Fair enough and thanks for the comments.
What I am having an issue with is getting a good side by side comparison of a complete suite of equipment. Marine equipment just doesn't seem to inspire a "Consumers Report" type evaluation so we rely on "dock talk".
Have you visited this forum?
Marine Electronics Forum - The Hull Truth - Boating and Fishing Forum
As in all forums you have to read behind the lines as there are a lot of "experts" out there. In fact one of the ways I make these decisions is to speak to actual experts who's work I have seen or who can demonstrate that they are real and professional somehow... I have spent my life dealing with automobiles and as such learned pretty well how to spot the posers...as it comes with the territory in that industry. It is really no different here either.
What has baffled me is that to a person, every "credible" electronics person I've spoken to seems to say the same thing. They all say Garmin is what they are installing and that it has the fewest issues. I'm actually willing to consider Garmin as I try moving forward in this project but it was not high on my list...
I still want to believe that Furuno is the way we will go but I'm waiting for the fall boat shows to really get into this.
The beauty of speaking to people who have their hand in this game on a regular basis is that their pool of knowledge is not a single plotter purchased a few years ago or dock talk. The issue with speaking to someone who used to work in electronics is that the field moves along so quickly these days. Ask that person about issues with something they actually worked on and you may get some good advice! Especially if they were good at what they did...
For what it is worth, not all dock talk is bad either! If you hear a comment repeated about a brand often enough, you may be on to something. Of course you should always wonder about the larger picture on the dock as a local dealer may be screwing up the same gear installation so the problem is a local one.
Once again, because this is a "public forum" I'll repeat the criticism of Raymarine, this coming from installers I feel are qualified and honest from the east and west coasts along with a couple of people who see "more than most"...
'...too many "dead on arrival" units and quality control is slipping are the things I've been hearing.
I've never had a Raymarine unit show up dead. I have had three autopilot control computers belly up though and this was a component originally installed by Sabre and nicely installed I might add. A couple of Raymarine pilot ram failures, E series plotter issues and ultimate failure two times. As I said, the last round of equipment has really been flawless. It was easy to install, it is quick, it has been glitch free and I have nothing to complain about with the exception of excessive screens to get from a track to pilot engagement or to make a simple course correction using the nav screen. I simply shake my head and use the pilot head instead...
I feel like if we had just spent the money on Furuno in the first place we'd have saved a lot of money! That is why I'm not going to use Raymarine again...
Furuno and Garmin are what I'm focusing on.
