price on the unit is reasonable, however the chart chip for Vancouver island is very pricey at $350-$400 average
VI chip is approx $100 more than the rest.
Same for Garmin.

 

[Viking]

Lots of guys use a cheap tablet with data. Then download the navionics app and pay for the good one. Just a cheap alternative to consider.
I think @Stizzla went through this and bought a stand alone garmin. Maybe he has some fresh ideas.

 

[gungadin]

At the present I am using a small hand held Garmin, it is ok for getting to the general area where I am going, but the detail is missing when I fish structure, also it is very slow on the location updates when used in the "magnified " mode. And of course the picture is tiny. I would like one that shows contours accurately in the "magnified " mode. and updates location quicker. I do not know what that is a function of or how to read the specs on the different models.

 

[gungadin]

The price on the unit is reasonable, however the chart chip for Vancouver island is very pricey at $350-$400 average
VI chip is approx $100 more than the rest.
Same for Garmin.

From my understanding the Canadian Government holds the navigational charts for our water close to their chests, unlike the Americans and most other nations of the world. This as I understand it is the reason for the very high prices for Canadian charts.

 

[ericl]

If you want detail & speed you NEED an expensive map SD card & descent head unit.

 

[ziggy]

I had a Dragonfly a couple of years ago and it broke after about a year. The pins in the back broke off and when I sent it in to Raymarine they said, too bad your unit is toast. Apparently the Dragonfly is pretty much a throw away unit if anything major goes wrong. The impression I got when I mentioned the pin problem seemed quite common, was pretty much that you get what you pay for. Soured me on Raymarine, I switched to Lowrance.

 

[gungadin]

I had a Dragonfly a couple of years ago and it broke after about a year. The pins in the back broke off and when I sent it in to Raymarine they said, too bad your unit is toast. Apparently the Dragonfly is pretty much a throw away unit if anything major goes wrong. The impression I got when I mentioned the pin problem seemed quite common, was pretty much that you get what you pay for. Soured me on Raymarine, I switched to Lowrance.

At present I use a Lowrance fish finder (about 6 years ) and remove it everytime I finish fishing and moor the boat. The pins are still in good shape. Your experience with Raymarine is unfortunate and certainly flashes a yellow card in their direction. If they are considered a throw away product, that would be a black mark against them imo

 

[brutus]

I had a Dragonfly a couple of years ago and it broke after about a year. The pins in the back broke off and when I sent it in to Raymarine they said, too bad your unit is toast. Apparently the Dragonfly is pretty much a throw away unit if anything major goes wrong. The impression I got when I mentioned the pin problem seemed quite common, was pretty much that you get what you pay for. Soured me on Raymarine, I switched to Lowrance.

Dragonfly is there low end units, there are defitly on the cheap side, when you say the pins you mean the power cord pins???you must be litle rough on it lol, i have a c90w as my main unit and it perform better then any lowrance i ever add

 

[turbomack]

As a secondary Nav system i run an Ipad with the INAVX app and a bad elf remote bluetooth gps. seems pretty acccurate and cost effective. Charts are by Navionics. It turns the ipad into a fully functioning chart plotter.

 

[ziggy]

Dragonfly is there low end units, there are defitly on the cheap side, when you say the pins you mean the power cord pins???you must be litle rough on it lol, i have a c90w as my main unit and it perform better then any lowrance i ever add

Yeah the male pins at the back. The Raymarine tech said you should just leave the unit plugged in and the pins won’t break? I replied if I left in the box it would likely last forever. With my boat moored in a marina year round, leaving the unit out seemed to be asking for trouble. I did some research and it was a common complaint with the Dragonfly and I understand they may have been forced to modify the units because of it. At any rate while I liked the unit, the after sales service was atrocious and I’ll never buy one of their products because of that.

 

[Stizzla]

Lots of guys use a cheap tablet with data. Then download the navionics app and pay for the good one. Just a cheap alternative to consider.
I think @Stizzla went through this and bought a stand alone garmin. Maybe he has some fresh ideas.

That’s exactly right. 10” map and a crystal clear 7” fish finder. There’s no reason why I SHOULD lose cannonballs and not catch fish... But I still do.

 

[Oly1]

Thats a talent alright. lol

Oly

 

[Stosh]

I’ve used an older IPad with the navionics app, and a Garmin Glo Bluetooth receiver. Works great, and nice screen size. The receiver was $100 when I bought it years ago. Has GPS and Russian satellites

 

[bones]

Have you looked to see if your area is mapped on the social site. This would allow you to use a lowrance and not bother with a card.

 

[Tyler Brinks]

I would like to get a stand alone chartplotter, not one that combines a fishfinder and chartplotter. Don't want too large a screen, 5 inch would be about right. I am considering a Raymarine Dragonfly 5m, it's about the right size. Any other decent ones out there and what is a good chart system for chartplotters.

Another option that is similar to what others have said is to get the Vexilar SonarPhone and combine it with the Navionics app. It's very inexpensive and seems to work pretty well. You see the sonar as well as map right on your tablet.

 

[Burban]

I use Navionics on a Samsung tablet along with my Hook 7" Lowrance for sounding. The extra real estate on the tablet is amazing, and the Navionics app has tons of detail. Super happy with the setup.

 

[Stizzla]

So... I’m finding my tablet (map) has a tough time keeping direction at slow speeds. I also find it doesn’t show that many depths and the ones that do are off by 30-40 feet.
I’m thinking now I should just add a second fishfinder/ plotter to just handle the map and have my current one for the depth sounder.
I see this on amazon and I think it looks like a nice, detailed map. Good price. Also very good reviews.

What chip do I need for Vancouver island? Am I on the right track?

 

[cracked_ribs]

I use Navionics on a Samsung tablet along with my Hook 7" Lowrance for sounding. The extra real estate on the tablet is amazing, and the Navionics app has tons of detail. Super happy with the setup.

I do literally exactly this. Samsung Tab something with navionics, onboard GPS and saved local maps requires no data. Lowrance hook 7 for fish finder. Toal cost for the entire setup was about $450.