New Chartplotter mfd

I am a raymarine die hard and I swear by my 14 year old classic E series

My choice now would be B&G after watching Sailing Uma's install

 
masterofnone said:
If you were to start again with a complete update of mfd/radar/ depth/ ais/wind/speed. where would you go?
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I think Garmin gear is pretty good. It was fitted as standard on my Bavaria, and it's worked flawlessly. I have all of the bits you mentioned, plus autopilot. Software updates are so easy to handle - just download the update on to a memory card, pop it in the plotter, and it automatically updates everything on the system. I had Raymarine gear on my last boat, and it wasn't as user-friendly.
 
I’m very happy with my Raymarine plotter and pilot. I didn’t particularly like the B&G kit on the last charter boat I sailed on, though that’s mostly a matter of personal preference. The last time I used Garmin kit was so long ago that it wouldn’t be a valid comparison - and that‘s an important consideration when people are relating their experiences. Of course a 2018 B&G will be more capable than a 2004 Raymarine it replaces, but that‘s a matter of time, not brand.

Honestly it’s not a very useful question - any of the big three brands will be fine, and most people will just tell you they like the one they have.

Pete
 
I would have Raymarine or B&G, not Garmin. Garmin stop product support surprisingly soon after releasing new models. I had a Garmin MFD that died quite early out of 1 year warranty, bought a factory exchange one for fixed price, which then also died, both faults water ingress into a "waterproof" device. When the exchange one died in a similarly short period Garmin told me they no longer supported that £1,000-ish item, and could not repair or replace it.
 
I’ve not bought nav kit for fifteen years - the now ancient Raymarine RL series has served me very well. However - what next? Ours is an all Raymarine boat. Is it at all sensible to consider putting a non Raymarine MFD/Radome in an otherwise Raymarine environment? Is the NMEA 2000 protocol so industry standard that an effective cross brand integration is achievable? Or is it asking for trouble?
 
Robih said:
Is the NMEA 2000 protocol so industry standard that an effective cross brand integration is achievable? Or is it asking for trouble?
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It generally works where it's specified to work, and not where it isn't.

Basic navigational data like wind, speed, depth, position, etc is standardised and works across manufacturers. Control of autopilots - ie engage/disengage, mode selection, calibration, etc - always (as far as I know) uses proprietary messages. Radar is too high bandwidth for N2k and uses proprietary protocols over ethernet.

Pete
 
Robih said:
I’ve not bought nav kit for fifteen years - the now ancient Raymarine RL series has served me very well. However - what next? Ours is an all Raymarine boat. Is it at all sensible to consider putting a non Raymarine MFD/Radome in an otherwise Raymarine environment? Is the NMEA 2000 protocol so industry standard that an effective cross brand integration is achievable? Or is it asking for trouble?
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Raymarine isn't quite nmea2k though as they've rolled their own connectors.

Raymarine's lack of care for standards and interoperability would mean I wouldn't buy it.
It works fine if you're happy to pay top dollar and have everything Raymarine of course.
 
JBJag27 said:
Raymarine isn't quite nmea2k though as they've rolled their own connectors.

Raymarine's lack of care for standards and interoperability would mean I wouldn't buy it.
It works fine if you're happy to pay top dollar and have everything Raymarine of course.
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Proper cunning is it not. Effectively makes migration away from the brand impossible as the migration cost of an entire nav management and control system is very significant.
 
B&G will do everything, and for my money the sailsteer features on their plotters are the best around.

You're not limited to buying just B&G for the bolt on bits, just the core ( Plotter & Radar ), you can then pick and mix the rest as long as it's NMEA 2000 compliant.
I have a Garmin ( Airmar ) Triducer, Garmin heading sensor, Raymarine Multifunction displays ( via stupidly expensive converter lead ), EMtrak AIS etc.
 
Robih said:
I’ve not bought nav kit for fifteen years - the now ancient Raymarine RL series has served me very well. However - what next? Ours is an all Raymarine boat. Is it at all sensible to consider putting a non Raymarine MFD/Radome in an otherwise Raymarine environment? Is the NMEA 2000 protocol so industry standard that an effective cross brand integration is achievable? Or is it asking for trouble?
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Get a Raymarine E85001 Seatalk to NMEA 1083 converter on Ebay., or a Quark QK-A031 NMEA 0183 Multiplexer with SeaTalk Converter. Then you can upgrade in stages.

Edit: if you need to go to NMEA 2000, add an Actisense NGW-1 to the mix.
 
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