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

stuartwineberg said:
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:

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

Thanks. Will have a go at answering the questions. A couple of things to clarify first.

a) I am a she, not a he :-)

b) the boat is to be used a liveaboard while we save up for the long-term aim of blue-water cruising. The immediate aim is to have a functioning echo-sounder (the current one is broken). Everything else can wait until we have saved up and refined our requirements going forward. We are taking the sparks advice to put the NMEA "backbone" in so that we can add things as we go along. We are not fussy people and don't care what it looks likes (with reason) so don't mind if we end up with mis-matched instrument heads.


Do you need several plotter displays to talk to each other? - don't know yet.

Do the units need to be waterproof? - yes

Do you want to be able to replicate the displays on a shore based device at home for planning? - no

Do you want to display camera images or engine data? - maybe engine data in the long-term

Do you want hi resolution radar images? - no idea - never used radar (yet)

Do you want fishfinder capability - there are new CHIRP units just coming out? - don't think so - although I acknowledge the advice above re fishfinder.

Do you want AIS receiver capability, or even a transponder? - yes eventually.

Do you need integration with a computer on board? - don;'t think so, but again, this may change eventually.

Do you race? - no. This is for long-term world-wide cruising.

Do you need accurate autopilot functionality? - eventually yes.

Do you want to integrate the system with entertainment such as audio, TV or internet? - tv = No. Internet = maybe?

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. - at the moment = yes, but long-term = who knows.



As i said in my OP - I know this is akin to the proverbial piece of string. We are just keen to get the best foundation now, but we cannot afford much more than the backbone and probably two instrument heads and transducers. I saw a package in the shop (Raymarine, I think that was 1xdual reader instrument head and two transponders (log and depth) and this was about £500.


Thanks for all the input and advice - it is helping!
 
Twister_Ken said:
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.
Click to expand...

Guess the TackTick advertising achieved its goal.
After 4 years of putting up with it, I'm ditching it.
It's great when it works, trouble is that it doesn't always work. Reliable it is not. The windex is worst of all.
Been up the mast more times than I care to remember, and the display has spent more time at 'the shop' than on the boat.
Now that it's no longer in warranty, the TackTick kit is being replaced with... Furuno.

For OP: I would choose, as a backbone, equipment from a manufacturer that interfaces with equipment from other manufacturers.
On the boat, we have NASA, C-Trek and Furuno stuff all 'talking' to eachother. Only the Raymarine sounder refuses to do so.
Raymarine kit doesn't play well with others.
 
OR4751 said:
Raymarine kit doesn't play well with others.
Click to expand...


It does on SeatalkNG to NMEA2000 and old Seatalk and NMEA0183.
I know because I have B&G Triton instruments, Raymarine Plotter/Radar, Raymarine Autopilot, Navman 3100 Repeater, Comar AIS, Actisense NMEA multiplexer.
No real issues except I didn't use the universal knowledge=RTFM. Which caused a few headaches, but now gone.
 
I asked around the local marine electricians and their advise is buy as much as you can from one supplier - it there are then issues you only have one supplier with whom to talk and no buck passing.

The comment was NMEA 2000 - instruments will talk to each other and might display what they say - but it might be more difficult for them to interpret the data and then manipulate it into another form.

I was not interested in paying an electrician to find out.

However -

All you really need is a chartplotter (which is GPS in a graphical form) and depth (which is simple - all the transducers come from Airmar). You will have a magnetic compass, It would be nice to add a fluxgate compass. None of this is rocket science - all of it has been around for decades, well 2 decades. It will be nice to have a log, paddlewheel under the hull, you will then have SOG and speed through the water (gives you adverse tides or currents). Wind is nice, but if you know how to sail, not necessary. Radar, AIS also nice - but (depends where you are going) not essential. Actually you do not need the chartplotter - lots of, electronic, GPS, devices will offer you a position - plotting on paper charts is good for the soul (and great if you lose anything in the future).

Basically I would start at the 'end' - what's the final wish list? - it will dictate what you start with.

if the final wish list is 3 years away - then go for basics, minimalist, no-one has any idea what will be on offer then. Invest big bucks now and think you will add to it in 3 years - dream on, I think you will waste you money and regret it.

If you are to realise the final wish list in 12 months - look at the wish list and work backwards.

Jonathan
 
Adding my tuppence worth.
We replaced all the instruments at the end of 2012.
My initial intention was to go with B&G Triton units and a Zeus plotter.
The reason fro B&G was because I liked the Triton displays and wanted the low power Broaband Radar.
However, at the Southampton Boat Show I looked at the different brands and it was obvious that the squarer B&G Zeus plotter wouldn't physically fit in where the old plotter was.
In the end we went for Raymarine C95, standard digital radar and i60, i70 displays.
The quality of the plotter and displays in terms of robustness/water proofing etc seems to have been improved in leaps and bounds. In addition the plotter connects to an iphone/ipad so repeat display down below if needed. Plus digital radar so much better than the old analogue that I'm no longer convinced about getting broadband radar.

If you go for a Raymarine backbone then the connectors are smaller than the standard NMEA2000 connectors. Consequently it is easier to route cables without cutting ends off.

6 months on I am happy with our choice.
 
Last edited:
FullCircle said:
It does on SeatalkNG to NMEA2000 and old Seatalk and NMEA0183.
I know because I have B&G Triton instruments, Raymarine Plotter/Radar, Raymarine Autopilot, Navman 3100 Repeater, Comar AIS, Actisense NMEA multiplexer.
No real issues except I didn't use the universal knowledge=RTFM. Which caused a few headaches, but now gone.
Click to expand...

That's all as maybe - but I was told that to get my Raymarine ST60 kit talking to my Furuno plotter (NMEA0183), I needed a SeaTalk gadget (also to be bought from Raymarine :rolleyes:).
Whilst I don't doubt it is technically possible to get Raymarine kit to talk to other brands, it hardly ever does so 'out of the box' - without the need for an interface gadget.
Standing by to be corrected by the experts.
 
OR4751 said:
That's all as maybe - but I was told that to get my Raymarine ST60 kit talking to my Furuno plotter (NMEA0183), I needed a SeaTalk gadget (also to be bought from Raymarine :rolleyes:).
Whilst I don't doubt it is technically possible to get Raymarine kit to talk to other brands, it hardly ever does so 'out of the box' - without the need for an interface gadget.
Standing by to be corrected by the experts.
Click to expand...

It does now. ST60 ancient hat I am afraid. You still need a Seatalk to NMEA E85055 if that is what you have. SeatalkNG is a totally different kettle of aquarians.
 
In the end we went for Raymarine C95, standard digital radar and i60, i70 displays.


Just out of interest, how do you find the wind display on the i70? Mine has been nothing but trouble!

Mark
 
haslemere_harry said:
In the end we went for Raymarine C95, standard digital radar and i60, i70 displays.


Just out of interest, how do you find the wind display on the i70? Mine has been nothing but trouble!

Mark
Click to expand...

We've had no issues with the wind display on the i70 and now recently added i60/i60CH. Describe the problems.
The masthead unit is still the old ST290 wind unit as is the Wind Pod.
 
You must log in or register to reply here.

Share this page

Top