New electronics preferences

[TwoDot]

Having problems with my old Raymarine electronics package and considering an upgrade. What are your thoughts/preferences between Raymarine, Furuno, and Garmin? Pros and cons? What about map package? Navionics, Lighthouse, C-Map?

 

[Pau Hana]

Raymarine Axiom- latest and greatest. Uses non-proprietary mapping, is intuitive, and the backing of a great company (FLIR).

 

[McGillicuddy]

I recently installed new Garmin chart plotters, radar and sounder. No issues found and I think its intuitive to use. However I was indoctrinated in Garmin on my airplanes so I am well used to their logic. YMMV. I use the included BlueChart which I really like especially linked to Active Captain. I love planning on my iPad in the evenings and linking it to the chart-plotters ready for the voyage next day.

 

[BandB]

Did you ask which anchor? Oh, no. Which electronics.

I prefer Furuno. Might be familiarity, but I think what gives them the edge to me is their level of service.

We have Garmin on a boat and have been very pleased with it.

I've only used Raymarine a few times. Found nothing wrong but at the time I tried it, they were having many issues with new ones. This was at least 18 months ago though.

I would not recommend Simrad, even though they may have the best Autopilot.

 

[Bruce B]

Furuno or Garmin.
We went with Garmin after having waaaayyyyy too many issues with Raymarine in the past.
Raymarine may have things under control now but they used up all of my available forgiveness.
People I respect in the industry like Garmin and that is what we finally chose. It is very easy to use. It is far more backwards comparable than Raymarine though not in the league of Furuno and customer support is effortless to reach.
A huge step in the right direction for us!
Bruce

 

[McGillicuddy]

I would not recommend Simrad, even though they may have the best Autopilot.

Agreed. They acquired Robertson a few moons ago. I thought Robertson was the bees knees but I had problems with parts So I replaced with Simrad. It plays well with Garmin.

 

[BandB]

Furuno or Garmin.
We went with Garmin after having waaaayyyyy too many issues with Raymarine in the past.
Raymarine may have things under control now but they used up all of my available forgiveness.
People I respect in the industry like Garmin and that is what we finally chose. It is very easy to use. It is far more backwards comparable than Raymarine though not in the league of Furuno and customer support is effortless to reach.
A huge step in the right direction for us!
Bruce

That's the type issues I saw. The new Sea Ray L Series of boats have new Raymarine, state of the art. Unfortunately, they'd shipped one product that was clearly not ready for prime time. Now, to their credit they did replace them all, but it was still a nightmare for purchasers.

 

[Bruce B]

That's the type issues I saw. The new Sea Ray L Series of boats have new Raymarine, state of the art. Unfortunately, they'd shipped one product that was clearly not ready for prime time. Now, to their credit they did replace them all, but it was still a nightmare for purchasers.

At last years Newport Boat show I had a long honest talk with a Raymarine engineer. He wanted to understand my history with the company and he knew going into the conversation that Raymarine was not on my list.
We spoke in depth about the many Raymarine failures we had suffered. He acknowledged that each failure was a known problem.
He listened to my thoughts and did not push his brand as my mind was already made up. He did convey that the company under Flir was becoming a much better company with some very advanced product.
The final round of Raymarine product that we installed on our previous boat worked just fine. It was the best of their gear we had used.
Still, I was personally done.
Bruce

 

[BandB]

Well, we've never had an issue with FLIR on any of their other products so hopefully it works in favor of resolving any issues Raymarine has.

Raymarine was deeply in debt. FLIR assumed $180 million in debt and only paid $24 million to the Raymarine shareholders.

 

[Gordon J]

I have Garmin now and raymarine on previous boat. I like both, but to say raymarine customer service sucks would give the company credit for having any at all. I installers Garmin 8212s on boat last fall and reached Garmin reps in a couple of minutes. Always got thorough and correct answer. I tried calling raymarine customer service and was rewarded with crickets.

Gordon

 

[BrotherDave]

My Raymarine experience was terrible and I ripped their gear out after the last of a number of terrible customer service phone calls. My Garmin experiences covering multiple boats and multiple devices have been great.

Most recently installation was a 1040xs. Plugged it in and was useable immediately. Plugged in a Garmin 18xd radar and it was useable immediately. I like that.

 

[hmason]

Another vote for Garmin vs. Raymarine. Our boat had Raymarine E series when we bought it and the only thing more frustrating than trying to make it work was trying to reach customer support. In total exasperation and with a bit of road rage I ripped anything with the Raymarine name on it out.

Installed all Garmin and it works great. I did have some minor issues which were resolved by customer service over the phone. If I have a question and I call they answer almost immediately and have a record of my past calls at their finger tips. I'm not saying there aren't other good electronics companies but Raymarine will NEVER see another $ of mine.

 

[Bigsfish]

I would suggest you visit your local dealer and get his suggestions and they play with the units he suggests.

I find Garmin very easy to use (intuitive) and they have great customer service. That's my choice it may not be yours. Make sure you get all parts from the same source (I know all about NEMA 2000) but you will have less problems and one company can not pass any problem off on the other.

