Furuno or Garmin

bowball · Aug 23, 2021

For the new 19” chart plotters, radar, etc which is the better system? For a trawler. I’ve heard both opinions, watched Furuno’s comparison videos, etc and still am up in the air. Furuno surprisingly is less expensive, slightly.

Just a hypothetical question for now.

tiltrider1 · Aug 23, 2021

Furuno has a history of being bullet proof. This of course does not guaranty that they still are. Furuno has a history of not being intuitive. This of course does not guaranty that they are still difficult to master.

Garmin has a history of giving you more whistles and bells for the money than anyone else. Of course the past does not guaranty the future. Garmin has a history of being very user friendly.

I personally have like all the systems that I have used Garmin, Raymarine, and Furuno. I usually go with the one that makes me the best deal.

While not a fact, it has been my experience that as boats get bigger they tend to drift towards the higher end Furuno equipment.

danderer · Aug 23, 2021

After a year of living with a 3-year-old Garmin installation I'm in the process of replacing it with Furuno.

I find the current Furuno software more intuitive for me than Garmin. I prefer the cartography options Furuno supports. Both Furuno and Garmin have unique options -- the set that Furuno offers is more useful to me than the Garmin set.

ofer · Aug 23, 2021

Furuno all the way for the above reasons and more. I got their TZ3 and love it!

Garmin are for boats with joy sticks

Fish53 · Aug 23, 2021

I have never had a Furuno fail me in over forty years, the best radars are Furuno and while I'm not currently liking my GP 1971f's touch screen much it works great otherwise. My limited exposure to Garmin makes a comparison difficult but they appear to be overpriced due to excessive marketing and have too many proprietary issues for me.

obthomas · Aug 23, 2021

Garmin all the way. Very intuitive and reliable. Goes with my Volvo Pentas.

danderer · Aug 23, 2021

danderer said:
After a year of living with a 3-year-old Garmin installation I'm in the process of replacing it with Furuno.

By the way, I had some space on the panel so purchased a Furuno MFD that I mounted next to my existing Garmin setup. I've been able to use them side-by-side for the past few months. I much prefer the Furuno so now I only use the Garmin for radar and the connected video cameras.

Replacing all the Garmin stuff is a project for this winter.

Prospective · Aug 23, 2021

A have a full Garmin suite including 3 plotters, open array radar, and auto-pilot.

I think the stuff is very intuitive and I've become comfortable in the Garmin "universe". But I have had a couple of instances of stuff failing prematurely and they are notorious for making obsolete and ceasing support of relatively new equipment.

Furuno has long had a rep for better long-term support, they don't update equipment as often. Their radars are also reputed to be the best or among the best available.

If I were to redo my electronics I would absolutely consider Furuno.

Fish53 · Aug 23, 2021

Prospective said:
A have a full Garmin suite including 3 plotters, open array radar, and auto-pilot.

I think the stuff is very intuitive and I've become comfortable in the Garmin "universe". But I have had a couple of instances of stuff failing prematurely and they are notorious for making obsolete and ceasing support of relatively new equipment.

Furuno has long had a rep for better long-term support, they don't update equipment as often. Their radars are also reputed to be the best or among the best available.

If I were to redo my electronics I would absolutely consider Furuno.

Furuno has always been very reliable with excellent support, the majority of larger commercial vessels I've served on used Furuno.

BandB · Aug 23, 2021

Fish53 said:
Furuno has always been very reliable with excellent support, the majority of larger commercial vessels I've served on used Furuno.

I think that's also what drives their incredible level of service. You're talking the level commercial requires and then recreational also benefits. It makes Furuno always my first choice.

However, that said, we purchased one boat in 2016 or so that didn't offer Furuno and we got the complete Garmin set up and used in to do the loop and more. Zero complaints and the charts were exceptional on inland waters. The average recreational user would be happy with Garmin but once you've used Furuno, it has you. Now we also use Timezero with our Furuno as it has incredible route planning.

Fish53 · Aug 23, 2021

BandB said:
I think that's also what drives their incredible level of service. You're talking the level commercial requires and then recreational also benefits. It makes Furuno always my first choice.

However, that said, we purchased one boat in 2016 or so that didn't offer Furuno and we got the complete Garmin set up and used in to do the loop and more. Zero complaints and the charts were exceptional on inland waters. The average recreational user would be happy with Garmin but once you've used Furuno, it has you. Now we also use Timezero with our Furuno as it has incredible route planning.

