help me choose: Garmin/Furuno/Raymarine/Simrad?

ChattingLil

ChattingLil

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We are starting over and installing some new instruments. Will be starting with an NMEA 2000 backbone and echo-sounder and will build on from there as and when money allows.

The electronics guy who is helping us said it's obviously our decision, but we need to decide which system we will go with and suggested that of the four I list in the title, they are all much of a muchness and it just comes down to look and feel.

I have hardly any experience of using anything modern. My old boat had ancient Navico instruments and I have a hand held Garmin GPS and a Garmin 555 (which won't interact with NMEA 2000, so that's hardly relevant), but the point is that I have no preconceived ideas about what my personal preference is.

Went to look at the display in the chandlery and was completely bamboozled by choices and options.

Opinions please.
 
You need to make a list of what you want from the entire system and then work out who gives you the best match and if the price is right for you.
 
Camelia said:
You need to make a list of what you want from the entire system and then work out who gives you the best match and if the price is right for you.
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hmm. this is part of my problem because, the way I understand it, what the eventual wish list is could be like the proverbian piece of string. And we don't know what that might turn out to be. Our immediate needs are very basic.
 
I can only really echo what your electronics guy said - it's personal preference.

Personally I don't like Garmin, for the fairly shallow reason that I think their interface looks "cartoony" and not serious. I've also experienced a couple of really terrible car satnavs they made years ago.

Raymarine were for many years "the standard" on AWBs, so they seem very familiar.

I don't know much about Simrad or Furuno, but the latter in particular is much used on commercial vessels and I tend to think of it as sturdy and businesslike, if expensive and possibly with a few less bells and whistles provided. But that's an entirely subjective view, not based on a careful comparison.

Pete
 
ChattingLil said:
hmm. this is part of my problem because, the way I understand it, what the eventual wish list is could be like the proverbian piece of string. And we don't know what that might turn out to be. Our immediate needs are very basic.
Click to expand...

So maybe, then, you just need a very basic system? Just because all these things are possible, doesn't mean you have to have them all.

I would rather enjoy speccing a new system from scratch with a healthy budget to play with, but I'd be under no illusion that all the toys I picked were necessary.

Pete
 
Just to pit another wasp in the jam, why not go wireless and avoid future problems associated with salt water, electricity and copper wire?

Raymarine now owns TackTick, and doesn't do much to promote it, but its available and fairly canine gonads.

FWIW Arcona (what I have) has recently made B&G its default on new boats, reckoning that's the best kit around at the moment.
 
For a sailing boat the best NMEA2000 display is the B&G Triton (or its Simrad clone which works on Simnet). I say so because it is bright and clear, and the wind indicator screen is better than any other digital one that I have seen.
The latest B&G Triton software revision gives you a magnified close hauled or running wind indicator screen as well as the standard wind instrument screen. The Triton has a setting to enable it to scroll automatically through the screens that you select, as well as the normal mode whereby you scroll through the screens by pressing the page button.
 
On fishing boats you see more Furuno radars than any other make. Mine has worked faultlessly apart from the time the drive belt fell off:eek:

Don't fit a bog standard echo sounder, get a fishfinder, much more use, judging anchorages, visual trends are much easier to read than numbers etc, etc. \only draw back is the standard transom mount transducer will need replacement with a proper job.
 
Norman_E said:
For a sailing boat the best NMEA2000 display is the B&G Triton (or its Simrad clone which works on Simnet). I say so because it is bright and clear, and the wind indicator screen is better than any other digital one that I have seen.
The latest B&G Triton software revision gives you a magnified close hauled or running wind indicator screen as well as the standard wind instrument screen. The Triton has a setting to enable it to scroll automatically through the screens that you select, as well as the normal mode whereby you scroll through the screens by pressing the page button.
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Me,me, I've got a Triton.

So I am bound to say it's great wonderful lovely, just the job.

Funny enough, that actually is what I think.

Raymarine plotteers/Radars etc etc are still good, so I would lay a Raymarine backbone, with T pieces at all the likely future junction points, and add Devicenet cables for all 'other' manufacturers stuff coming in.
 
I have found that Simrad are not that waterproof on the displays.One Compass and log display Ive had to return for a client I don't think that they are that user friendly either ,.trying to explain how to use them without getting worked up reading a 200 page manual cant be that good .
.Im not to keen on Garmin plotters now for the reasons stated above .
If you can't afford the Band G the Raymarine still has to be the best choice .
Cindy
 
The nice thing about NMEA 2000 is it's all plug and play so you don't have to buy from just one manufacturer for it all to interface. For example, I have a Gamin plotter that hooks up perfectly to a Digital Yacht AIS which was several hundreds of pounds cheaper and almost certainly has the same innards. However, if I had a Garmin radio, mine's an Icom, I believe that it would be possible to make DSC calls directly from the plotter to an AIS target so there are some benefits in getting all the kit from one manufacturer. Personally I like the Garmin, probably because I am familiar with it and the backup has always been first class, but some of the features on previous models, such as the 2000 series, are missing on the current models, such as the planning page, which I consider a retrograde step. For what it's worth, a commercial rib operator that moors close to me tells me the latest Raymarine displays take some beating.
 
prv said:
Personally I don't like Garmin, for the fairly shallow reason that I think their interface looks "cartoony" and not serious. I've also experienced a couple of really terrible car satnavs they made years ago.

