Electronics: Axiom Plus & Lighthouse: Plotter and charts from a single source

Axiom Plus is the name of the updated series of chart plotters from Raymarine. The most important advances are a water-repellent display and even more computing power and memory. In future, not only will drops of water simply roll off the screen, but fingers will no longer leave marks on the touchscreen. Even oil should have no chance of sticking to the new displays.

The brightness has been increased by 25 percent compared to its predecessor, and there is an additional, particularly high-contrast colour scheme for particularly bright lighting conditions. The Axiom Plus series consists of three devices that differ only in the size of the screen; the range of functions is identical with a built-in 10 Hz receiver for GPS, Glonass, Galileo, Beidou, Ethernet, NMEA2000, USB, WiFi and Bluetooth. The internal memory holds 16 GB, expandable via an SD card slot.

The prices:

The 7-inch model costs from 887 euros (resolution 1024 x 600 pixels),
the 9-inch model costs from 1541 euros (resolution 1280 x 720 pixels),
the 12-inch model costs from 2969 euros (resolution 1280 x 800 pixels).
All three are optionally available with sonar.

Raymarine brings its own charts

At the same time, Raymarine announces its own range of electronic nautical charts. After C-Map and Navionics were bought up by competitors, this is a logical step. The Lighthouse Charts will be available for all oceans and many inland waters. Raymarine cites official hydrographic institutes as the source of the data, supplemented by information specific to recreational boating and satellite images. The ability to switch the display between the official chart view and the recreational craft chart view is particularly emphasised. In addition, the display size of the navigation marks can be continuously adjusted independently of the chart zoom.

Depending on the size, the charts will cost between 95 and 149 euros per country, including one year of updates. You don't need to go to the ship's chandler, the data will be installed from the online shop either onto your SD card or directly onto the plotter. According to Raymarine, support for C-Map and Navionics will be retained.

More information and sources of supply at www.raymarine.de