Navigation System—Plotter Or Computer?

Our comparatively late adoption of electronic navigation (summer 2008) was, for more than any other reason, due to the difficulty we had in making the decision between a dedicated chart plotter and a computer running a navigation program.

So let's have a look at the pros and cons of each.

But, first, to make that meaningful, we need to take a look at features we believe any electronic navigation system should have:

On Deck

We firmly believe that to be safe, short-handed crews must be able to do their navigation in the cockpit without having to scamper down to a below-deck chart table every few minutes. This meant that a cheap generic laptop computer was out and we would need to buy a screen or plotter that was waterproof and daylight readable.

Large Screen Size

After experimenting, we established that our ability to keep in touch with where it’s at is dependent on viewing a certain minimum area around us on the chart without panning or zooming. Therefore, we decided we needed a good resolution screen with a minimum size of 15 inches (38 cm) measured diagonally.

Easy to Use

Quick and convenient operation is vital, since the more time we spend fiddling around with electronics, the less time we are looking up at the real world. Therefore, we wanted at least a numeric keyboard and preferably full QWERTY, since we find entering data into an electronic device by scrolling way too inefficient.

Plotter or Computer?

Clearly, a computer or plotter meeting the above criteria was going to cost some serious coin, making it important to get our selection right the first time. So before pulling out the credit card, we put together a list of advantages for each technology: