Raymarine Electronics

[Whitelighter]

With the new boat finally getting closer to home, I have started to look at navigation kit, as the boat is a bit lacking in that department. I have a colour plotter (navman 5500) and VHF, but want to upgrade to something a bit more solid.

I fancy the Raymarine C70, with the 18" 2kw raydome and ST6002 S1G Autohelm system. All in, this little lot comes to around £3900.00. Having had a look on the web it seems there are some good deals on the C70 (about £829.00) but not much movement on anything else. I have had a quick trawl through some US sites and the prices are better, even including VAT, import duty and delivery the price for everything comes in at just under £3000.00. Now I do value local service and keeping my money in the UK, but £900 is still £900.

What is the forum's opinion on a) getting a discount, is it best to wait for SIBS and buy the whole lot from the same store? b) how close to the US prices do you think I should get dealers to price match?

Thanks

 

[Strake]

I've just put a fairly comprehensive C80 fit into my boat. I am in the US on a monthly basis so priced up in both countries. As you have already realised, the difference in cost is laughable. I bought everything in the US and had a local sparks do the fitting. I registered online with Raymarine and sent in the warranty docs with no apparent problem. Kit works great.