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Old 02-23-2020, 08:29 PM   #15
mvweebles
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City: Saint Petersburg
Vessel Name: Weebles
Vessel Model: 1970 Willard 36 Trawler
Join Date: Mar 2019
Posts: 7,179
Quote:
Originally Posted by Woodstock View Post
We purchased our 11 year old boat last year knowing we would need to upgrade all of the limited electronics and add several components (radar, autopilot, AIS) that it didn't have to the upper and lower helms. I had recent experience with Simrad that was not good so didn't want to do that again so I was defaulting to Garmin.

The boat had Raymarine so I also looked into them and eventually went that way for everything except a Simrad VHF radio that networked in just fine. I have been very pleased with the Raymarine equipment including both Axiom and Axiom Pro MFD's. They are much more intuitive than anything I've used in the past. The Quantum radar is excellent. I like how it highlights (in red) when traffic is coming behind me even when I can't see aft. The autopilot is also great and has a wireless remote. I was also able to integrate all engine data from our Volvo D6-370 engines and our fuel tanks into the network for display on the Axioms.

As a bonus, using the Raymarine Control App on my iPad I can duplicate the screen of either the upper or lower helm to add another fully functional control screen so it allows me to have two screens at each helm even though there is only one MFD at each.
I've become a big Raymarine fan!
What did gib find more intuitive about Raymarine? I presses the Simrad system into service when my old Furuno radar took a crap about a week before leaving San Francisco for Ensenada. 500 nms south. There were some features I struggled with - never did figure out how to offset radar rings/range in a way I'd become accustomed with Furuno NavNet 2 systems. So my experience was good, but not without fault.

This is the second comment that Raymarine is more intuitive. Thoughts?

BTW - my cruising "use case" is 3-10 days underway between stops. PC, tablet, phone is fine for killing time while off watch or checking Active Captain. In my opinion, does not displace a ships system. Fine for backup if needed. But not a system of record. When I come up to the console, I want to be able to tell instantly if somethings changed. I can mirror that on my phone, but if something changed, it's because someone did something.

I may be old fashioned. But that's how I roll.
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Cruising our 1970 Willard 36 trawler from California to Florida
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