Dual Station Raymarine 240E - Don't buy one

[timndebs]

Dual Station Raymarine 240E - Don\'t buy one

Be very wary about buying a dual station Ray240E, it is riddled with bugs to the point where it is dangerous to own. I have just installed mine and it has the latest software version V1.17. If I hadn’t destroyed the wiring loom of the old system removing it and spent a weekend painstakingly running all the harness in for the new one I’d be ripping it all out and sticking it where the sun doesn’t shine at the Raymarine distributor.

<font color="red"> Fault 1 </font> : With a dual station system, the handset cradles contain a magnet which the handsets use to detect when they are in use. Good idea. BUT the Ray240E gets confused and at random periods of time from minutes to sometime a whole hour starts blocking out handsets claiming the other is in use when it isn’t. When this happens on the flybridge I have to run downstairs and cycle the power switch before the unit can be used. Nice when you need it in a hurry. It did this 10 times last weekend.

<font color="red"> Fault 2 </font> : When the system is turned off, the DSC is still operational. The only way to get a good nights sleep is by disconnecting the power.

<font color="red"> Fault 3 </font> : The menu option to display the GPS lat and long data doesn’t work

<font color="red"> Fault 4 </font> : The menu option to turn off keypad beeps doesn’t work.

<font color="red"> Fault 5 </font> : The will only accept GPS data directly from my Garmin, neither the Autohelm NMEA output or Autohelm seatalk outputs are recognised. Fine on a Furuno, not on a Raymarine.

I’ve written to Raymarine who acknowledge that

<font color="blue"> “Dear sir,

My apologies for these errors. I have discussed this with Engineering, who are aware of certain software issues concerning Ray240 dual-station systems. I am assured that an imminent software update for the Ray240 will resolve these issues. As soon as this is available it will be posted on our website, and you will be able to get your VHF updated under warranty by one of our service agents.

Once again, my apologies for these problems.

Best regards” </font>

Other than that, when it works, it's great but not what you expect for £700+

Tim

 

[DERF]

Re: Dual Station Raymarine 240E - Don\'t buy one

Sorry to hear your story, but sadly indicitave of many of the new generation marine gadgets..

I (and another forumite) are having a nightmare with C Maps PC planner for Furuno.... The bottom line is the manufacturers produce software that hasn't been tested and then flog it to the general public for consumption...

They sit back and wait to hear what does not work so they can write a patch for it.. They get our cash up front and free development testing.. Scandalous...

I have had similar issues with Geonav's 4c H/H ..

 

[capnjack]

Re: Dual Station Raymarine 240E - Don\'t buy one

Tim,

In as much as I completely agree that this equipment should not give this amount of trouble, I also feel that to write and tell viewers of this forum not to buy it, is a little hastey.

With a company such as Raymarine, who are one of the worlds leading electronic navigation equipment manufacturers, I am sure they will deal with the matter immediately. Regarding the compatibility issue, again, I am sure that they would have dealt with it had they known about it.

I entirely agree however, that it is not good enough that this equipment has caused the amount of trouble that it did, it must have been very frustrating and not to be expected with something in this price bracket.

Perhaps instead Raymarine will be willing to compensate somehow in order to re-establish your trust?

Regards
Capn Jack

 

[SteveE]

Re: Dual Station Raymarine 240E - Don\'t buy one

Would you have expected Tim to have said buy the Ray240E it is the best dual staion money can buy.. but the only issue is it does not work?

Working in the IT industry I know 1st hand, if you sell something that has not been tested to the max and with no bug's, Tim's post would look like a recomendation.

It's about time the marine industry stoped useing customers as R&D labs...

 

[DERF]

Welcome

Oh... and we've been very rude here..... welcome to the forum Tim!

Bare bio so where you based, whats the boat?

 

[capnjack]

Re: Welcome

Quote
"Oh... and we've been very rude here..... welcome to the forum Tim!"

Perhaps I should have said something derogatory????

And no, SteveE, I would not expect Tim to say "go and buy a piece of equipment that doesn't work". And I certainly would not suggest saying something as ridiculous as "It's the best dual station money can buy"

Please read what I have to say before condemning it out of hand.

I agree that we should not be guinea pigs and that the IT industry you work in should test everthing before selling, so perhaps as a person connected you will exert your influence and put pressure on your company to stop it????

