Cheesed off with Raymarine

[salad]

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.

Thats why I thought it had now become unlimited. I'm not sure I agree about making a case, particularly in small claims. Magistrates are incredibly sympathetic to the little guy and if you're going after a big firm, it's unlikely they would even respond, leading to summary judgement. Costs peanuts too.

He might be inside 6 years depending on what month the unit was purchased, but does he have a contract if he's not the original purchaser? Hmm.

I've seen a few negative things about Raymarine now, so I think when the time comes I'll be looking at other options.

 

[bedouin]

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.

Surely only the original purchaser could make such a claim

 

[Tranona]

Surely only the original purchaser could make such a claim

I believe that is correct, and to answer the previous post, while the small claims track is straightforward, the challenge is to provide evidence that the fault was there from the start and that the the time to failure was shorter than one has a right to expect. That requires expertise that will convince the court. As I said difficult with things like electronics in these days of fast moving technology and disposable products. The problem with boat electronics is that time is not a good measure of usage compared with say, a phone or tablet that uses similar technology and components. In other words there is not a benchmark standard for how long one would reasonably expect such a product to last.

Raymarine has already made an offer of compensation for the failure. The secondary question from the OP is whether there is an alternative that will meet his requirements and have a longer life. Suspect the answer is NO. Essentially they all use the same technology and manufacturing processes and getting hard evidence that one brand is more reliable and longer lasting than others is a challenge!

 

[Paulfireblade]

Try here:

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

Looks worth a try, more than my searches found.

 

[Paulfireblade]

Interested to hear responses. After all I would replace my laptop long before 6 years but I have an iPad that is probably 8 years old but neither are exposed to the elements of a cockpit.

I suppose the niggle is so many C80 chart plotters still running that are really old now.

My 7 inch inside works fine so I could put that on the binnacle and get some time out of that but ultimately the straightforward option is to replace both with Axiom units.

Hey ho

 

[Mr Cassandra]

I had the previous model that would jump to different countries all over the world and steer the boat to that position,the repair centre said they couldn't repair it ,but would sell me the 12" axiom Pro for a service charge of £995 +vat .This new item has started playing up after two years. So I never leave it in charge of the autopilot .

 

[bedouin]

Interested to hear responses. After all I would replace my laptop long before 6 years but I have an iPad that is probably 8 years old but neither are exposed to the elements of a cockpit.

I suppose the niggle is so many C80 chart plotters still running that are really old now.

The problem appears to be the touch screen and that is much more delicate than the display-only LCD you get in the C80 etc.

 

[PaulRainbow]

Couple of years ago i had a faulty Raymarine wind instrument (3 years old) belonging to a customer and a Garmin autopilot controller of my own, that i purchased used on Ebay, with a tiny scratch on the screen. Raymarine didn't want to know, not even a discount for a new one. Garmin offered my a "refurb" unit for about £120, as the new one retailed at over £500 i reckon that was a good deal.

I avoid Raymarine if i can, but some customers insist on it. My choice is always Garmin.

As for a 15% discount, that will be off of retail, i could offer a better price than that, they are having a laugh.

Compatibility with other systems, if you have ST60/ST70 etc display they will network just fine with other manufacturers. Radar, if fitted, will not, neither will it work with Raymarine Axioms.

Autopilot will work up to a point, it will steer to a waypoint or to wind, but cannot be directly controlled from the MFD. This is true whether you switch to another manufacturer or stick with Raymarine.

In short, there is no benefit in sticking with Raymarine.

 

[Caladh]

Couple of years ago i had a faulty Raymarine wind instrument (3 years old) belonging to a customer and a Garmin autopilot controller of my own, that i purchased used on Ebay, with a tiny scratch on the screen. Raymarine didn't want to know, not even a discount for a new one. Garmin offered my a "refurb" unit for about £120, as the new one retailed at over £500 i reckon that was a good deal.

I avoid Raymarine if i can, but some customers insist on it. My choice is always Garmin.