Pete
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What do you mean "cartoony interface"

I also had a rubbish Garmin car sat nav years ago but my present Garmin touchscreen was chosen trying several at a boat show and finding the Garmin (750) the most instinctively easy to use for both of us. Others may have caught up in the last three years but at that time it was the bees knees.
 
johnphilip said:
What do you mean "cartoony interface"
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Literally just the aesthetics. I accept that may be a daft basis on which to choose a navigation instrument, but equally if I'm going to spend a lot of time looking at it, I might as well have something that doesn't look as if it's been repurposed from a Japanese teenager's mobile phone circa 2005.

I completely understand that others will have different taste, so there's no need to get defensive about your choice :p

Pete
 
Furuno are pretty much the standard for all types of commercial shipping these days. Now whilst I know that does not really mean much to the leisure boater what it does mean is that their R&D has a far greater test sphere and scope and budget than others. I have sailed with many Furuno suites on commercial boats and they rarely go wrong. I have not used any Furuno leisure stuff so I can't comment but I know their commercial stuff is far easier to use than the Advansea leisure boat plotter I had on my last boat so it can't be that bad.

PRV- I understand what you mean, I always liked Sailor VHF sets because of the telephone shaped hand set. I know they are great radios but it was the handset that I liked above anything else.
 
I do not think there is too much difference in the chart plotters, from the 4 but:

If you want low power radar, you need go with Navico, Broadband (not Simrad - but B&G, B&G is now their sailboat brand (so forget Simrad). The B&G Zeus is very very good, same as the Simrad NSS, but with extra sail tactic bells and whistles and they cost little extra. B&Gs wind is very good. The Zeus and NSS have internal GPS (as does the new Raymarine e7) - if you want to install inside, wire it up and check first. Our NSS can take 10 minutes to pick up the GPS signal when inside the cabin - but this might be an Oz feature. Its not a big issue for us as ours in on a swing arm and can rotate to outside (and the problem goes away).

If you want to prioritise depth sounding then Raymarine's new system Dragonfly(?) is superb - but depends when you buy, the others will come up with something similar.

Both Raymarine and Navico, do not know about the others, offer WiFi to an ipad.

I do not know about anyone's autopilots, we are still using our 12 year old Raymarine - which must be an endorsement in itself.

Both Navico and Raymarine have offered exemplary service and backup (technical support), Garmin are a dead loss - but that's here in Oz.

I find that Furuno focus too much at larger vessels. They have some amazing software - but it costs.

Garmin simply do not seem to be keeping pace.

We have just installed Navico, (Simrad - before B&G bacame THE sailboat brand). Its dead easy, plug and play - no need for a marine electrician. The difficult part is getting the cable runs installed and you could train a monkey (or yourself) - no need to pay a fully qualified, and expensive, sparks to do it. If you were twitchy - do your own installation and getting him to connect up the power.

Jonathan
 
This winter I will probably have to dump my B&G H1000 instruments because after 7 seasons the displays are dying. Still have the best functionality in town but the hardware is rubbish.
Chatting around over the last couple of months I only hear good things about Garmin, both display and functionality are excellent. Also back up a joy compared with Raymarine and B&G. Warranty support is hugely important these days and again my local sparks says go with Garmin, not much good to say about the Raymarine corporate ethos. Will have a serious look and poke about at Southampton boat show.

Major criteria for me is the ability to display whatever one wants in multiple digital, not analogue format, and readability. I like numbers not clock faces. Personal thing. Last time I looked Foruno did not have the versatility and would have needed too many displays. Haven't looked at latest B&G, will wait until September.
 
Can we help you set the specifications?

Perhaps we would help the OP by posing some questions for him to think on and then these could be the basis for selection. Here's a starter for ten but I'm not strong on electronics so I am sure others will improve on it:

Do you need several plotter displays to talk to each other?
Do the units need to be waterproof?
Do you want to be able to replicate the displays on a shore based device at home for planning?
Do you want to display camera images or engine data?
Do you want hi resolution radar images?
Do you want fishfinder capability - there are new CHIRP units just coming out?
Do you want AIS receiver capability, or even a transponder?
Do you need integration with a computer on board?
Do you race?
Do you need accurate autopilot functionality?
Do you want to integrate the system with entertainment such as audio, TV or internet?
Are you based physically close to any of the service centres for the main suppliers - I am near Portsmouth and it has helped me a lot to be able to go into Raymarine and talk to them

Once you have answered all this you will I am sure have loads of good advice from the forum
 
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