T&T: Which electronic charts?

[Michael Slater]

Hi All,

 

I have been a long time user of C-Map vector charts, starting some 20 years
ago with the CF85 cartridges, I was always pro vector charts compared to
raster as the logic of managing the data in layers is incontrovertible, in
my opinion. But vector vs raster is not the debate I want to start; I am
considering the next move in my electronics, they are 10 years old now and
sure as eggs are eggs they will start to fail and I want to be proactive in
the maintenance of the system on my boat.

 

So it seems to me that the issue of "which chart-plotter?" is not about the
hardware but primarily the quality and accuracy of the charts that it works
with. So I see the decision route starting with the electronic chart
publisher. And there's the rub for me; as a 20 year C-Map user, I am finding
the proprietary plotter market, centred on C-Map, has almost evaporated, as
it appears under Jepperson they have walked away, or maybe created non
commercial arrangements (who knows) with most manufacturers out there?
Furuno's Nav-net was originally going to be based on C-Map as all their
previous solutions and suddenly at the last minute they switched to
Navionics.

 

So how do you compare the myriad of vector chart options to find the one
that is truly the most accurate and good value, it's not like you can test
them all, you have to rely on feedback from users. A good friend of mine
told me of a discussion he had in Sweden last year when a Norwegian told my
friend that he was lucky to have C-Map. The Norwegian had Navionics and had
hit an uncharted rock, which was on the C-Map chart. 

 

So what say listees about, Navionics, Bluechart, C-Map et al? What is truly
the best vector chart publisher?

 

Michael Slater

Sally Lillian

Falmouth UK