New chart plotter...

[domino]

Following the trip out on Blue Warrior last saturday (Thanks again, Adam)... I was very impressed by the Garmin 182c plotter.

 

As my 'old' mono plotter is still playing up... and with the Boat Show looming, with the chance of a 'good deal'... and I won't ask for anything else 'til christmas...

 

I have been having a quick search on the internet to get an idea of prices and I see that Garmin now have a 'New' model, the 172c.

 

Using the Comparison Facility on their website, they both seem very similar, with the obvious exception of the slightly smaller display and the price.

 

I was wondering if anybody else had looked at the 172c and had any comments.

 

Cheers, Alan

[Adam F]

Interesting....I hadnt seen the 176, until now.

 

I have had a look at the comparison table, and the only 2 main areas differing are the size of the screen, and something about the display, the 182 being LCD and the 176 being 256 CSTN whatever that means.

 

The rest is comparable. Personally, Id research like made on prices before the show (I bought mine from Belgum, mail order for about

[Bob F]

The 172C has a CSTN display, which is short for color super-twist nematic, an LCD technology developed by Sharp Electronics Corporation.

 

Unlike TFT (like on the 182C), CSTN is based on a passive matrix, which is less expensive to produce. The original CSTN displays developed in the early 90's suffered from slow response times and ghosting. Recent advances in the technology, however, have made CSTN a viable alternative to active-matrix display (like on the 182C).

 

New CSTN displays offer 100ms response times, a 140 degree viewing angle, and high-quality color rivaling TFT displays (like on the 182C)- all at about half the cost.

 

However, the TFT technology (182C) provides the best resolution of all the flat-panel techniques, amd is daylight viewable, but it is the most expensive.

 

TFT has an active matrix type of flat-panel display in which the screen is refreshed more frequently than in conventional passive-matrix displays. The two terms, active matrix and TFT, are often used interchangeably.

 

So, the way I see it, the 172C has a smaller, less expensive display which may be more difficult to see in day light. The 172C display needs an adjustable backlight to allow you to manually alter the display so you can see it in sunlight. The big advantage of the 182C is that the dislplay is daylight viewable, meaning you can see it at all times without having to make any adjustments.

 

I haven't seen the 172C display side by side with the 182C, but my guess is that the 182C will be better, but you really need to see them in sunlight to show how much better the 182C is. The 172C has 256 colours versus 16 colours on the 182C but I don't think this is much of an advantage for the 172C because the charts don't use more than 16 colours, anyway.

 

Having said all of this, the CSTN technology has come on in leaps and bounds in recent years, so they might be a lot closer to the 182C.

 

Another difference I noticed was that the 172C has 10,000 tracklog points compared to 2,500 on the 182C. This isn't a real big deal, but it will mean you will use up the tracklog memory on the 182C quicker, and so have to clear it more often. Again, this isn't a big deal unless you do a lot of high resolution tracking.

 

Bob F.

 

[domino]

Bob,

 

Thanks for the info on the display, I think I'll probably stick to trying to find the best deal on the 182c.

 

So far, the place that Adam bought his from is still looking the cheapest at

[Bob F]

Yeh, best to wait until you've seen them both. I think the bigger screen on the 182C will prove to be the better buy. Go for the biggest screen you can when it comes to plotters.

 

Bob F.

 

[great white]

have a good look at the show

 

I bought my colour lowrance [5000c] at the London show and the discounted price included the south coast cartridge[ About

[Coddy]

Hi Whippet

 

Here are some suggested prices and locations

 

UK

 

JG Technologies Ltd - Weymouth

www.jgtech.co.uk

182 Internal Aerial -

[Paul D]

I was looking at the 176 when I got my plotter. I opted for the mono one and imported mine from the States ( Big regret not getting the colour one ).

Still superb though - I got the 188 which is the same as the 182 but with a fishfinder built in as well.

 

I got mine from www.boatfix.com but had it shipped to a ffriend in the states and hand carried over.

 

Also the other thing I would do differently would be to get one with an external antenna instead of a built in antenna. The internal antenna works OK but I think the signal would be improved if I had an external one ( I still have problems picking up the WAAS/EGNOS signal usingthe internal antenna.

 

Regarding map cartridges the cheapest I found was from Pumpkin marine ( I got Adam's his from there as well )

[Maverick Martin]

Regarding screen sizes, in this case big is definitely beautiful , less redrawing and more detail on screen. Black and white versus colour I would say no contest, I have regretted getting b&w although the set I have is a great improvement on my previous gps which by the way I kept as a back up and still use regularly

 

At the end of the day you pays yer money and makes your choice. All will do the job its just that some are nicer and easier to use than others

 

Try http://www.redcar-fish.co.uk maybe not the cheapest but they are very helpful with good after sales support

 

Martin