I need to get a new log for the boat as the current bidata speed/depth unit I have is more a mono-data sort of thing and in the nearly ten-years we've had it I don't think the log/speed function has worked more than 24 hours total. Which when you consider it's built by Raymarine is more than I actually expected. That said, I would be remiss if I did not mention that the sounder side of things works just great...
Now, what I'd really like to replace it with is the old model of the VDO Sumlog, a mechanical unit with a tiny little hard to foul prop turning an automotive cable that from my experience is bombproof, simple, and as a result, it simply does what it needs to do which is let you know your speed through the water and the distance covered. Which, by and large, is just the sort of information you need to know.
Being mechanical there is very little to go wrong and the weakest link, the cables, seem to last for a decade or so and replacement cables are a standard automotive part so non-problematic to pick up a spare. I suppose the downside is that it won't interface with your chart plotter or toaster oven... but, then again, my Raymarine does not talk to my chartplotter and I don't have a toaster oven so I don't exactly see the problem..
These days most everyone I know tends to use their chart plotters and the GPS derived speed over ground but speed over ground and speed through water are two very different beasts and they tell you very different things. Personally I'd like to know both but if I had to choose just one it would be speed through water.
So if you happen to come across the old style VDO Sumlog in your local yachtgrot maybe you could drop me a line?
Listening to Little Steven and the Disciples of Soul
So it goes...
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