Raymarine E80 won't boot with 2 GB Navionics flash cartridge

[andybussell]

The data cartridge in the E80 chart plotter when I bought the boat was an old 500Mb capacity item but when I got in touch with Navionics for new data I was supplied with a 2 Gb cartridge.
It displays the chart ok if I insert the cartridge after booting the display but if I power down and then switch on again I just get a black screen. Any thoughts?

Thanks in advance - Andy

 

[mickbond]

Have you upgraded the plotter software? Its needs the latest version to read the 2G card

 

[ithet]

Software and instructions for update here:

http://www.raymarine.com/view/?id=3753

Take note about the card sizes Raymarine recommend to load the update from. However, once updated the plotter can cope with your 2G map card.

 

[andybussell]

Thanks ithet & Mickbond - yes I did check the software and it is the latest version - 5.69. Dated May 2012!!! That says a lot.

Navionics and Raymarine were not able to resolve the problem, hence me asking the community.

Disappointing that legacy issues appear so quickly, I wonder if that is the same for all manufacturers - a good thread topic?

 

[pvb]

That "Classic" generation of Raymarine plotters was introduced about 15 years ago, which is a very long time indeed in the electronics world. I think that Raymarine generally support their products quite well with updates, but there has to come a point when it's no longer justified commercially.

 

[andybussell]

Well I'm not sure when they stopped selling them to production boatbuilders but they were being sold as current products in 2008 and the last software update was 2012. Not good. In this case I'm not sure where in the Navionics/Raymarine nexus the shortcoming lies. Whatever the case, poor customer support ongoing is not a strong commercial argument from a buyers point of view and he/she will look a bit more closely at manufacturers track record in future. I certainly will.

 

[BelleSerene]

Some CF cards are now too ‘fast’ to work with the C/E80. A couple of years ago I was sent one with an upgrade by Navionics UK. They wanted proof that it wasn’t just me so I took it to a Raymarine dealer of their choice who confirmed the problem with their test C-series and called Navionics for me. Navionics then provided a solution that worked.