Autopilot Choices ???

[NorthernFocus]

Our 2008 R25 came with the Raymarine C120 system. Bad news is that it does not include the autopilot. Good news is that now we have a choice. The seemingly natural thing to do is to integrate the autopilot with the existing system. But I'm rather old school and tend to follow the philosophy that anything that can break will do so at the least opportune moment. And the thought of losing radar, depth, gps, and autopilot all at once doesn't sound so great. So my natural inclination is to install a stand alone autopilot rather than going with the integrated Raymarine. I've already got separate GPS capability via laptop.

But my knowledge/experience on the both Raymarine and on the modern integrated systems is nill. The only person that I know first hand that had a Raymarine C80 never did get the autopilot to work. And my own personal autopilot experience dates back to the old Woods-Freeman magnetic compass/mechanical drive system. That's the extent of my line of sight. So...

Is the Raymarine C120 system highly reliable?

Are there obvious pros/cons to the Raymarine autopilot vs alternatives?

Thanks in advance for any replies.

 

[SGIDAVE]

Hello Dan,

I believe most AP units are "stand alone" in the sense that they will steer the boat independent of the other instruments (GPS,Sounder, Radar, etc). So you could get another Raymarine, Garmin, etc unit to your liking.

Most APs will INTERFACE with the chartplotter. This means it obtains navigation data such that it can follow a course you've planned on your chartplotter. It is this function that would be lost when the chartplotter fails; the AP could still continue steering the boat...albeit in a straight line that you point the boat.

Fair winds and stand alone instruments,

dave

 

[NorthernFocus]

Thanks, Dave. Yes from what I've gathered so far even the current Raymarine units (and all the others) are stand alone. And as you pointed out the only benefit of integration is so that the AP can follow a route. For the boating we do I have no desire for that feature. So it seems the simple answer is the way to go. As is typically the case....

 

[nzfisher]

I think that Sidetrack has a autopilot that he is quite happy with. Since he does professional guide fishing and needs "hands free" to deal with fishing and clients, he probably has a good one. You might try to contact him. I have the Garmin unit and would not get it again.

 

[NorthernFocus]

Thanks for the reply, NZ