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Random Quote: Boat Fever is an incurable disease which can only be held in temporary remission by increased dossages of feet.
It is time to bite the bullet and get my first Autopilot. I already have a Raymarine C80, Radar, GPS, and 600W depth transducer. My helm area is already pretty crowded so the unit cannot be huge. 26’ SeaSwirl with twin Suzuki’s that are hydraulically controlled (Seastar?).
So far I'm happy with the Raymarine products; however I am willing to use other manufacturer’s products. Functional compatibility between the autopilot and my Raymarine unit as appropriate is required.
When I buy stuff, I generally do not buy the top of line with all the bells and whistles or the entry level stuff. I want quality and functionality that I will actually use.
I'm an engineer and have installed all of my electronics.
You should be looking at units that are current technology and do not have rudder feedback like Garmin & Simrad. RM's new unit is also non-feedback, but have not heard any real world experience about it
The new Ray X-10/ST70 is a solid unit with no rudder feedback...many south Florida boat mfrs using them....For those zukes you want Part # T12118 - figure 3 grand or so...
I liked that video, Yesterday also on the wire, "Vectors to Final, thirty miles from FAF, turn left heading 350, maintain 4,000 feet until establised, cleared for the ILS runway 32 approach."
My electronics are twin Raymarine HSB displays, one color, one monochrome. Back in the day when I bought the boat these were the cats meow. I have a 2kw radome and a Airmar B260 1000w transducer feeding data to the displays.
The way I was running in I had created a route that basicly had one waypoint about 1/2 mile out of the pass then a string of waypoints running down the center of the pass. This allows me to watch the radar/chart overlay and let the boat go right down the middle, which it does. So yes I was following a route. The dodge feature is a little like the fishing patterns to me, kinda hokey. It is supposed to allow a 'dodge" away from something but still come back to the rum line drawn to the waypoint. In the real world you hit the object because going 40 knots you see it .05 sec before you hit it, but assuming you have time you press standby and take the wheel, then hit track to get back on the route, pressing the clear cross track error to settle things down.
as to why no rudder feedback, the rudder feedback becomes the central piece of data the computer uses and in the real world when you have a device sitting on a crossbar between to outboards out in the elements they will fail and in the event it fails all hell breaks loose (i have had it happen) I gyro stabilized compass mounted in the middle of the boat all by itself is a much much better system.
There is only one true AP that dodges and that's the Garmin with shadow drive - and no rudder feedback by all mfrs is done by the software,not the gyro stabilization. The new X-10/30 works very well with easier set up than the Garmin. Garmin has a few glitches and requires a very precise set-up. The Simrad is a very reliable, no rudder feedback system but factory support is less than the others as it is a Navico product. The display is last generation. (LCD).
Give me a break...
I guess the +10 or -10 degree buttons on the Raymarine control heads are just for show...
The joystick option is just for show...
The power steering option on the 8002 control head... just for show.
Sometimes I wonder about the info passed on this website.
Clearly you have never operated any of the features that you mentioned. They are all designed for minor course adjustments that are planned
Shadow Drive allows you to take immediate control of the boat and dodge an imminent collision threat. It then resumes the original course, again, unlike any of the features you mentioned
I agree with Elusive, i use my -10 + 10 feature all the time when trolling and love them! I ve been using this method for over 10 years with Raymarine APs. I cant see a better way of doing it? I find the Raymarine equip. to be solid and well thought out. This from years of real world experience with the equip. When running in or out I use track mode to a waypoint,
Raymarine S1000, excellent unit for the money. Will not work with dual rams, if you have single ram with a tie bar, this unit is perfect for you. It does not have a control unit, just a wireless remote that does not take too much room.
Roman
I have the garmin unit now, and had a rm st6001sg1 on the parker. Quite honestly, I still haven't warmed up to the shadowdrive. For me, it's not the end all be all of features. More times than not, I just go back to standby rather than mess with the shadowdrive.
I also used +10/-10 all the time. Handy dodge tool. Turning the wheel also worked.
I'm also not sold quite yet on the garmin due to a lack of precision in close quarters, but I'm still working on that one. The RM unit with rudder feedback was dead nuts accurate in close quarters. I'm still trying to achieve even an approximation of it's performance with the Garmin.
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Terry Jason 35, Yanmar 370 hp, Lots of fun at a leisurely pace
You couldn't dodge ANYTHING with the +10 / -10 on the RM AP's. Forget it!! Hitting +10 would simply make the AP weave back and forth in front of whatever it was you wanted to dodge.
The Shadow drives is definitely awesome. The only thing I don't like about is, if you are in route mode following a route, and grab the wheel to dodge something, when you let go, the AP then holds a straight course instead of putting you back on the route. So you have to hit the "Engage Route To" button again on AP.
My Simrad AP14H has a dodge function, It's programable up to 40 degrees. Push it twice and you have 80 degrees. AP14 don't wander around when it's asked to change course, it does so immeadeatly with the advantags and disadvantages this gives.
I can use the dodge function from my backdeck with the remote, I don't have to enter the steering house, very convenient during trolling fishing, I also use it to give some extra movement to my lures. When at my steering position I can disengage the pilot in the fraction of a second with the very simple AP12 control plased just besides the steering weel (left-hand side).
Power steering from a remote can actually be useful when retrieving the planer boards, but this is the only occasion I have found any use of it.
Autopilot Recommendations? 
