Raymarine Axiom running Lighthouse 4

[geem]

Does anybody else think their Raymarine Axiom is appalling? Ours has had numerous faults on this crossing. Switching off for no reason. Losing GPS. Screen freezing. It feels short of memory. If I zoom in on a spot across the world, it will freeze and often crash. Really not impressed. I prefer my old Raymarine E140 wide. That was so much more robust until it failed

 

[RunAgroundHard]

Mine has been working very well, but gets hot. I wonder if the extra temperatures yours is seeing is having an impact. Also there was an issue with the last update and IIRC there was a fix issued.

The menu is appalling, just not intuitive. However, at my temperatures and even in the pouring rain, Axiom* 12, has always worked.

 

[PaulRainbow]

Raymarine Axioms are all appalling. Menus are horrible, support is poor and updates often cause issues and have to be swapped back to older versions, waiting for a fix.

 

[geem]

Raymarine Axioms are all appalling. Menus are horrible, support is poor and updates often cause issues and have to be swapped back to older versions, waiting for a fix.

It's not just me then. It seems the software is half baked. Nothing is stable. It's far too complicated for it own good.
I don't need all the bells and whistles, I just need it to work and be reliable. Is this too much to ask?

 

[Sticky Fingers]

Raymarine Axioms are all appalling. Menus are horrible, support is poor and updates often cause issues and have to be swapped back to older versions, waiting for a fix.

I have to say I totally disagree with this, my experience with the 2020-vintage Axioms on my boat has been exemplary, although to be fair I have never had to contact support so no idea what that would entail.

Menus are simple and intuitive especially compared to Garmin, and I’ve done several OTA software updates with no problem.

Just my experience.

 

[PaulRainbow]

I have to say I totally disagree with this, my experience with the 2020-vintage Axioms on my boat has been exemplary, although to be fair I have never had to contact support so no idea what that would entail.

Menus are simple and intuitive especially compared to Garmin, and I’ve done several OTA software updates with no problem.

Just my experience.

Menus are a bit like iOS V Android

I've dealt with Raymarine support and Garmin support, Garmin are a million% better. I could give a few examples, such as just having a 15 year old black box VHF replaced FOC because the mic cables degraded, £2K worth of kit, FOC. Try Googling Raymarine VHF cable failures, plenty of hits, bet you can't find one replaced out of warranty

There have been several software update problems, see post #2 for example.

 

[geem]

My Axiom went to a Raymarine dealer in Falmouth before we left the UK for a check up as I wasn't happy with it. They said there wasn't anything wrong with it, yet it continues to perform like a piece of junk. There isn't just one fault, it has numerous problems. If I had know how rubbish they were i would never have purchased one.

 

[CJTurner]

I bought it to navigate, not control underwater lights, play music, load apps for god-knows what. They miss the point of it.

 

[RunAgroundHard]

You can delete all the bloatware, if they are Apps on the screen.

 

[CJTurner]

Yes agreed. My point really, is that they put huge resources into things that have nothing to do with navigation. The lack of a roll-back facility when doing upgrades has left me out without a working system before now. That's pretty basic in computing.

 

[mrming]

Mine works well for what it’s worth. Axiom 9, purchased 2024. I do update all the Raymarine software periodically, but maybe only once or twice a year.

There’s a specific scenario where Axiom 2 devices can only run Lighthouse 4, not Lighthouse 3. This is not the same as not being able to roll back an update to Lighthouse 4.

You can roll those back using a micro SD card, but it’s not convenient and you have to download the old version and put it on a card. I’ve never had a problem personally, but ideally updates wouldn’t break stuff, and roll back should be more user friendly.

 

[CJTurner]

Yes thats right. And you have to have a laptop aboard - Then if surface mounted, pull the pod apart. It should save the old image to the SD before update.

 

[PaulRainbow]

The USB ports are in the back of the Axiom (same as my Garmin), so if flush mounting i'd fit a remote USB reader.

 

[Baggywrinkle]

I went all in Raymarine for an instrument system upgrade this year ....



... all functions flawlessly once I had sorted out the multiple sources of GPS info, and got the Yachtsense Link Router connected to the marina WiFi. All the software for everything could be updated over WiFi from the plotter interface. It took a while to iron out some glitches as there was an incompatibility with the VHF wireless speaker, wireless hub, and wireless handset that required an E-Mail to Raymarine to sort out. The response was prompt and I was able to figure out that for some reason the devices I bought had incompatible software versions in them.

Overall very happy and have no performance issues ... will see how it all ages.

 

[geem]

I went all in Raymarine for an instrument system upgrade this year ....

View attachment 203378View attachment 203379

... all functions flawlessly once I had sorted out the multiple sources of GPS info, and got the Yachtsense Link Router connected to the marina WiFi. All the software for everything could be updated over WiFi from the plotter interface. It took a while to iron out some glitches as there was an incompatibility with the VHF wireless speaker, wireless hub, and wireless handset that required an E-Mail to Raymarine to sort out. The response was prompt and I was able to figure out that for some reason the devices I bought had incompatible software versions in them.

