Raymarine C120 Classic firmware upgrade Navionics Gold USA install

We bought our 2006 American Tug 34 from the midwest & had it shipped to the Pacific NW in July. We needed to buy new Navionics charts software. Our Raymarine C120 Classic had its original firmware from 2005-2006. In order to use the new Navionics Gold 2GB CF card with US charts, we needed to update our firmware form 2.17 to 5.16 . The C120 Classic uses CF (Compact Flash) memory. The Raymarine units are picky on the CF cards used. I ordered a 256M from Amazon but the C120 would not recognize it. I ended up contacting Radar Marine in WA. State. They sell CF cards that the C120 will read with the firmware. I ordered one & it worked like you would expect and updated the C120. They said they have a high failure rate on the CF cards working w/ Raymarine equipment. I then successfully installed my new Navionics Gold USA 2G CF chip and the plotter works. It is nice to have a successful install of software!
Cheers, Kevin

Kevin, can I ask the price?

It was $45 for a 64mb CF card that they load the latest Raymarine firmware for your unit. If you look in the support FAQ's on Raymarine's site, they tell you to only use Sandisk 64-256mb CF cards. I found a 256mb on Amazon ($20 w/ shipping), made sure it was in FAT32 but my C120 would not recognize it. Unless you have a Raymarine compatible CF card, it will not recognize it.

I almost gave up on updating the old raymarine C80, it was very very picky on the small "hard to find" chip needed for the first few updates. The PO had "never" updated the system. I finally hired the electrician from Hinkley's in Thunderbolt GA. Cost for labor was $69.86 and he supplied the all updates and the chips needed. I supplied the new Navionics 2GB all USA & Northen Bahamas card is now working as expected. I was in already at the yard for a bottom paint and other work.

Glad to hear you were able to get yours working too. Once the electronics get a bit "aged" the support dwindles. Then it is hard to find the knowledge on your equipment. That is why the interweb is so nice to have when an issue like this shows up.