Raymarine v Garmin v B&G v Furuno v Simrad etc

[Billjratt]

Bru, your post infers an allegiance to Raymarine, and I have limited experience of their products. nmea is a specification which you say is foggy - it is finite. If the socket and documentation say "Nmea" it should in fact meet that specification.
If they've fixed it now - all well and good, but many of us are sailing around with not-quite-up-to-date-equipment, and have to live with what we've got.
Going back to OP, I castigated Ray because they sold us misleading products and I have other experience of dubious service. The question was asked and I replied...

 

[grumpy_o_g]

I've got to take umbrage at the "just the software" comment. The software is the most important part and the difference between B&G's sailing software and the stuff on Simrad and Lowrance (and Raymarine, Garmin and even Furuno) is huge. The real question is how much of the B&G stuff you would actually use unless offshore racing. The one place new software can make a noticeable difference is under autopilot. I know a boat that gained nearly a knot on some points of sail in a decent wind and sea state. The boat could also stay on A/P on a broad reach in much worse conditions. No change to the hydraulics at all - just a new plotter, A/P computer and software.

 

[bitbaltic]

That lack of an NMEA-0183 output does seem a bit rubbish and the actisense NGW-1 which a dealer would probably try and flog you to do the conversion is £125-ish. A cheaper alternative might be to take the "gofree" NMEA-0183-over-IP feed from the ethernet port and convert it to serial via an ethernet-to-serial adapter, microcontroller with an ethernet and serial interface, single board computer or similar.

Simrad do the AT10 N2K to 0183 (two way) converter which retails at about 80 quid, a lot cheaper than the Actisense which is the only alternative. I have one and it lets my N2K Simnet talk to my 0183 gear without problems. However it doesn't do all and every sentence and it is (probably) only 4800 baud. Mind you Simrad claim it is good for any N2K system whatever thje manufacturer; the 0183 side is bare wire but the N2k side is a pair of Simnet sockets so it does need a converter cable, worth it if the N2K network is Navico but adds to the expense if it's not, or if coupling to a standalone plotter with a generic micro-c.

 

[Monique]

Having looked closely at the offerings from all of the manufacturers, I'm opting for Raymarine when I can afford to upgrade the rather dated kit on the new boat

Raymarine because

a> they offer the best and most comprehensive range of integrated MFDs, instruments and ancillaries (only Garmin comes close)
b> Lighthouse II ver.15 is the bees knees - AIS target and alarm handling, for instance, is miles ahead of everybody else
c> it will readily integrate with the existing SPX-5 autopilot
d> since being acquired by FLIR they really seem to be getting their act together
e> The WiFi and android app support on the E series MFDs means I can avoid the expense of two MFDs and use a tablet at the pilot house helm instead

The lack of a "broadband" radar is a downside granted but their HD looks good enough for my purposes (and I might even be sufficiently constrained financially to end up saving the £400 or so and plump for the basic digital model). The advantages of the Raymarine setup as a whole, for me at any rate, far outweigh the lack of broadband radar

j

We did the tour of all brands last year... We chose Ray for all the above reasons plus...
-They have the biggest dealer network worldwide.
-The Navionics freshest data is VG
-The system fully integrates with iPad/iPhone.

These factors are important for us as we begin a circumnavigation.

We also have Maxsea at the NAV station

 

[Bru]

I have no allegiance to Raymarine, I simply speak as I find and their current range is head and shoulders above the competition for the reasons I stated

As for NMEA0183 being a finite specification, don't make me laugh! They even changed the hardware protocol radically without changing the designation

Every manufacturer implemented 0183 to their own interpretation of the standards which were themselves too loose leading to numerous incompatibility niggles

However that was then and this is now. 0183 is a mature standard which has not changed for a good few years and such problems have been consigned to the history books except when working on legacy equipment

I could tell you about Garmim chart plotters that wouldn't talk to Simrad vhfs, or NASA AIS engines that won't talk to Actisense multiplexers and so on but none of it would be relevant to the current product range of those manufacturers

The assertion, or perhaps I should say implication, that because one specific obsolete Raymarine product had an issue with its NMEA0183 output all Raymarine products have a problem is incorrect and misleading, that's all I'm saying

As for Raymarine customer service, it used to be pants. The acquisition of Raymarine by FLIR has changed the game significantly. Recent experiment suggests dramatically too. Much more customer focused

However, don't get me started about ST1000 and ST2000 tiller pilots! They're still unreliable carp (this mornings mission is to try and get one working one out of two dead ones)

 

[Ric]

One thing I really don't like about Raymarine is their unwillingness to support connection to any Apple computer navigation programs. They only support Windows programs. Seems rather inconsistent, since they support very well iOS devices.

j

We did the tour of all brands last year... We chose Ray for all the above reasons plus...
-They have the biggest dealer network worldwide.
-The Navionics freshest data is VG
-The system fully integrates with iPad/iPhone.

These factors are important for us as we begin a circumnavigation.

We also have Maxsea at the NAV station

 

[Bru]

One thing I really don't like about Raymarine is their unwillingness to support connection to any Apple computer navigation programs. They only support Windows programs. Seems rather inconsistent, since they support very well iOS devices.

Genuinely curious ...

In what way do they not support connections? (True, they don't market Mac software themselves but that's not the same thing although if you're a Mac fan equally annoying I suppose )

 

[Ric]

Well perhaps I should be more accurate. It is possible to connect MacENC and OpenCPN to Raymarine, but it is tediously complicated, requiring converters and cables, and even then it is rather limited from what I have been able to learn so far. They won't allow direct wifi connection except to their own rather clunky windows-only software.

 

[Bru]

OK, noted with interest thanks (it's not a scenario I've looked at as I'm not a Mac fan myself and nobody who is has crossed my palm with silver to do so for them)

 

[Boo2]

...Raymarine...won't allow direct wifi connection except to their own rather clunky windows-only software.

I had assumed that Raymarine's issue is that they need to maintain the security of the mapping data and use Windows' DRM facilities to do so. There's no excuse for their preposterously hopeless and appalling software package "Voyage Planner" though, as you say.

Boo2