Elsewhere I asked if anyone uses Olex plotting and mapping software. I've used it for years on commercial boats and used it again last week. When used with AIS and Radar overlay it's fantastic, pretty expensive ($7000.00) but it's so far superior to any other program I've used it's worth it. I've never seen it used outside of commercial applications.https://olex.no/index_en.html

BandB · Aug 23, 2021

Fish53 said:
Elsewhere I asked if anyone uses Olex plotting and mapping software. I've used it for years on commercial boats and used it again last week. When used with AIS and Radar overlay it's fantastic, pretty expensive ($7000.00) but it's so far superior to any other program I've used it's worth it. I've never seen it used outside of commercial applications.https://olex.no/index_en.html

Never used it, but we do use Transas and it is heavily used in commercial I believe. It is incredible for offshore and commercial ports but we use other for short coastal runs.

Jon H · Aug 23, 2021

I see a lot of ECDIS / Plotters on many vessels,
TRANSAS was one of the earliest to market and I still consider it
one of the best.

As far as radars go, Furuno or JRC are on 90%+ of what I see.

That being said I have a Garmin for my 28' boat but would go
Garmin plotter and Furuno (commercial) radar if doing a bigger boat.

MYTraveler · Aug 23, 2021

BandB said:
I think that's also what drives their incredible level of service. You're talking the level commercial requires and then recreational also benefits. It makes Furuno always my first choice.

Furuno's tech support team for its commercial products (including the SC50 satellite compass and FA 150 AIS units, but not including any MFDs) is entirely different from the recreational products team. That said, the support from both groups is consistently excellent.

BandB · Aug 23, 2021

MYTraveler said:
Furuno's tech support team for its commercial products (including the SC50 satellite compass and FA 150 AIS units, but not including any MFDs) is entirely different from the recreational products team. That said, the support from both groups is consistently excellent.

I know it's not the same group, but it's a culture that is established.

syjos · Aug 23, 2021

Furuno has exceptional after purchase support for current and legacy products.

Garmin has ok support for current products but they do not support legacy products too long after discontinuation.

Furuno products last 20 - 30 years.

Garmin, too new to tell, but does not seem to last as long.

Look at commercial marine; ships, tugs, CG, ferries etc. They tend to install Furuno equipment over other brands.

I sell both Furuno and Garmin in addition to other manufacturers. Furuno has the least installation issues and experience almost no defective returns. I sell more Furuno than Garmin, even though profit on Garmin is greater.

Blissboat · Aug 23, 2021

For me and most of the experienced boaters I know, all conversations about marine electronics begin and end with Furuno. To be fair, I have shopped Garmin alternatives, and came away unsold. Why mess with success?

ofer · Aug 23, 2021

syjos said:
I sell more Furuno than Garmin, even though profit on Garmin is greater.

that's why many dealers push Garmin. Garmin have a more aggressive marketing plan but not a better product IMO.

rgano · Aug 23, 2021

Have had Garmin and used on delivered boats. I still prefer the 16-year old Furuno, especially the radar which is much more controllable. Garmin, is mostly you see what you get with few options to tweak the display.

syjos · Aug 23, 2021

ofer said:
that's why many dealers push Garmin. Garmin have a more aggressive marketing plan but not a better product IMO.

I didn't want to say that since I do sell it, when I have to, but is very true.

Most experienced, knowledgeable boaters choose Furuno over Garmin.

MYTraveler · Aug 23, 2021

syjos said:
Furuno has exceptional after purchase support for current and legacy products.

Furuno products last 20 - 30 years.

My experience is a little different, having bought three of their NavNet3D black boxes to provide MFD functionality at 10 screens on my boat (1 in cockpit, primarily for fishing, 1 in tower, 4 in pilothouse and 4 at flybridge, plus mirrored to salon screen and MSR screen). About 7 years into my ownership of those black boxes, the video cards started to fail. Furuno stopped making / selling them. The black boxes became useless within 10 years after my purchase (and since I was an early adapter, the guys who came after me were out in the cold much earlier). My solution was to replace the black boxes with PCs running Nobeltec TZProfessional -- which is essentially the same software that the black boxes were running, but with a few extra features. Now, however, I have replaced two of those PCs with 5 MFDs -- 1 cockpit, 1 tower and 3 PH).

