Broad Brush Statement I Heard

[Wil]

What did I miss?

Being a relative newbie to large boat cruising, it feels good to know I went Furuno radar and Coastal Explorer too. I have an AMEC standalone AIS with display, an Icom M802 SSB, and Standard Horizon GX5000S VHF..

How will you be getting your Wx? Will you have an HF/WxFax setup? Which, if not, might lead into what are you planning for Internet/Satellite?

How are you running CE? I remember your search for good PC monitors, did you find one/some? I'm running CE on my laptop, but looking into a 'marine' PC like Island Time's units, or other.

My boat is fairly simple, so networking is't required--which would be a whole new area of learning/endeavor anyhow.

Appreciate having the benefit of your extensive knowledge in these areas......

 

[twistedtree]

Being a relative newbie to large boat cruising, it feels good to know I went Furuno radar and Coastal Explorer too. I have an AMEC standalone AIS with display, an Icom M802 SSB, and Standard Horizon GX5000S VHF..

How will you be getting your Wx? Will you have an HF/WxFax setup? Which, if not, might lead into what are you planning for Internet/Satellite?

How are you running CE? I remember your search for good PC monitors, did you find one/some? I'm running CE on my laptop, but looking into a 'marine' PC like Island Time's units, or other.

My boat is fairly simple, so networking is't required--which would be a whole new area of learning/endeavor anyhow.

Appreciate having the benefit of your extensive knowledge in these areas......

For WX I have been using some combination of VHF, and various internet sources. For internet, first choice is unlimited wifi, but that's almost never available or working in any reasonable way. Second choice is cellular which generally works well provided you are in cell range. Third is satellite. I had a KVH V3ip on the last boat and I plan in something similar, but won't really dig into researching the latest and buying until much closer to installation time.


I ran CE on a mac Mini using VMWare fusion. It worked well, but I'm going to explore using an Intel NUC this time around. And the plan is to use the same monitors again.

 

[Ventana]

I'm sticking with my first thought, if you want new electronics, play with a bunch of them and buy the one that makes sense.

The comment that if you read the manual they will all be intuitive just means we have now found the one person that actually reads the manuals.
Also, think hard about what you want, and what you need. Lots of features out there you will never use, and you are still paying for that feature.


My first trip up the Inside Passage was done in a 29' sailboat with a flasher-style depth sounder and a VHF radio, nothing else. Most of the navigation was done on the Evergreen Atlas, which is just slightly better than truck stop place mat navigation. It was a great trip. You really need to look hard at "needs" instead of wants.
As far as brands, as I said before I have been an installer for just about all of them and I wouldn't steer someone away from anything on just brand name alone.

 

[foreverunderway]

I have been a professional in this industry for over 5 decades and wouldn't waste my time installing Raymarine equipment, even if it was given to me free.
I have had excellent service from Garmin products and tech support since the early '90s. Perhaps they are a bit less customer oriented these days, but that is only hearsay, not fact from personal experience, as I've not bought new gear nor needed customer support in around 8 years.
I consider Furuno to be excellent equipment, but most of my dealings with their electronics have been on larger commercial vessels. I have never needed customer service or tech support from them.
I was very much a fan of B&G until I purchased an old (new) autopilot drive motor manufactured by them. It came without any information and when I requested any information about the unit, the company had none. I found this disconcerting and felt the company might not be what it once was.
I have not personally used any of the other manufacturers' equipment mentioned above.

 

[JDCAVE]

....Not sure about VHFs. I really like the radio part of the Icom M506, but the N2K interface is still a mess and I don't like giving business to a company that doesn't fix their bugs.

TT: Why the need/desire to have the radios on N2K? Why not simply stand alone?

Jim

 

[twistedtree]

TT: Why the need/desire to have the radios on N2K? Why not simply stand alone?

Jim

I definitely want DSC. For out going alarms, you need to feed GPS info to the VHF. And to have incoming DSC alarms plot on your chart plotter, you need to bring that data from the VHF to the chart plotter. On the last boat I had one VHF connected via 0183 and the other via N2K because two on N2K made a mess of everything.


I would just buy the 0183-only version on the M506, but I think I want the remote mic option, not the one hanging from the unit, and that's only available in the N2K versions. So I'd have to pay for their piece of shirt that I won't use any way.


I may just go with Standard Horizon. I have limited experience with them, but people seem to feel they are equivalent. I just don't won't to compromise the fundamental VHF quality.

 

[JDCAVE]

You could always get one with a GPS, and then it’s stand alone if the network goes down during an emergency. I’ve got one hooked up that way. I think the other VHF is on N0183, but I’ve not looked into where those wires come in to the terminal strips under the helm. That will be another “something” for me to look into.

