All I want for Christmas...

[Marmalade]

Well - maybe not all at once - but I'm looking at the boat at the end of the season and working out what needs renewing. It's a 20 year old boat and the nav. electronics have I think had a minor updating since new - but not by me and not lately. Current set up is all Raymarine

Pathfinder radar
RC70 at the chart table
repeater in the cockpit
ST50 instruments (I think) usual on deck and a multi at the chart table
ST7000 autopilot (ram on quadrant)
No AIS
No gyroscopic stabilised course compass (basic course computer) ie limited MARPA

I'd like to bring it all up to date - the question is... should I stick with Raymarine?

I'd like
up to date modern instruments
ideally repeating to my ipad
AIS (inc transmitter I think as I'd like to future proof as much as poss)
Paddle-less log (as mine spends 7/8 of the year gunged up)

Is high def radar worth it?
What other considerations?

Have others done this or done the analysis?

 

[johnalison]

I've got a newish e7 with radar and older ST60 kit plus iPad. If you want to come and play with my stuff at Titchmarsh give me a PM.

 

[Marmalade]

thx - may take you up on that !

 

[pvb]

You don't have to stick with Raymarine, there are other good makes offering what you want. After many years of using a disparate collection of Raymarine, Stowe and Skanti gear on my old boat, I now have a complete suite of Garmin kit on my new boat, and it works effortlessly and interfaces seamlessly! The 820 plotter has HD radar and displays AIS data from the VHF, and you can link it to your iPad. The GMI20 instruments are crisp, clear and colourful, and their data can be displayed on the plotter too. The Garmin autopilot works very well, and steers to course or wind. There's endless scope for customising the displays to suit your own preferences. It doesn't have a paddle-less log, but I just antifoul the impeller a couple of times a year and it keeps it clear. Choosing a complete set of kit is a big decision so I'll happily echo johnalison's offer, let me know if you'd like to look at it working.

 

[Marmalade]

Many thanks - have to admit I do like Garmin gear. Have always assumed that the premium for Raymarine gear was because it interfaced better than everything else (rather than because the instruments were better in themselves).

 

[benw]

We have Garmin and Raymarine working nicely together. Inherited large Garmin touchscreen CP in cockpit, Garmin VHF 200i at chart table and HD radar. Last year added Garmin AIS which was easy to add, second mushroom gps as an upgrade x19 and this year added Garmin triducer and Raymarine evolution autopilot. All working together so the Garmin GMI display is at the chart table displaying multiple data from the nmea2k backbone, the chartplotter can read everything and the raymarine autopilot also reads depth and speed as well as all the course details. Installed 2nd station VHF in cockpit too which has saved installing a speaker and having to dive below for access.
The big bonus of using Garmin for me was identifying a ship on AIS, calling it up directly from the cp using the VHF which saved a lot of faffing about and legging it around the boat.
Foxs did a fantastic job with install and networking, they really do know their stuff.
I retained the old stow sounder as a back up, it doesn't work with the triducer pinging away but is happy on its own, I used the original hole from the log to fit the triducer.
The HD radar is good but I do not hae anything else to compare as this is my only experience of the kit. Previous boats not as well speccd.

 

[laika]

up to date modern instruments
ideally repeating to my ipad
AIS (inc transmitter I think as I'd like to future proof as much as poss)
Paddle-less log (as mine spends 7/8 of the year gunged up)

Is high def radar worth it?
What other considerations?

If you go garmin or raymarine and want to use wireless data on your iPad, you'll have to use the garmin / raymarine(+navionics) specific apps (respectively). They're not big on the open/shareable data thing. The navico stuff you can get data *out* but you'll need the navico-specific (or partner) apps to send data back. They don't seem to be very good at replying to Open Source developers who use the address they publish for enquiries on that subject.

One consideration might be whether you want to use fmcw or pulse radar: That might decide your radar manufacturer which will in turn decide your plotter manufacturer.

If you decide to keep current instruments (which you say you don't) it's easier to link them into raymarine's seatalk-ng, but there are other solutions (i.e. seatalk->nmea-01839(->n2k))

 

[Marmalade]

One consideration might be whether you want to use fmcw or pulse radar: That might decide your radar manufacturer which will in turn decide your plotter manufacturer.

crikey - don't know anything about these... research sesh coming prior to boatshow...