Rearmount · Aug 23, 2021

New member here. I just purchased/installed a full Furuno helm.
TZT3 12"
24" NXT radome
700 autopilot
SX20 compass

The Furuno of years past is not what I bought. These products are fast, easy to use and install and tech support is outstanding.
Go to Furunousaforum.com and snoop around.

Simi 60 · Aug 23, 2021

For me, mouse driven OpenCPN on a mini PC and a 23inch monitor is a no brainer
So easy to change routes and add notes on the fly

And make posts here, play music, movies, buy stuff online etc etc.
Doing this now while punching across the bay into 30 knots

cks · Aug 23, 2021

Very interesting discussion. I have been pondering this question myself for the past few months.
I have not been convinced that Garmin is the system for me. I personally don’t find the system to be intuitive to use.
The older Furuno NAVnet radar is remarkable for its age.
I have been using Time Zero software and really like it.
I hope to visit a system vendor next month and get an up close look at Furuno. I’ll report back my findings next month.

mikehar · Aug 24, 2021

BandB said:
I know it's not the same group, but it's a culture that is established.

However, why my Furuno GPS had a roll over bug last month, Furuno's response was crickets. No fix, no firmware.

When that happened to my Garmin GPS, they release a firmware patch to fix the problem.

mikehar · Aug 24, 2021

MYTraveler said:
My experience is a little different, having bought three of their NavNet3D black boxes to provide MFD functionality at 10 screens on my boat (1 in cockpit, primarily for fishing, 1 in tower, 4 in pilothouse and 4 at flybridge, plus mirrored to salon screen and MSR screen). About 7 years into my ownership of those black boxes, the video cards started to fail. Furuno stopped making / selling them. The black boxes became useless within 10 years after my purchase (and since I was an early adapter, the guys who came after me were out in the cold much earlier). My solution was to replace the black boxes with PCs running Nobeltec TZProfessional -- which is essentially the same software that the black boxes were running, but with a few extra features. Now, however, I have replaced two of those PCs with 5 MFDs -- 1 cockpit, 1 tower and 3 PH).

I am one step behind you. My NN3D's are starting to fail (faults, some screen issues, etc). I think I will go the PC route as well.

ofer · Aug 24, 2021

Rearmount said:
New member here. I just purchased/installed a full Furuno helm.
TZT3 12"
24" NXT radome
700 autopilot
SX20 compass

The Furuno of years past is not what I bought. These products are fast, easy to use and install and tech support is outstanding.
Go to Furunousaforum.com and snoop around.

oh wow exactly my setup

BandB · Aug 24, 2021

MYTraveler said:
My solution was to replace the black boxes with PCs running Nobeltec TZProfessional -- which is essentially the same software that the black boxes were running, but with a few extra features. Now, however, I have replaced two of those PCs with 5 MFDs -- 1 cockpit, 1 tower and 3 PH).

cks said:
The older Furuno NAVnet radar is remarkable for its age.
I have been using Time Zero software and really like it.
I hope to visit a system vendor next month and get an up close look at Furuno. I’ll report back my findings next month.

Interesting to see more using Timezero with Furuno. Designed to go together so well. We've used the combination since 2012. We have the full Furuno set up but have the Timezero as a peripheral and backup. When we started, it was Maxsea.

bowball · Aug 24, 2021

The dream system for two helm stations was:

TZT19F (x2)
DRS12ANXT/4 Radar
FA50 Class B AIS Transceiver
NAVPILOT 711C Autopilot
FI-70 Displays
TZT16F
GP330B GPS Receiver
SCX20 Sat compass
DST800L Smart ducer

rslifkin · Aug 24, 2021

If looking at Furuno, based on what I see used for commercial applications, I'd put my second choice down as either Simrad or Raymarine, not Garmin.

My impression of Garmin's UI is also a little bit toy-like. It works, but some stuff seemed awfully unintuitive, even compared to low end older stuff from other manufacturers. The sheer number of screen taps to set up a route was a bit crazy, let alone figuring out how to make it navigate that route.

At this point, Furuno is at the top of the list for when I re-do my setup. At least one TZT3 display, the 711C autopilot, and the 24" NXT radar are in the plans.

Furuno or Garmin

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