Auto Pilot

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Btohvac

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Age
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Model
Freedom 285
Good Morning,
I am considering installing an auto pilot on my 2017 Freedom 285. It has a Simrad NSS16EVO.
Does anyone have any experience or input on the best options for this boat?
It will be used in the open waters From Boston north and south to Nantucket and beyond.
Thanks
 
Nah...

I am going to go out on a limb and say that pretty much any of today's units that are compatible with your MFD & GPS would be just fine.

My 306 Canyon has a RAYMARINE AP (everything on the boat is RM). The AP works just fine.
 
Simrad has a solid AP system. The compass can be finicky if you don't choose a proper mounting location though.
 
Btohvac said:
Good Morning,
I am considering installing an auto pilot on my 2017 Freedom 285. It has a Simrad NSS16EVO.
Does anyone have any experience or input on the best options for this boat?
It will be used in the open waters From Boston north and south to Nantucket and beyond.
Thanks
Click to expand...

I am going to go counter to what others have said and say stay away from Simrad auto pilot. This is only my recommendation. I have a dual Simrad EVO NSS system and intentionally chose to go Furuno for a multitude of reasons, but the main one is the recent horror stories about the software issues and them not being able to keep a straight line. It may have been fixed by now, but I would do a serious search to educate yourself at www.thehulltruth.com I love my Furuno and have had no issues with it. You do sacrifice the ability to control it from the EVO unit and other functions there, however I keep it simple and use the Auto pilot to hold course only.

The one other thing is you will need a Satellite Compass / Heading sensor GPS antenna if you do not already have one. Most Auto Pilots come as a package with one.
 
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