Overall very happy and have no performance issues ... will see how it all ages.

Mine is running all the correct versions of software for all devices. The only none Raymarine product is the AIS. This is linked to the nmea2000 by an Actisense that limits the output to AIS sentences only. I really don't think the problems we have continually are a result of interface problems. It's simply that Raymarine kit/software is very poor. Far too complicated. It must have been designed by somebody who doesn't actually go to sea, ever

 

[dunedin]

Mine is running all the correct versions of software for all devices. The only none Raymarine product is the AIS. This is linked to the nmea2000 by an Actisense that limits the output to AIS sentences only. I really don't think the problems we have continually are a result of interface problems. It's simply that Raymarine kit/software is very poor. Far too complicated. It must have been designed by somebody who doesn't actually go to sea, ever

I don’t have your version of Axiom. But generally I have found Raymarine kit works well and support is pretty good (other than with all electronic devices and brands, they become obsolete quickly and eventually parts supplies run out so need to revert to specialists).

 

[DipperToo]

The USB ports are in the back of the Axiom (same as my Garmin), so if flush mounting i'd fit a remote USB reader.

I second that view. Although expensive, having a panel mounted SD card reader means I can easily replace the chart, update software, and if you have multiple Axioms, you can update the slave from the master with the SD reader. Even if the axiom is mounted on a bracket, accessing the built-in SD slot can be quite tricky.
The only issue I have come across is the use of third party cameras and no way to clear the Axiom browser cache for old passwords etc other than a complete factory reset .
I have however managed to get a couple of £25 cameras working, but cannot use the Axiom interface to change settings using the Axion browser for the aforementioned reason.

 

[geem]

I don’t have your version of Axiom. But generally I have found Raymarine kit works well and support is pretty good (other than with all electronic devices and brands, they become obsolete quickly and eventually parts supplies run out so need to revert to specialists).

I don't have a problem with Raymarine kit. I have the latest Raymarine below decks autopilot with the smart sensor. It's a brilliant bit of kit. I can't fault it. We have 2 autopilot control heads and two i70 displays, 4 old st 60 legacy displays linked to the nmea2000 with Raymarine interfaces and 2x st70s. Everything is configured how Raymarine requires. The only thing that is problematic is the Axiom.
I did have problems connecting the none Raymarine AIS directly with nmea2000 as the system couldn't deal with mutilate sources of information. Even though Raymarine has a page that allows you to choose source, it didn't work. You would choose the Axiom GPS as priority and an hour later, the AIS GPS was priority. It wasn't supposed to do that. The conflicting messages would cause faults all over the network. It was impossible to use the GOTO function. The track would disappear for no reason. It would tell you we had no autopilot, etc, etc
To solve this, we took advice and installed the Actisense using the nmea 0183 AIS output into the Actisense with all duplicate sentences removed.
This solved a lot of the problems. Almost all of them but the Axiom still turns off for no reason. It's still loses the track for no reason. It's still loses its own GPS signal even though there is mutilate satellites connected. It's still seems short of memory. It will shut down if you do something too quickly that is can't cope with.

 

[RunAgroundHard]

Some comments on Practical Sailor about the possible weakening of GPS signals from Bimini mounted solar panels. No idea if you experienced the same before or after your new hard top and solar panels. Could be bullshit.

ttps://www.practical-sailor.com/safety-seamanship/ps-advisor-gps-accuracy-and-signal-strength

I recently installed an 80-watt solar panel on my bimini. I am concerned that this may have reduced the positional accuracy of my GPS, a Standard Horizon 180i, which has an internal antenna mounted directly below the solar panel. Do solar panels cause interference with GPS signals?

The solar panel should not affect the accuracy of your GPS or result in any irregular readings; however, it could potentially reduce the strength of the GPS satellite signal.

According to Scott Iverson at Standard Horizon, an easy way to determine whether the solar panel is impacting signal strength is to select the 180is GPS status page (see photo below), note the signal strength while the unit is under the bimini, and then move the GPS to an area on the boat that has a clear view of the sky and note the signal strength in that location; then, compare the two figures. Even a properly installed GPS can be subject to some form of interference, and several government agencies are continually working to identify and mitigate these effects. To paraphrase Mr. Twain, the reports on the death of traditional navigation and piloting skills have been greatly exaggerated.

 

[z1ppy]

It you think Raymarine Axiom is bad, dont even look at Simrad stuff!!!

We have Axiom 12+ running lighthouse 4 out where you are now and its been faultless. really impressed with it and found it very easy to use with the Navionics platinum charts. very simple set up as plotter only with sounder and audio, no radar, autopilot, ais etc etc. it does seem like most, updates from Raymarine are beta tested on the wider world and the new updates need a few more updates to resolve the problems they generate!

The Simrad stuff on our other boat by comparison is slow, glitchy, full of faults. The user interface is just awful and the UK distributor (Navico) is impossible to speak with.. even at the boatshow there was ZERO interest from them in supporting.