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Old 05-15-2012, 09:01 PM   #19
Scary
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City: Walnut Grove Ca
Vessel Name: Cary'D Away
Vessel Model: Hatteras 48 LRC
Join Date: Apr 2012
Posts: 887
The advantage to marine Chart plotter over PC

If you haven't experienced the advantage of being able to overlay your radar image on your chart plotter you don't know how powerful an aid this is. Any image not overlaying a feature on your chart is a radar reflection of significance. If you boat in fog or at night this should be your system of choice. Laptop software will run a radar overlay with certain radars but not all. The refresh time of your boats heading and position is slower on your lap top than on a dedicated chart plotter. Both systems utilize a heading line that gives you a visual image of your direction at any given time. This is a very useful tool when maneuvering in thick fog or the black of night. The refresh time is of importance because it gives you your heading in real time not 3-4 sec later which doesn't sound like much until your trying to guide your boat in heavy fog in a narrow channel. Having a radar overlay is conformation that things are as the chart shows and anything else needs your attention. I think the lap top with charting software is a great planning tool and a good backup for a dedicated chart plotter. If you have the room having both as I do gives you two powerful tools, but if I had to go with just one I would go with a chart plotter with the largest screen and the most powerful hd digital radar I could afford.
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