Garmin or Raymarine?

I have a Garmin 3020C on the flybridge. It is obsolete and in any case I can't get an Australian data base for it.

Do I replace it with another Garmin or the Raymarine 127C? The Raymarine cutout is close to that of the Garmin and the price is good.

I am sure there is a wealth of knowledge out there in Trawler land, what are your thoughts?

You could save some money and see if a Standard Horizon will fit ;-)

Garmin.

Garmin.

Garmin

G A R M I N.....
but make sure to check for the existence of the power cables as they are optional in some models. (they were in my case with series 4000)

You might be wise to research chart availability and quality for OZ, then decide. The only source for charts for garmin is garmin. I think Ray supports Navionics. Simrad supports navionics and cmap. And don't just rely on coverage maps. It's worth $50 or whatever to buy the iphone version of the charts so you can see them in detail and really evaluate them. For people in the US this is a non-issue since every vendor bases their charts on the NOAA charts and they are all uniformly excellent. Outside the US having the right charts, or preferably a selection of charts can be critical. This is one of the main reasons I picked Simrad over Garmin.

Raymarine. The gear and support is excellent.

Many thanks to all

Have a friend who has one of each, without hesitation he likes the Garmin better.
One other thought would be an iPad, many good protective cases that have gimbal mounts.

Sounds a bit like Ford vs GM dilemma ... ... both brands offer decent products.

Check the specs, check the charts available, and go with one that fits and YOU like the most.

What I would do is check their tech support. Give each a call with questions about capabilities, returns or whatever you can think of. See how long and how difficult it is to talk to a human.

I had Garmin on the old boat, Raymarine on the new one. My Raymarine stuff is getting old (2006) but was the top of the line at the time, 2 E80 and one E120.

I liked Garmin better, but the tech support from Raymarine has been outstanding. The Garmin charts seemed more accurate and more detailed to me.

Tagging onto DougCole's post... I have a Raymarine R240 handset and the outer covering of the spiral cord was disintegrating... the handset was out of warranty... I took pictures of the handset cord - sent them to Ray tech support (Frank Davy) and they agreed to replace the cord free of charge... very cooperative experience with Raymarine.. haven't dealt with Garmin, but others may have had similar experiences with other manufacturers..

I have had four generations of Garmin chartplotters, plus several Nuvi's. Tech support has been really good. On charter sailboats, had to deal with several Ray chartplotters. Anything but intuitive. Can't imagine wanting a Ray unit on any boat of mine.

As for intuitiveness, I would have to agree that the Raymarine software interface to the Classic E series is less than optimum, but doable with many options. Based on my experience with a full Raymarine package of electronics installed on my boat back in 2007, the quality is topnotch. Very few issues over the years, with only small issues that were resolved quickly with the help of very good Raymarine tech support.

SteveH

I have both Ray and Garmin plotters on the boat. All else being equal I would choose Garmin.

Also have Raymarine and Garmin units aboard. Garmin is superior.

Captain K said:

Also have Raymarine and Garmin units aboard. Garmin is superior.

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Flipped from 80 ray marine to Garmin 7212 touch screen. My wife who stayed away from ray marine loves the Garmin system - she finds it easy to use and navigate through the various Screens. You know the happy wife thing!

Thanks to all who responded to my question. It seems like Garmin wins by a clear majority.

Brian Harward said:

Thanks to all who responded to my question. It seems like Garmin wins by a clear majority.

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I have neither, so I don't have a horse in this race. But I wonder how many of those that chose Garmin have used the new Raymarine Lighthouse 2 interface vs their old stuff. To me it seems like night and day.

BDofMSP said:

I have neither, so I don't have a horse in this race. But I wonder how many of those that chose Garmin have used the new Raymarine Lighthouse 2 interface vs their old stuff. To me it seems like night and day.

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It would seem that the Raymarine Lighthouse 2 does not have charts for Australia available if the Raymarine website is anything to go by.

Brian Harward said:

Thanks to all who responded to my question. It seems like Garmin wins by a clear majority.

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Based on a 1/2 dozen or so opinions?

I've used both- IMO Raymarine far outshines Garmin in technology, customer support, and ease of use. As mentioned above, Raymarine in the post-FLIR world is vastly different from the RM gear of only a few years ago.

BDofMSP said:

I have neither, so I don't have a horse in this race. But I wonder how many of those that chose Garmin have used the new Raymarine Lighthouse 2 interface vs their old stuff. To me it seems like night and day.

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I used the new Lighthouse UI for about an hour at the Miami Boat Show. I think they've done a nice job and I like the access to NOAA raster charts. But it's a little young and the charting needs a little work in my opinion. I found it pretty easy to use although my wife didn't try it and that's the gold standard for me.

If you're open to all new things, you should check out the new Simrad MFD's too. For the price, they are quite capable and have a very easy-to-use feel. They now support C-Map (which I think is better) plus some other options so you don't have to be stuck with Navionics.

ActiveCaptain said:

I used the new Lighthouse UI for about an hour at the Miami Boat Show. I think they've done a nice job and I like the access to NOAA raster charts. But it's a little young and the charting needs a little work in my opinion. I found it pretty easy to use although my wife didn't try it and that's the gold standard for me.

If you're open to all new things, you should check out the new Simrad MFD's too. For the price, they are quite capable and have a very easy-to-use feel. They now support C-Map (which I think is better) plus some other options so you don't have to be stuck with Navionics.

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I would definitely recommend Simrad; we have an NSE 12 display, 4G Radar, AP28 autopilot, and structurescan. Intuitive, out of the box reliability, and neat features such as a radar that allows you to watch a duck sized bird swim past your boat. And the structurescan takes exploring the bottom to a new level. The attached image is of the HMCS Columbia, sunk off Maud Island to create an artificial reef for divers. I just used my camera to capture the screen image; it is better in real life.

That was my impression of Simrad too - great new capabilities. They've become a real contender as #4 in the market. I'd expect their share to grow over the next few years.

I'll certainly put in a plug for Simrad too. My new boat is 100% simrad, including the tender. And they just announced a forward sonar capability for their Structurescan product. All you add is the forward transducer, and it's less than $1000.

Simrad is the same a Lowrance right?

Simrad is aimed at higher end motorboats.
B&G is aimed at sailboats.
Lowrance is aimed at lower end motorboats.

Navico is the parent company of all but the products are all different.