 

[panther]

Re: Dual Station Raymarine 240E - Don\'t buy one

Hi Tim

I have a dual station 240e! - I've just had my unit swapped out by Raymarine and now have v1.17 - the reasons for the swap are in this thread :-
http://www.ybw.com/forums/showflat.php/Cat/0/Number/631244/an/0/page/1#631244

I will check to see if I have simular problems, but here are my thoughts....

Fault 1 - I think the magnet is only used to dim the display, and possibly to change the display readout - What happens when you are using it as an intercom? - Both handsets are off the hook then. Also can't you lift one handset to listen whilst the other handset is in use? - I'll do some tests next time i'm down the boat.

Maybe you have a different fault that is locking the unit up? Surely the other unit is only in use when it is transmitting?

Fault 2 - Yes I think thats in the manual - How do you turn it "off" - I thought the only way was to cut the power - my Radio is on a seperate switch from the fuse box so the radio is either On, or Off

Fault 3 - I'm sure this is displayed on mine - I will check. - Top right hand corner. Maybe that only displayed when in the cradle? can't remember!

Fault 4 - I'll test!

Fault 5 - Mine recieves its GPS input from the Seatalk bus. I have a Raymarine Seatalk GPS reciever that feads the Seatalk bus with GPS data that is then read by the radio and C80 chartplotter.

If you are using a NMEA GPS to feed the Autohealm then I don't think this will put the GPS data onto the Seatalk bus - should work with NMEA output from the Autohealm I would have thought (I don't have Autohealm)

Cheers

Jools

 

[DERF]

Re: Welcome

<font class="small">Code:</font><hr /><pre>Quote
"Oh... and we've been very rude here..... welcome to the forum Tim!"

Perhaps I should have said something derogatory????
</pre><hr />

No..... I meat rude in not welcoming him to the forum first..... Likewise CapnJack.. hadn't noticed you were a newbie.... so welcome to you too

 

[Roy]

Re: Dual Station Raymarine 240E - Don\'t buy one

Sorry to hear this. I have the same setup and it works perfectly. Really top notch piece of kit.

 

[timndebs]

Re: Dual Station Raymarine 240E - Don\'t buy one

Roy,
Please tell me more. Is it dual station? What software version do you have? How do you display your position on the handset?
Cheers
Tim

 

[Roy]

Re: Dual Station Raymarine 240E - Don\'t buy one

Hi Tim

I have the dual station set up but as the boat is currently on loch lomond, did not take on gps/plotter at time of install - last year. However, when it was being put in and tested, the fitter used a gps to check everything and to show me what could be achieved, as I also have other raymarine kit as well, and he said it all worked perfectly. When I put the boat elsewhere, then I will be getting the plotter and radar too. Cheers. Roy

 

[timndebs]

Re: Dual Station Raymarine 240E - Don\'t buy one

Thank you all for the warm welcome. Details updated.

<font color="red">Panther:</font> I hadn't noticed that the magnet dims the display, but I can assure you it also changes the mode of the system to lock-out the "other" handset. This is to avoid the possible situation where two users (one upstairs, one downstairs) happen to want to make a call at the same time. The intercom is a special case, when selected it wants both handsets to be used. This function works fine as long as the software hasn't crashed. The problem I'm having, a lot, is that the system keeps telling me a handset is in use that isn't. Once it's incorrectly decided a handset is in use, nothing I do will convince it otherwise without cycling the power.

 

[Swagman]

Re: Dual Station Raymarine 240E - Don\'t buy one

Just to balance this thread.
I had 6 YO Raymarine kit on my previous yacht - purchased secondhand by me two years before. In prep for Rally Portugal 2004 Raymarine sent down an engineer to do a freebie check on all participants Raymarine kit.
We had always had condensation issues in winter months - plus never resolved how to realign our electronic compass.
This chappie spent three hours head down and bum up - end result was three new pieces of kit plus all other problems fixed - cost of this service was just a beer.
I simply could not rate the service level any higher - so I would be hopeful they'll sort your issues and allow you to enjoy super service afterwards...........
Good luck

 

[BrendanS]

Re: Dual Station Raymarine 240E - Don\'t buy one

Really nice to hear this sort of story