Cheesed off with Raymarine

[Paulfireblade]

So I have two Raymarine A Series Touch screen Lighthouse series MFD’s a 9” at helm and 7” at chart table, purchased and installed in 2016. They are linked to my other Raymarine instruments and autopilot through Seatalk.

For a while now the Helm chart plotter has been misbehaving, reverting to Home Screen regularly and now creating MOB locations all on its own plus some other occasional weird issues. My local Raymarine dealer has tried a factory reset and latest firmware to no avail.

Rang Raymarine who said: “needs a new touch screen but since covid they are no longer available so if you send us yours and we confirm it is faulty we will give you a 15% discount plus adapter plate and cable.”

Is there really no one who can repair these things?

I will also have to pay out for replacement chart plotter at chart table as it won’t be compatible with the new one.

So many C80 chart plotter’s still in operation so is new Raymarine equipment inferior so why should I waste my money on their new stuff.

Is that the best Raymarine will do?

Is any other manufacturer compatible with my instruments and auto-pilot?

Anyone been in a similar situation.

 

[salad]

How old are these units? Could try to force a return under consumer protection?

 

[Paulfireblade]

Hi,

Purchased and installed 2016 by previous owner but I have receipt from supplier. I have been advised manufacture date is 2015.

P.S Just been reading your post but only on 2nd page so do not know outcome of proposed purchase but interesting.

 

[salad]

Hi,

Purchased and installed 2016 by previous owner but I have receipt from supplier. I have been advised manufacture date is 2015.

P.S Just been reading your post but only on 2nd page so do not know outcome of proposed purchase but interesting.

I think the purchase date would be the relevant one, also the price and where the models you have sat within their product range i.e are they at the higher end or budget versions.

It may well be worth looking in detail at the "satisfactory quality" clauses of the consumer rights act (I think thats the one, its either that or sale of goods). There is a durability element to that area of law, and a premium product at a premium price such as your MFD's, could reasonably be expected to last more than 7 years. Would an owner expect to change their MFD's every 7 years under normal circumstances? I doubt it.

 

[Paulfireblade]

I am not sure anything Raymarine sells would be considered budget, the cost in 2016 incl fitting was around £2K for a 9 and 7 inch with new binnacle and the current direct replacement apparently is the Axiom 9 which is circa £1.2k and the 7 inch is around £700 all plus fitting and if I do bite the bullet, will they fail again circa six years!

So might be worth a letter to Raymarine UK, I do not expect them to be repaired for free but not happy being told they are only good for "Land fill" at six years old with an option of 15% off which does not seem satisfactory compensation.

 

[sailorbenji]

Your instruments and autopilot most likely could work with any other manufacturer's chart plotter system, but you would need a sea talk to nmea0183 converter.

 

[Jodel]

A series have a Raynet connector which is how I would expect your two plotters to be connected together and the same Raynet sockets are also on the Axioms.

 

[Lightwave395]

Try here:

Service Repair Marine Electronics | The Service Centre | Marine Electronics Manufacturers

 

[Tranona]

I think the purchase date would be the relevant one, also the price and where the models you have sat within their product range i.e are they at the higher end or budget versions.

It may well be worth looking in detail at the "satisfactory quality" clauses of the consumer rights act (I think thats the one, its either that or sale of goods). There is a durability element to that area of law, and a premium product at a premium price such as your MFD's, could reasonably be expected to last more than 7 years. Would an owner expect to change their MFD's every 7 years under normal circumstances? I doubt it.

It is actually 6 years and you have to show that the defect was there when it was made. Claim is against the retailer in the first instance.

Bit of a paper tiger as firstly it is extremely difficult to make a case, particularly with electronics and secondly the cost of pursuing is out of proportion to the value of the potential loss. The law can be a useful "threat" to make manufacturers give a goodwill gesture, which is what Raymarine are doing in offering a discount on a replacement. not satisfactory for the OP 9who was not the purchaser) but just a fact of life. Electronics move at such a pace and the item has given 6 years service. The world wide shortage of electronic components is nightmare for small volume niche makers li Raymarine who have little clout with suppliers.

