The Admiralty RYA Chart Plotter is described as “The perfect introduction to electronic navigation” and it's hard to disagree. It has been a huge success since its introduction a couple of years ago - and this year it's even better. In fact it's moved on a quantum leap.
The best and most obvious difference is that now just five Chart Packs cover the whole of the British Isles, each with about four times as much coverage as previous editions - and still at the same price, just under £50.
This represents outstanding value for money. Area 1, for example, which will be the biggest seller, because it's where so many of the UK's leisure craft are based, covers the coast from Cromer to the Lizard. It includes digital versions of more than 80 paper charts, right across the scale spectrum, from small scale passage planning charts to detailed harbour plans.
The other four areas, East Coast UK, West Coast of Scotland, West Coast UK and West Coast of Ireland, offer similarly comprehensive coverage. And all five come with a simple but highly effective software package, including detailed tidal information.
One of the biggest improvements over the earlier edition is the ease of zooming and panning, to get around the charts. This makes adding waypoints or building a route amazingly quick and simple. The menus aren't absolutely intuitive, but they follow a common pattern, so once you've got to grips with one set of smart keys, it's a simple matter to learn the rest.
The only thing I could find to criticise really is that the charts are listed by their Admiralty catalogue numbers, which do not seem to follow any logical pattern, so you have to do a lot of scrolling up and down the list to find the one you want. It would have made life easier if they were listed alphabetically, or grouped by region. But that's a small quibble really, when you're getting so much for so little.
The new edition is compatible with Windows Vista, which the old one wasn't, and now allows you to overly Notices to Mariners on to the chart - another welcome new feature.
As before, the Admiralty RYA Chart Plotter allows real time navigation when linked to a GPS receiver, so used with a laptop on the boat it provides a serviceable chart plotter.
However, it doesn't have all the functions of a dedicated chart plotter, especially seamless zooming and panning. You have to change the chart manually when you sail off the edge of it, just as you do with the paper charts on which the system is based.
It does however have the advantage that you can take it home with you, whereas more sophisticated chart plotters tend to be permanently installed on the boat. And I have a suspicion that more people will use this system for passage planning at home or aboard, than for real time navigation.
I spent a couple of hours planning a delivery trip from Harwich Harbour to the Solent, and it was so convenient to be able to flick through virtual charts on the screen, rather than wrestling with heavy folios spread out on the carpet!
I'll take the laptop and the Admiralty RYA chart plotter, and an adapter to connect the handheld GPS to the computer when we go aboard. It will give peace of mind to know we have an independent back-up should the boat systems fail.
But even if you're only going to use it for passage planning, the £49.95 for the Chart Pack represents remarkable value for money.
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“The Admiralty RYA Chart plotter has all the familiar features of a standard Admiralty paper chart with the added benefits of a basic electronic charting system and is truly great for voyage planning at sea or ashore,” says Admiralty Leisure. And they're right. They started with a good product, and they have updated and improved it and made it excellent.
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