Coastal explorer vs nobeltec

[Gbonas]

Recently purchased boat with 15 year old electronics. Been using ipad for local(san Juan's, Gulf islands) cruising. Thinking of going to either coastal explorer or nobeltec on either PC or Mac. Want to integrate ais and possibly radar. Recommendations???

 

[N4712]

If you want to integrate radar Nobletec is the way to go. But you must have a Furuno MFD on the network, although they just came out with a package that includes a newly introduced to work with Nobletec without needing an MFD.

I have CE and iv'e been happy with it.

 

[Donsan]

Jeffery of Active Captain recently made a post that made me aware of Polar View. I have been trialing it on my desktop at home and find it impressive. I haven't tried it on the boat yet or with AIS but it gives me the impression it will interface with AIS, GPS and other devices if you have them all on a WiFi network. What I am liking about Polar View is for $50, you get 5 licenses and it supports PCs, Macs and iPhone/iPad devices. That is a real plus to us since the Admiral uses a Mac, I use a PC, we both use iPads and iPhones. The licenses allow use on multiple platforms. I will probably purchase it.

I have also looked at OpenCPN on my PC and Navionics on my iPad. I found OpenCPN slow and clunky. Navionics works great. Not sure what other platforms it supports or how it is licensed for different platforms.

 

[Boydski]

If you want to integrate radar Nobletec is the way to go. But you must have a Furuno MFD on the network.

Hi Oliver,

Are you sure about the Furuno MFD requirement? I have a Nobletec Branded (Koden) radar array that talks via ethernet directly to my Nobletec PC's. To my knowledge, it works without the Furuno MFD or Furuno Radar arrays being powered up. But I could be wrong (definitely not the first time).

 

[N4712]

Hi Oliver,

Are you sure about the Furuno MFD requirement? I have a Nobletec Branded (Koden) radar array that talks via ethernet directly to my Nobletec PC's. To my knowledge, it works without the Furuno MFD or Furuno Radar arrays being powered up. But I could be wrong (definitely not the first time).

The Koden (Nobletec Insight Radar) arrays are only compatible with Nobletec and will not network to Furuno's. The Nobletec radar is totally separate from the Furuno Equipment, the only thing Nobletec probably uses from Furuno Is position and heading.

 

[windmist]

Coastal Explorer will support the Koden radar and AIS and depth and in my opinion is a much better system that doesn't nickel and dime you forever as Nobeltec. The support is second to none. Give them a call and find out for yourself.


When I get the bucks, this is the way I'm going....

 

[sunchaser]

Looked at the pluses and minuses of the various plotting systems and just bought Nobeltec Trident. Also have a 9 year old Nobeltec VNS onboard. I liken this decision to would I rather have an Audi A6, Mercedes E 350, or Infiniti Q70 - my current Infiniti M has been very good which reality would likely sway the decision.

 

[Britannia]

I bought Coastal Explorer for my Alaska to California trip. I needed something and the reviews had been good. I have no other point of comparison since the last charting software I used was The Cap'n about 15 years ago.

It worked well for me - I used the free US charts that came with it and bought the British Columbia vector charts for $99. The quilting was a bit odd sometimes - with parts of the screen showing lots of detail and others not. This may have been as much to do with the charts themselves as CE - I'm not sure there. Either way it worked well for both planning and cruising.

It integrated well with the AMEC-CAMINO-108W AIS that I bought. It saw the GPS and AIS data being streamed both with USB and WiFi. Every now and again I would lose connectivity with my AIS/GPS and would end up having to restart CE in order to get everything talking again. I don't know whether this was the AIS driver, Windows or CE itself.

I liked the ability to add different panels in cruising mode - that could include AIS "radar-style" display, route info, GPS data, etc.

I hope that helps

Richard

 

[nautibeaver]

I have a Furuno/Nobeltec solution, Furuno in the Flybridge. I prefer to view the details on the nobeltec much more in the pilot house. I have had nothing but positive support from them including calling about dumb questions. I am pretty much using all features of trident. Bathy recording to re-write my maps, radar (Furuno), depth (Furuno), NMEA info (weather, position,more) and logs. Find it helpful for both fishing and underway. The graphics are incredible and runs well with my Mac mini using boot camp. I had the old VNC on my old boat and liked it too. There are a lot of features that are not needed, and the cost while somewhat relative, are much cheaper than buying black box and screens for a pure Furuno and large display Garmin systems. I have 2 copies running at the same time on 2 Mac Mini's being displayed on 3 large 21" monitors. That will spoil you. Another feature you may want to look at is the wireless Furuno radar, which I believe Nobeltec supports but will also work with their IPad app and gives you the nicest cheapest view in the market. It will overlay on the iPad app.


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