I was faced with a similar choice. I also use CE as my primary nav system. I chose a Furuno VX2 chartplotter/radar for several reasons-
- The Furuno provides a complete redundant system, I can drive the AP and operate with complete functionality if the PC goes TU.
- The Furuno can do radar overlay, ARPA that sends the tracked target to CE. It also has a DFF-1 networked depth sounder that displays fish finder, also ports any/all data to CE.
- The Furuno echos the active waypoint from CE's activated route, I can upload routes from CE to the Furuno, or vice versa.
- CE runs on a 12V mini-ITX computer with a solid state hard drive, the monitor is 19" in the pilothouse, 12" on the FB.
- All data interface connections are NMEA other than the VX2 ethernet, an Actisense NDC-4 provides multiplexing and USB output to the PC. The system can also connect to the laptop as a further redundancy.
As a full-time cruiser with close to 30,000 miles cruised, I shudder to think of trying to manage routes with the 35 waypoint limitation, let alone trying to implement route planning with the funky Furuno track ball. I'm a huge CE fan, and give it a huge recommendation as a primary system. No standalone chartplotter IMO, can come even close to the capabilities of CE for route planning as well as ease of use underway.