Raymarine vs. Garmin Chartplotters

[Harlen]

Thanks to everyone who responded to my "Time for a New Chartplotter" posting.

I have narrowed it down to Raymarine or Garmin.

My main question now is ease of learning and use. Please comment regarding your experiences with either one.

Thanks.

Harlen

 

[Comodave]

I have been a fan of Raymarine for a long time. They replaced a depth sounder module ($600) that was 8 years old because they had problems due to faulty soldering. They didn’t have to do that. As to learning, it is a one time thing so I would not be too concerned with that. The new Axiom systems are awesome and the things that they can do are really nice. The Augmented Reality looks great, wish I had the new stuff.

 

[Scottwb96]

I have Axiom. I used to have Garmin. Garmin seemed a tad bit more intuitive. But I was soured on them when I bought a new unit and about 1.5 years later it had been end-of-lifed w/ no support available.
Once you learn the Axiom's they aren't bad at all. Raymarine also has been doing these almost bi-weekly Zoom webinars for people to get on and see what the products can do...

 

[w8n4sun]

On our previous boat we had an Axiom MFD/Quantum II radar/Autopilot system and loved it. Very easy to use and information on the screen easy to modify. We also linked an iPad for the lower helm that had controls (we never used that feature) but neat that it could be done.


I haven't had the opportunity to use and play with newer Garmin equipment but there are so many out there that I'm sure it's pretty intuitive.

 

[SoWhat]

Navionics on IPad for ease of use.

I think complexity is driven by features. If you add in radar and autopilot to the normal depth and AIS, complexity rises exponentially. Raymarine has the market lead for number of gadgets you can add on. Or you can keep it simple.

Planning a trip on a laptop and exporting waypoints to mfd should be easy. It's not always that simple.
Adding to network should also be easy. Not always that simple. Look on ebay listings for an extra nmea 2000 cable. Might help drive your decision. Future expansion should be plugin.

 

[Codger2]

My boat has Raymarine 12" MFDs (eS127 & 128) which were replaced by the Axiom line. There doesn't seem to be an end as to what you can add to these units and I love them!

I can't comment on the Garmin line as I know nothing about them.