Raystar 125 or Airmar weather station?

[CJ Martin]

The RN300 GPS currently installed in our boat is clearing circling the bowl and will be replaced prior to next season. I was going to go the RayStar 125 route and be done with it, however, now I'm wondering if one of these Airmar weather stations with the built in GPS and heading sensor might be a better choice. Sure it's more money, but I also gain a lot of additional data.

Would I be able to use the Airmar with a Raymarine C70 and 2 KW radar? Will I be able to display the weather stuff on the C70? Will the heading sensor work with the Raymarine gear? Can I mount the Airmar on the Raystar 120 GPS antenna mount?

Thoughts and advice welcome.

-CJ

 

[fc3]

Probably. The Airmar is NMEA 0183, so you can input the data into the Raymarine. Question is, what does the Raymarine do with the data? You need to open up the manual and see if it recognizes the NMEA sentences that the Airmar sends. There are standard sentences for wind speed, direction, temperature and the like.

Best regards,
Frank

 

[Four Suns]

I went and peeked at the C70 manual and it should be fine. The only question I have is do you already have a heading sensor for your radar (the dreaded Raymarine fluxgate)? Also, do you have an auto pilot?

I don't have my weather station hooked directly to my Raymarine stuff but have it hooked to the nav PC. I have an auto failover multiplexer between the PC's NMEA network and the Raymarine NMEA network such that if the either GPS fails, the other will send their data across the multiplexer. However, all the other data is isolated... you probably don't give a poop about that stuff.

When you look at your manual, as frank said, you have to worry about the sentence parameters having the same labels (like "COG" is "Course Over Ground" for both units). The C70 manual didn't give me the actual values it was looking for but the Airmar one does. You may have to download the Airmar data and send it to Raymarine's tech support to make sure they are the same. They probably are... The weather data is very common for sailboats.

For the install, you may want to raise in up higher than a short stub on the arch. You don't want it in the radar beam (plus or minus 12 degrees I believe) and the higher the better for wind. I've seen them mounted on 4' extensions and 8' extensions.

I like have wind data... one can see if the wind is increasing/decreasing and how much of a liar the weatherman is.

 

[CJ Martin]

Gary - I do not have the fluxgate and as a result my gps display sometimes get out of wack if I'm moving very slowly or standing still. That's something I'd like to fix. No autopilot yet, but it is a possibility for the future.

Good point on the radar beam, the Airmar looks pretty tall so it would probably be in the beam if I just stuck it on the 120 antenna stub. Not sure how goofy that would look raised up on the arch of a SunDancer.

Hmmm...

-CJ

 

[Alex F]

CJ,

I'm guessing that your radar is placed just like mine, so one of the options (although more $$$) would be raising the radar on some type of radar extension. The look would be as it should and you might gain some performance on the radar.

Is the Airmar weather stations with the built in GPS a trick to avoid monthly fees like you'd have to pay for SIRIUS?

 

[Four Suns]

Is the Airmar weather stations with the built in GPS a trick to avoid monthly fees like you'd have to pay for SIRIUS?

No. It's a real time weather instrument and works with powerboats. Instead of having a weather vane and anemometer with cups, it looks like a small GPS unit and has a horizontal slice in it so it can read wind speed and direction.

http://www.airmartechnology.com/

It has the GPS in it and heading sensor so it can do some simple vector math and give you true wind speed and direction regardless of where you are heading or how fast you are going.

CJ: The unit is smaller than the Raystar GPS. It just looks big in the picture. I'll show you mine next weekend at Kinsale.... Raising it up is to get the thing in the freestream of air and out of the effects of the boat.

 

[Alex F]

I see what you mean Gary.

I'm new to this type of equipment, but it looks like too much $$ for relativelly limited info you'd get with the unit. If the detailed weather is important this looks like might work better for our applications (C70): http://www.raymarine.com/ProductDetail.aspx?SITE=1&SECTION=2&PAGE=1331&PRODUCT=4019

I'd love to learn more on the subject, as I always try to imrpove my gear and data I'm getting, specially weather. But, for now I can't justify spending $500-$700 on the equipment and then pay $30-$40 monthly while cruising in sheltered waters.

 

[Four Suns]

Sat weather is definitely a priority over a weather station. However, I think CJ was referring to having to replace his RN 300 crappy GPS and wanting a heading sensor. A Raystar 125 is about $300 and a crappy Raymarine fluxgate is about $200 (or get a better heading sensor from KVH for $300) and so the price difference between what he needed to buy and the Airmar is small... I went through that same logic as I have two completely independent navigation systems in case one fails with the GPS structure being shared with auto failover. The weather data from the Airmar was essentially free.

I will say this however... Being able to see the real wind speed and direction along with the conditions in the water is a real education to witness it. No guessing... When you then get buoy data on wind speed, direction, tidal flow, etc. you'll have a better idea what that really means and what kind of seas to expect. For example, the last time I came across the Delaware Bay, the forecast was 5-10 knots with 1-2 foot waves. However, I know for a fact when I got out there the wind was over 20+ knots out of the NW and against the tidal flow and it was very steep chop... So if I see a buoy or forecast for 20 knots out of the NW against the tidal flow on Delaware Bay, I ain't goin'.

 

[CJ Martin]

Gary hit the nail right on the head as to why I am considering the Airmar unit. I need a new GPS receiver, a heading sensor would fix another issue I have, and the temp/wind/etc data would be a bonus.

Gary, I will take you up on that offer next weekend. Seeing one in person should answer many questions.

Now the big question for Jim - Does the Airmar stuff ever go on sale? If I can narrow that price diffence down a bit more it will be a no-brainer.

-CJ