 

[sailaboutvic]

It is actually 6 years and you have to show that the defect was there when it was made. Claim is against the retailer in the first instance.

Bit of a paper tiger as firstly it is extremely difficult to make a case, particularly with electronics and secondly the cost of pursuing is out of proportion to the value of the potential loss. The law can be a useful "threat" to make manufacturers give a goodwill gesture, which is what Raymarine are doing in offering a discount on a replacement. not satisfactory for the OP 9who was not the purchaser) but just a fact of life. Electronics move at such a pace and the item has given 6 years service. The world wide shortage of electronic components is nightmare for small volume niche makers li Raymarine who have little clout with suppliers.

Question
Do Raymarine actually make them ?

 

[WindyWindyWindy]

I'm generally disappointed with Raymarine kit. The non-standard connectors is the biggest bugbear. But durability does also seem to be poor, especially for the glorified tablet MFDs. Which should be more like 200 than 1200.

The spares situation is ridiculous, if they're going to make things that fall apart they could at least have a proper spares catalogue.

 

[harvey38]

For a while now the Helm chart plotter has been misbehaving, reverting to Home Screen regularly and now creating MOB locations all on its own plus some other occasional weird issues. My local Raymarine dealer has tried a factory reset and latest firmware to no avail.

If you take the helm unit off the network with the other MFDs, does it still misbehave and are they all running version 19 of LH2?

With this being at the helm, are all of the connections/cables in good order?

I have 5 of the Raymarine MFDs and all work without a glitch but they are inside and not exposed to the elements.

 

[Tranona]

Question
Do Raymarine actually make them ?

Question
Do Raymarine actually make them ?

Who knows? the screen will most likely custom to that application. Seem o remember Raymarine assembled much of their kit in Hingary.

 

[salad]

It is actually 6 years and you have to show that the defect was there when it was made. Claim is against the retailer in the first instance.

Bit of a paper tiger as firstly it is extremely difficult to make a case, particularly with electronics and secondly the cost of pursuing is out of proportion to the value of the potential loss. The law can be a useful "threat" to make manufacturers give a goodwill gesture, which is what Raymarine are doing in offering a discount on a replacement. not satisfactory for the OP 9who was not the purchaser) but just a fact of life. Electronics move at such a pace and the item has given 6 years service. The world wide shortage of electronic components is nightmare for small volume niche makers li Raymarine who have little clout with suppliers.

I didn't think there was a time limit anymore?

Edit: Traona is right, unfortunately the time limit for claims is 6 years. Sorry mate, I thought they had got rid of the time limit on the durability clause.

 

[Momac]

My raymarine 260e vhf curly cable is perishing while the curly cable on my much older icom radio on the same boat is good as new.
So I tend to agree Raymarine is not top quality - but it is top price . The raymarine network cables are also expensive
Connectivity between vhf, ais and mfd is however very easy .


So for future reference which is the better option?
I am not sure any other is both better and cheaper .

I would nominate Icom for vhf
Emtrak for ais
No idea for mfd

 

[Jamie Dundee]

With regard to the spurious MOB alarms I had the same problem with my Simrad gear. I finally discovered I’d inadvertently set a MOB on my vhf which persisted through the network despite cancelling on the MFDs. Cancelled on the vhf, all good

 

[Tranona]

I didn't think there was a time limit anymore?

Edit: Traona is right, unfortunately the time limit for claims is 6 years. Sorry mate, I thought they had got rid of the time limit on the durability clause.

The 6 years comes from the EU directive. However as I suggested it is largely meaningless as it is so difficult to make a case and manufacturers who are ultimately responsible (even though your contract is with the retailer) are rarely in the UK so difficult to pursue.

 

[dgadee]

I always presumed 7 or 8 years was maximum you would get from marine electronics. I am a cheapskate so never bought anything except depth.

 

[Parabordi]

Whenever my Raymarine kit plays up, buy replacement 2nd hand from Ebay. Never ending supply of folks trading up selling their old working kit.

 

[harvey38]

Whenever my Raymarine kit plays up, buy replacement 2nd hand from Ebay. Never ending supply of folks trading ip selling their old working kit.

I've got an e7 Hybrid touch for sale, mint condition with power cable, just upgraded to am e165?