As for a 15% discount, that will be off of retail, i could offer a better price than that, they are having a laugh.

Compatibility with other systems, if you have ST60/ST70 etc display they will network just fine with other manufacturers. Radar, if fitted, will not, neither will it work with Raymarine Axioms.

Autopilot will work up to a point, it will steer to a waypoint or to wind, but cannot be directly controlled from the MFD. This is true whether you switch to another manufacturer or stick with Raymarine.

In short, there is no benefit in sticking with Raymarine.

If I’m not mistaken aren’t Raymarine and Garmin part of the same company ?

 

[Graham_Wright]

Looks worth a try, more than my searches found.

Not a happy experience for me. The second hand E80 (Classic) I bought had a broken card connector which caused an electrical failure.

The Service Centre quoted £600 for a new mother board.
Raymarine charged £30 to replace one transistor.

 

[fushion julz]

I have had a similar issue with Raymarine. I have (had) a Dragonfly 5m that was purchased in 2016 (but not by me...it came with the boat).
This year, on relaunch in March, it failed to power up ...I have established it is not the cable. connector or card, but Raymarine have said it is not a serviceable unit and only offered a similar 15% off a new device.
I was gifted an Element 7s by a friend who upgraded to Axioms, so didn't need to buy anything, but was a bit miffed that a £500 ish device could fail in such short time and not be repairable at all.

I use an old Samsung S2 (8") tablet as my primary navigation unit...it is more reliable, more accurate and more user-friendly. It works all the time (although in very bright sunlight it can overheat) and the Navionics subscription for Android works on my phone as a back-up and when I'm in my dinghy.

 

[Pete7]

Raymarine are also about to put up there prices from 1 Sep 22 by 35%

https://www.facebook.com/albasailing/photos/a.408936995928900/2293950710760843

 

[MikeCC]

If I’m not mistaken aren’t Raymarine and Garmin part of the same company ?

No. Raymarine are owned by FLIR Systems. Garmin are independent but own a number of sub-brands like Fusion, Navionics and Vesper.
Navico own B&G, Simrad and Lowrance plus C-Map charts.

 

[PaulRainbow]

If I’m not mistaken aren’t Raymarine and Garmin part of the same company ?

Nope. Garmin do own Navionics, which are commonly used in Raymarine MFDs.

 

[Paulfireblade]

I had the previous model that would jump to different countries all over the world and steer the boat to that position,the repair centre said they couldn't repair it ,but would sell me the 12" axiom Pro for a service charge of £995 +vat .This new item has started playing up after two years. So I never leave it in charge of the autopilot .

Wow, mine has done that a few times as well. Pretty scary when auto pilot turns the boat 45 degrees or worse. Never use waypoints for “Go To” but bearings input direct in to autopilot and then keep an eye on the track shown on the plotter.

 

[Paulfireblade]

Compatibility with other systems, if you have ST60/ST70 etc display they will network just fine with other manufacturers. Radar, if fitted, will not, neither will it work with Raymarine Axioms.

Autopilot will work up to a point, it will steer to a waypoint or to wind, but cannot be directly controlled from the MFD. This is true whether you switch to another manufacturer or stick with Raymarine.

In short, there is no benefit in sticking with Raymarine.

I had been told my Radar was still compatible with Axiom . If not, Garmin might be worth considering.

 

[Paulfireblade]

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.

Just the exterior unit, one at chart table performs fine, cables all look good. Apparently Axiom units have access for cards in the rear to try and stop moisture ingress but from what has been said above still not a fix.

 

[WindyWindyWindy]

Does openCPN support any raymarine radars?

 

[PaulRainbow]

I had been told my Radar was still compatible with Axiom . If not, Garmin might be worth considering.

Do you know the model of radar ?

 

[Mr Cassandra]

What's strange, is we are talking about a piece of kit close to €4000 and it isn't reliable after 18-24 months normal use.
They are taking us for mugs .