Ra*marine Radar Reliability - Opinions Please

[trevor_loveday]

I am considering the new Ra*marine CRC70 Radar/Chartplotter but am concerned by recent reports of the reliability of their instruments and tiller autopilots. Are their radars any better or would I be advised to look elsewhere?

Thanks.

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[MrG]

We have the next model up, the 10" - wonderful piece of kit...
We had a compatibilty issue between the wind displays and the Autopilot, but that was resolved, radar has proved reliable.
Raymarine have always provided us with excellent service in the 2 + years we've had the system.

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[vyv_cox]

We have the same radar unit, not chartplotter, with MARPA. Haven't used it enough yet to judge long term reliability but it is a super bit of kit, excellent display, and Raytheon's support has been excellent.

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[TonyS]

We have the RL70C Plus Raychart Chartplotter mounted on the binnacle. It is now 6 months old but has brought us back twice in fog from Cherbourg. It has had no problems but reliability must be measured over a longer period. We find the arrangement excellent and one person can lookout and watch the radar during a crossing. The MARPA is superb allowing the simutaneous tracking of 10 boats/ships from 20 miles which reduces the boredom. It plotter works fine in the Solent allowing cutting the Bramble fairly fine and entrance to the Newtown or Beaulieu rivers without bothering with transits. The colour display is excellent in all lights. Everyone who comes on the boat admires the system.
I understand a lot of fishing boats also swear by the Raymarine radars.
Tony

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[Rich_F]

I've got the R10x, 13 years old and still going strong. Though that's maybe because the head unit is in the nav area rather than the cockpit.

My cockpit mounted ST50's, on the other hand, fail on a seasonal basis. But next time, I'll bin 'em and get some proper instrumentation.

Rich

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[Chris_Robb]

I have just the radar - had it for 3 years - no problems at all. The display is housed in the wheelhouse so it is dry. I would query putting it in the open, as I think you may find it goes the way of the st50s.



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[kimhollamby]

R10X not for outdoors

The R10X should not be in the cockpit; working from memory as a previous owner of one but sure it is not waterproof and is not specified as such.

Some R10s and 20s in X and XX versions have been set within consoles out in the open but I cannot imagine that the trackball, for example, is completely sealed. Also the screen will blank out in direct sunlight, as with all CRTs. Keep it indoors would be my recommendation, or under a sealed hood of some kind.

Also worth remembering R10/20 series JRC manufactured from the days when Raymarine hasd a partnership with the Japanese company.

ST50s are a different matter. Following earlier thread on different forum did some sniffing around to remind myself of what was what and they suffered from a series of problems in terms of case sealing, temperature expansion/contraction, thermowelding on the screen and, on the earliest examples, button sealing. In my case I lost one, a Tridata, because a visitor on my boat pressed the screen with his thumb...seemed okay at the time but it broke the weld between the screen and the plastic case. First hose down, dead instrument.

Particularly unkind, apparently, was a not untypical regime where an owner had his black-cased ST50s out in the sun and nice and hot and did them the favour of hosing down with nice cool water. The rapid contraction of the case often broke seals and sucked water straight in. Not the owners' fault, but if you still have ST50s (or any other instruments from any manufactuere for that matter) something to guard against perhaps.

Raymarine has since fitted a new environmental test facility and claims to have learnt many lessons from the ST50 range now put into effect with newer models of instrumentation, in terms of seal designs, cases and so on.

For what it is worth I have run Raymarine Pathfinder chartplotters and radars in the new LCD ranges out in the open since 1999 and have not personally experienced any issues with water ingress on the head units. An early RL70 mono LCD did eventually start to suffer a bit and go dark in really bright sunlight (with a mounting position that was near horizontal) but other than that they seem fine.

Did also notice one of the new bright sunlight colour screens that I used last month had got water-etched but it was on a boat that had not been maintained very well and I suspect the operators had left salt water on it for prolonged periods (ie weeks) with the suncover left off. Didn't have time to complete the job but was able to polish the worst of the marks off. Boat windows were in similar state.

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[nicho]

I have this unit mounted on the binnacle - it's only 6 months old to date, but it is a fabulous unit, the colour display is easy to read in bright sunloght, and the Marpa system is excellent. Like I say, it's only 6 months old, so too soon to talk about longevity, though I had the 4 colour grey unit on the previous boat and it was fine after 4 years .

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[billmacfarlane]

Mine is now 2 years old - I've got the radar/colour plotter and it's performed faultlessly. I've only used the radar a couple of times in fog bit it was superb at finding targets from ships to small fishing boats. I use the plotter every time I leave my berth and it's never given me a problem, though I don't think the plotter software especially waypoints, route planning and making, is the best around. I'm very happy with it though.

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[johndf]

I've got the lower end SL72 unit but it's been excellent since I installed it 2 summers ago. Thoroughly recommended.

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[qsiv]

Our dry mounted R10 has never had an issue - the scanner was damaged by a nearby lightning strike (it wasnt expensive to repair, but I did admire the chap swapping the circuit board and cables 30 feet up the mast). Resolution is good.

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[trevor_loveday]

Thanks everyone nm

nm

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