 

[BandB]

I don't mind at all a little extra complexity if there is benefit to having it. Perhaps I'm one of the few who reads every page of the manual and who checks out every function of the equipment. You may find some functionality that you'll seldom use but when you do need it, you'll be thrilled that you knew it was there. Even most complex systems can be used in their simplest forms without digging deep, but I enjoy investigating the extra features. I enjoy learning new equipment.

 

[FF]

"How will you be getting your Wx?"


Any where there is local TV their weather map is as good as any, and with local forecast better than large area guess.

 

[Tom.B]

Okay ya'll... then is even considering a full, one-brand electronics suite a bad idea? I do like Furuno a bit or *may* consider a switch from Raymarine to Garmin when the time comes, but I feel like there is some merit to opting for a single manufacturer's offering rather than spending endless hours trying to find the right radar and the right MFD and the right autopilot, etc.

 

[Ventana]

Okay ya'll... then is even considering a full, one-brand electronics suite a bad idea? I do like Furuno a bit or *may* consider a switch from Raymarine to Garmin when the time comes, but I feel like there is some merit to opting for a single manufacturer's offering rather than spending endless hours trying to find the right radar and the right MFD and the right autopilot, etc.

Again, it depends on what you want. For a single location I don't think it makes a difference. If you have multiple locations and you want to share video data, the same brand will usually play better together. It used to be a pain to interface components, especially of differing brands, but with NMEA2K it doesn't make much difference. The exceptions would be things like the ICOM radio mentioned above that is a known issue with it's interface.

 

[psneeld]

I have had good and bad experiences selling, installing and operating all the major brands of equipment.

I have been through technician service training by Furuno, Raymarine and Simrad back in the early 2000s but have kept up with a lot of the equipment till the last few years.

Garmin exploded in reach since then and while I don't have a lot of experience with their new stuff or service...much of what I read sounds reasonable.

Anyone that condemns or unduly praises one company over the other broadstroke, to me just needs to realize model years or backbones or programming etc for every company varies wildly.

Taking any one set of circumstances or opinion to me just is bad advice

 

[Wil]

I was speaking of when at sea.

"How will you be getting your Wx?"


Any where there is local TV their weather map is as good as any, and with local forecast better than large area guess.

 

[JDCAVE]

Okay ya'll... then is even considering a full, one-brand electronics suite a bad idea? I do like Furuno a bit or *may* consider a switch from Raymarine to Garmin when the time comes, but I feel like there is some merit to opting for a single manufacturer's offering rather than spending endless hours trying to find the right radar and the right MFD and the right autopilot, etc.

If I had to go with one system, it would probably be Furuno. However, it's not something I would do unless I had to change everything because of some sort of event (i.e. complete electronics meltdown from lightning or I'd won the lottery).

Why Furuno? Because of their very good reputation. It was typically the go to system of choice by most of my commercial fishing friends. Note that most of these fellows use Comnav for autopilots. It's a local company (Richmond BC) and highly regarded by many in the commercial sector.

My experience with Furuno? My Radar is a Furuno 1942, with a 4' open array, appx 20 years old. I was considering cost effective approach to replacing the unit, (it's a green CRT screen), I was told that I could just replace the box and keep the same magnetron. So...that's what I call legacy. And a local electronics outfit on Vancouver Island would give me an excellent price on a trade-in, as they have numerous commercial fishermen as clients and they know they could later sell the unit to someone with a similar unit that has died. Ultimately, I decided to keep the unit I have as it still functions. It's an excellent radar, it just has a one colour screen.

One more thing: the Nemo Gateway, by Rosepoint is an excellent way to bring all data inputs together for either wireless or ethernet connection. I was able to do that all myself (with TT's considerable guidance and superb support from the folks at Rosepoint). We were also able take an ethernet connection to a friends laptop and make it all work on Nobeltec Time Zero after minimal fiddling. There is a thread on the Nemo Gateway here:
http://www.trawlerforum.com/forums/s4/rose-points-nemo-gateway-product-37314.html
and here:
http://www.trawlerforum.com/forums/s4/marine-computer-navigation-35717-4.html

Jim

 

[Woodstock]

Y'all are missing some of the original premise here. Are the generalizations even remotely accurate? Do Simrads lean toward motoryachts? Do fisherman prefer Lowrance? That kinda thing?

I have an offshore center console fishing boat that I set up with all Simrad about 3 years ago. Two 12" MFD's, 4G radar, AP, Sonichub, Bluetooth, XM & VHF with AIS. All N2K networked. I think lots of larger CC and sportfish boat owners use Simrad but I wouldn't go that route if I did it again. I think of Lowrance as catering more to freshwater and smaller inshore fishing boats.

I'm now getting ready to do a complete new suite of electronics on our new-to-us cruising boat and will be going Garmin all the way this time. Seems they've become ubiquitous in the boating community around us.