raymarine or garmin

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kanajobe48

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Hi
I will be upgrading this year our gps radar etc, i have always had raymarine and find their kit easy to use, however it seems that new boats appear to have garmin? Not having garmin before I was wondering if anybody has experience’s good or bad or can offer a recommendation of which one to go for. We currently have a E120 raymarine with radar and auto pilot.
 
You will get fans of both, because both are good but quite different. I have used both, but personally find Raymarine easier. I have heard the complete opposite from others. INHO, stick to what you know and you will be happy. Change and there is a good chance you will find it frustrating.
 
I suspect any trends in new boat fitment are more related to which vendor offers the best volume discounts, rather than material functionality differences.
In saily boats the usual choice is Raymarine vs Brooks & GAtehouse, with the latter arguably slightly ahead for sailing specific functionality at the moment.
Interoperability of Radar and autopilots often limited so unless replacing everything at once most tend to stick with the same supplier for upgrades (though even then Raymarine backword compatibility is patchy, especially for new gen radar so needs checking in detail - ask me how I know !)
 
Unless you want to change all of it I would stick with what you have.

In my perception ( and that is all it is) Garmin invested heavily in r and d and were the clear winners ( they did the same in aviation)

Raymarine were going bust ( again) and were behind the game. They now seem to have invested heavily and I would suspect it comes down to price and personal preference.
 
kanajobe48 said:
Hi
I will be upgrading this year our gps radar etc, i have always had raymarine and find their kit easy to use, however it seems that new boats appear to have garmin? Not having garmin before I was wondering if anybody has experience’s good or bad or can offer a recommendation of which one to go for. We currently have a E120 raymarine with radar and auto pilot.
Click to expand...

Just out of interest, why are you considering ditching what you have? We run an E120 and E80 and they still perform pretty well, with the occasional glitch. I can’t think of any additional features I’d want.
 
Hi
Thank you for your responses, it’s much appreciated. I think a good look at the boat show and see where that leads, I do find the raymarine very intuitive, like said if you know what you have ?
I’m changing as although works very well, I dont want to be caught short mid season having to replace if packs up. As all are now digital I have to replace the whole set up so trying to do some planned upgrading rather be stuck paying over odds and boat not moving/ Nathan
 
I can’t comment on which one is best but I upgraded to Raymarine Axiom 9 and Quantum radar and love it especially being able to talk to it via my iPad and it talks easily to my depth and speed ST60’s. I went for the Bluetooth connection between the Quantum and Axiom and although it works fine, in hindsight I don’t see the point. While your running a mains cable to the Quantum you may as well run the data cable.
Touch pad screen is good even in a chop.
 
DavidJ said:
I can’t comment on which one is best but I upgraded to Raymarine Axiom 9 and Quantum radar and love it especially being able to talk to it via my iPad and it talks easily to my depth and speed ST60’s. I went for the Bluetooth connection between the Quantum and Axiom and although it works fine, in hindsight I don’t see the point. While your running a mains cable to the Quantum you may as well run the data cable.
Touch pad screen is good even in a chop.
Click to expand...

+1
Upgraded everything and added an autopilot this year - all Raymarine. The Axiom Pro is the one we went for and I like it. Have some experience of Garmin and whilst it is good I prefer Raymarine functionality. Horses for courses in that respect I suspect - bit like Apple v Android :)
 
I’m really glad in way of such positive comments on raymarine as I’ve always found their kit user friendly , how do you get on with touch screen in direct sun light?
 
kanajobe48 said:
I’m really glad in way of such positive comments on raymarine as I’ve always found their kit user friendly , how do you get on with touch screen in direct sun light?
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Not too bad - obviously any display will be less easy to read in bright sunlight but we have just had two weeks on the boat with the unusual coincidence of plenty of sunshine with our holiday so canopy off when at sea. Had no real problem reading the Axiom or the I70 and Autopilot - could have increased brightness I guess but didn’t really feel the need.

I didn’t like the idea of only touchscreen so went for the more expensive Axiom Pro. Whilst I do like the option of using the screen or buttons I have to say that the touchscreen is very good and I have found that the only thing I use regularly is the twist knob to zoom in and out and change the radar range, both of which can easily be done on the screen. So whilst I would probably buy the same again I would say that the touchscreen only version would be plenty good enough.
 
The screen on my (now obsolete) e7 can be difficult to see with the sun glaring directly on it. The later screens may well be better.
In a lumpy sea the control of finger to operate a touch screen may be more of an issue than the screen itself. I have been pleased if the presence of the rotary control.
Infrequent use perhaps means the instructions are required in occasions. But the same is true if any such products.
 
There is a Garmin one one of the boats I teach on. Half a dozen times I have tried to find the GPS Log (for part of the passage navigation). Thus vital information does not jump out at me from any menu. Buttons on the side 1 to 4 are meaningless.
Bear in mind I do not spend more than a couple of mins looking as it wastes time.
So each time I revert to Navionics on iPhone.
Stick with what you know otherwise you will have to learn the whole new menu structure
 
MartynG said:
The screen on my (now obsolete) e7 can be difficult to see with the sun glaring directly on it. The later screens may well be better.
In a lumpy sea the control of finger to operate a touch screen may be more of an issue than the screen itself. I have been pleased if the presence of the rotary control.
Infrequent use perhaps means the instructions are required in occasions. But the same is true if any such products.
Click to expand...

I would agree with the lumpy sea comment and that was part of my rationale for going for the Pro to be fair. I should also say that I have no experience of using the touchscreen in wet conditions so if it is going on a flybridge that is worth factoring in.
 
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thank you for the sound advice, wet hands should not be a problem as we have a "sports cruiser" so touch screen should be ok, however the dial advice is very handy, time for a proper play at the boat show
 
I've solved the wet finger/hand problem on my ES7 with a 'dibbler' on a cord, so it Is always available. Also doesn't leave finger marks on the screen. One observation I will make on the Quantum, however, is that mine filled with water over 2 years and the radar gave up on a passage to the Thames. This was due to the 6 or so screws that join the 2 halves together being loose from manufacture. Raymarine were very efficient and replaced it for a new replacement within 3 working days. I thought I should check the screws before fitting back on the arch and they were loose also. Mine was 1st generation bought in 2017 and runs wi fi, and the replacement is 2 years later. I have contacted them regarding this matter and they are looking into it. But so far cannot fault their after sales service
 
hi
I have now had the upgrade completed and after the advice given I decided on the Raymarine Axiom, with sonar, radar etc, The work has been done by Platinum marine in Poole, with new dash panels made to suit the new unit sprayed to a new RAL colour and making them flush mounted, i can't rate these guys highly enough, their work has always been of the highest quality, always leaving the boat how they found it. see the you tube link below that they sent over of new installation. (I'v just got work out how to use it now)

https://youtu.be/SrYUGruRbvI
 
NathanEllis; said:
. (I'v just got work out how to use it now)
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Good luck with that.

The 3 page instruction manual supplied with the Axiom MFD has 4 pages of installation instructions and health warnings.

They actually expect you to pay for the full instruction manual.

You can however download the full manual as a PDF but you have to get to page 1048 before they tell you how to operate the damn thing.

And a lot of that is gibberish.

Did you know that there is a 11.5 knot tide in The Solent?

541B339B-534F-4668-B99C-FD01D5DAFED2.jpg

The one bit of good news is that the Fareham help desk have been excellent, but I shouldn't have to have phoned them four times because the instructions just petered out.

I may have exaggerated some numbers.

Except for the tidal one :encouragement:
 
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