Whatever you choose play with the units to make sure you will like them.

 

[Group9]

Another Garmin fan here.

 

[twistedtree]

At last years Newport Boat show I had a long honest talk with a Raymarine engineer. He wanted to understand my history with the company and he knew going into the conversation that Raymarine was not on my list.
We spoke in depth about the many Raymarine failures we had suffered. He acknowledged that each failure was a known problem.
He listened to my thoughts and did not push his brand as my mind was already made up. He did convey that the company under Flir was becoming a much better company with some very advanced product.
The final round of Raymarine product that we installed on our previous boat worked just fine. It was the best of their gear we had used.
Still, I was personally done.
Bruce

It's very encouraging when an acquired company gets better post-acquisition. It's also very rare. Big thumbs up to Raymarine and FLIR!

 

[Comodave]

We have had Raymarine on 4 boats now. I have had really great customer service with them. A couple of years ago a DSM 300 that I bought in 2003 started giving me problems. When I called support they acknowledged that they had some problems with the DSM 300. They sent me a CP 300 free to replace it with no questions asked. The next year I called about an interface problem with some older equipment I had. I told them that I had installed the CP 300 that they replaced the DSM with. The rep asked me to send the CP 300 back and they sent me a 370 instead. I asked what the difference was and he said the 370 is just better. This is excellent service. They worked with me over a couple of weeks getting my various generations of equipment working together. Who replaces 8 year old equipent even if there were issues with it?

 

[Codger2]

Raymarine Axiom- latest and greatest. Uses non-proprietary mapping, is intuitive, and the backing of a great company (FLIR).

 

[BandB]

It's very encouraging when an acquired company gets better post-acquisition. It's also very rare. Big thumbs up to Raymarine and FLIR!

So much depends on circumstances. Understand Raymarine had tremendous debt so financial challenges. That typically ends up with staff reductions in critical areas like customer service, research, quality control. The reason then that post-acquisition you're likely to see improvement is that FLIR can address the financial situation and infuse money where needed. This is the type acquisition that makes a lot of sense and has the best chance of success.

 

[FF]

Living in FL we use plan B .

Electronics are hand held that can fit into a metal bread box , so a lightning strike will not mean total replacement ,

and being without for a few months , as your lawyer fights with the insurance folks.

KISS

 

[psneeld]

Funny, never had an issue with Raymarine equipment, any more than any other manufacturer, and way less than some. From 2000 till now, working in marine eldctronics snd installing or using every brand as a commercial guy or installing for marinas and friends.

Raymarine support has been fine throughout the years and now, my questions are answered pretty quick with an easy internet search. Just fixed my touch screen that froze. Took less than an hour to research and download a new version of software and reboot to factory. Works better than ever.

Every brand has had issues and dogs.

When it is you struggling, sure you can hare the company. As an installer, you dont get that luxury. Some days you are waiting on 3 different manufacturers to get back to you on projrcts gone sour. With 3 angry customers screaming at you.

Sift through brand allegiance and unsderstand why and how raves and rants actually reflect the company. Know what particular model, series, proprietary options, parts costs, legacy support, etc, etc.. that are causing a rant actually matter today, not years ago.

 

[TwoDot]

Thanks all for sharing your thoughts and suggestions. You gave me many things to think about which is what I needed!

 

[kev_rm]

Did you ask which anchor? Oh, no. Which electronics.

Right up there with fuel polishing on the spectrum of controversial topics

I do think for midrange needs, Garmin generally has a good dollar per feature quotient. I did send my last MFD back to them for a small defect but they happily replaced and overall functionality is ridiculously good considering the price tag.

 

[IRENE]

I might be a bit late to the thread, but here is my two cents:

We just replaced a 10-year-old Raymarine radar and plotter. I will say that I had never been fond of Raymarine products, and that is what came on our boat. The stuff we had was still functional, but the Admiral wanted a display on her helm position.

So we did the shopping and played with them all at the boat show, of course. We decided that there has been so much change at Raymarine, we should not rule them out. We also have a smaller boat, and needed to be realistic about the value of the boat vs. new electronics expenditure. As it turned out Raymarine offered the best functionality for our installation, with the fewest pieces and lowest cost. The Raymarine guys at the boat show were essentially clowns, but the tech support people were answering the phone and addressed all of my questions - before the purchase. I added a Raymarine autopilot last year and it was appealing to keep the same brand aboard. So we bought a Raymarine ES9 MFD (Navionics) and Quantum radar (cabled). This was networked with an older sounder module (DSM 300) and the autopilot (EV-100).

The installation (owner assisted) and initialization went seamlessly. I connected the MFD to my mobile phone hotspot, and updated firmware for the entire system in under 30 minutes. We have put on nearly 100 hours since the install a few months ago, and we have had zero issues. No freezing up, no problems with advanced settings or operation, and excellent integration with the autopilot. I have piece of mind that FLIR stands behind what I bought, though this may be meaningless. The Admiral is pleased with her display via wifi and iPad. I hope Raymarine has things sorted out.

Now if Standard Horizon would get those GX6500s shipped to those of us that ordered, we could finish it up...

Good Luck

Jeff