Instrument Reccomendations

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reworb

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Apr 22, 2011
234
Beneteau 311 Ft Myers Beach
My boat was hit by a direct lightning strike, needless to say some of my electronics are toast. It had RayMarine ST40 on it (Wind and a Bidata). I never liked the ST40 Wind as it and the new i40 uses the Rotovecta wind transducer which is about as accurate as a stopped clock (twice a day). On our prior boat we had Raymarine ST50s and thought those worked pretty good.

I'm looking for recommendations for Wind, Depth and Speed; what you are satisfied with and also what you would not buy again.
 
Tim R.

Tim R.

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May 27, 2004
3,626
Caliber 40 Long Range Cruiser Portland, Maine
I am very happy with my Garmin GMI 10s. They are a multifunction display that can display info from just about any NMEA2000 transducer/sensor. Easy to install and no proprietary Seatalk network to deal with.

I installed ST60s on my previous boat and they seem like antiques compared to the Garmins. Garmin has a couple of bundles out there that have wind, speed, temp and depth with a couple of GMI 10 displays. My only gripe is that the Garmin wind sensor has no quick disconnect for the physical mount. You have to bolt it to your masthead. The NMEA connection is modular though.

With the newer multifunction displays, you no longer need a one-for-one display for each bit of data. I have speed, depth and water temp displayed on one simultaneously and wind/rudder angle on the other although that one you have to switch between the screens to see them. Not a problem as I use the rudder display while docking/anchoring and the wind display screen while sailing.
 
R

reworb

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Apr 22, 2011
234
Beneteau 311 Ft Myers Beach
I like the idea of a multifunction display however what with the shallow water around here I really like to see Depth and Wind speed and direction at the same time.
 
Scott T-Bird

Scott T-Bird

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Oct 26, 2008
6,081
Catalina 320 Barnegat, NJ
I've had a Simrad IS 12 Wind instrument for about 6 years and it has been flawless. I would buy the newer IS 20 instruments in a heartbeat. There is a quick disconnect at the mast head for the transducer. IMO, the wind instrument is indispensable. I also like separate displays for depth speed and wind, but that is probably because I am very happy with what I have ... Datamarine speed and depth displays that are also working flawlessly.
 
Mulf

Mulf

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Dec 2, 2003
400
Hunter 410 Chester, MD (Kent Island)
Replacement Cost Insurance ?

When Dreamboat suffered a "near miss" lightning damage wiped out every thing with a microchip in it. Fortunately I had Replacement Cost Insurance coverage, and my insurance company replaced every old instrument with the current version of what was destroyed. Resulted in me getting an upgrade of everything 4 years after purchased new. I suggest you check your insurance coverage.
 
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CarlN

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Jan 4, 2009
603
Ketch 55 Bristol, RI
The nice thing about the Garmin (and I believe Simrad, maybe others now) is that it has multiple "pages" (six pages in the Garmin). Pressing the right arrow takes you to the next page. After page six it goes around back to page one. There's also a left arrow key. This is a simple enough interface that even my technology prehistoric brain can handle it.

Each page can be custom defined to show 1, 2, 3 or 4 data values. So you could have wind speed, direction, depth and course on one page. A few graphical page layouts like the traditional wind analog display are fixed. But you can easily have a 4 box numeric display on one page and the wind rose graphic on the next page for when you aren't worried about depth.
 
Tim R.

Tim R.

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May 27, 2004
3,626
Caliber 40 Long Range Cruiser Portland, Maine
reworb said:
I like the idea of a multifunction display however what with the shallow water around here I really like to see Depth and Wind speed and direction at the same time.
Click to expand
The GMI 10 would allow you to have depth, wind speed and direction on one screen.
 
R

reworb

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Apr 22, 2011
234
Beneteau 311 Ft Myers Beach
Mulf said:
When Dreamboat suffered a "near miss" lightning damage wiped out every thing with a microchip in it. Fortunately I had Replacement Cost Insurance coverage, and my insurance company replaced every old instrument with the current version of what was destroyed. Resulted in me getting an upgrade of everything 4 years after purchased new. I suggest you check your insurance coverage.
Click to expand
I don't like the new version i40 as it is the same as the ST40 we don't like. The Insurance has an $1,800 deductible and the claim probably will only be for about 2,000 to 2500 and if I wait for them it will be a month before I can even start repairs.
 
L

lbertran

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Apr 12, 2010
12
Ericson 35-3 Annapolis
Furuno Instruments

We're happy with the Furuno instruments we installed three years ago. I also have a Raymarine P70 AP control head which is part of the new i70 instrument series. I think if I were installing new instruments now, I'd go with the Raymarine i70's.
 
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Tricia

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Jun 4, 2004
86
Freedom 30 Victoria, BC
I like my Nexus instruments

I have the lower end NX instruments - wireless wind, wired triducer for depth, speed, water temp. You can use one display unit or 2. The NX don't interface with anything, but the next level up will. Got them at Mauri Pro and had great support from them.
 
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