Ray Marine

[HOTPURSUIT]

I am looking to add Radar to my 2520, although I have a northstar GPS and Furuno depth finder, it seems like the best thing to do is add a multi function screen and a dome. Simrad and Furuno offer a 10" GPS/radar package in about the 3,500.00 range and I like both . but Ray marine has the C90 9" GPS/24 nm radar package selling for 2,334.00 right now. Do any of you have ray marine and can offer an opinion on their equipment. Thanks in advance Mike

 

[DaleH]

I find their combo units just gawd awful to use ... you end up w/ one good/easy to use/comprehend screen ... and two dismal ones ... IMHO, from friends' boats ...

 

[warthog5]

Never been a Raymarine fan. Screw me once....Shame on you. Screw me twice....Shame on me. They will never get a 2nd chance.

 

[samsims]

Another thumbs down for Raymarine. I like the furuno gear, wouldn't buy anything older than navnet 3d, from the price It looks like your looking at the navnet2 gear.

 

[ParkerJr]

A lot of people give Raymarine a bad rap due to past experience. I fished a boat for 2 years with a full Raymarine outfit including a 12KW radar. I cant really say that it was that terrible, but it wouldnt be my first choice. I learned that Raymarine stuff is really sensitive to voltage and the updates and customer services really wasn't up to par for the $30,000 the equipment cost. But I do think they have come a long way in the past few years

I personally have had great luck with Garmin equipment and I think you could get the Garmin 740s with an 18" or 24" dome in the same price range you are looking at. Garmin has its pros and cons though like anything else, it all depends on what the end user is looking to get out of it.

What I gather out of using some of the manufactures products, and this is just my opinion:

SIMRAD/FURUNO: More technical/raw programming gives the user more adjustability and tweaking of settings. Harder to use. More or less for the more hardcore guys that like to dial everything in. Best depth sounders and radars.

RAYMARINE/LOWRANCE/NORTHSTAR: Good compromise, still gives you some adjustability but easy to use for the average/ more advanced boater. Affordable

GARMIN: Most straight forward. Adjustment of settings is less complicated. Ease of use for novice boaters and people who just want to turn the unit on and go. Most reliable.

Different strokes for different folks I guess.

 

[DaleH]

I'll never buy anything Garmin again ... had a unit mounted in my cabin crap out 1-month out of warranty and they told me I should have kept it OUT OF THE SUN!!!!!

Friends don't let friends buy Garmin ... Run Forrest, run ...

 

[ParkerJr]

That a pretty sad story dale. The only reason I have Garmin stuff now is it was already on the boat when I bought it. Everything worked so I couldn't really complain. I had to send the radar back once for repair but they covered it 100 percent. Usually they work with you if you cry to them for long enough about it.

If I had to do it again I would probably go with Simrad although I really dislike touch screen units.

 

[miky2884]

Raymarine is very voltage sensitive I had a Raymarine depth sounder on my last boat and I had to send it back twice because it kept blowing fuses.

I am a Garmin guy ive always had great luck with them there customer service has been good to me in the past, and I believe there product is the most user friendly

 

[sparky]

We've got a Raymarine C120 system (DSM200, 4kW Dome radar) on our research boat.

It works.

That's all I can really say about it. Its not intuitive, but I've learned it, and it keep on plugging on. We did break the radar connector due to repeated removal of the unit from the boat (paranoid boss), which wasn't cheap to fix.

We installed all Furuno gear in the 55, and our Parker is running Simrad.

The way I see it, Furuno is tops, but man, do you pay for it.
Simrad is a strong second, and has a lot of the commercial/industrial market thanks to their DP systems.
Garmin is, well, Garmin. Simple to use, good products, but their support isn't great and some of their stuff is too cartoon-y for my tastes.
Raymarine just hasn't had anything to make them stand out. Their sailing instrumentation is supposedly really nice?

 

[DaleH]

Garmin: Usually they work with you if you cry to them for long enough about it.

Yeah, well I had responded to their rejection of service where they stated in writing that "I should have kept it out of the sun". Recall it was mounted in my cabin and came home with me after every use in a Pelican box [never left in the car either]. Anyway, I sent a letter on my company letterhead as the Quality Systems Manager, in my letter of complaint ... and wrote the the head Quality person at Garmin ... and they still told me to 'pound sand' ... and I shudda kept it out of UV exposure ...

Out of warranty I can understand, but telling me to keep a marine electronic unit "out of the sun" that is directly marketed for use on CC boats is asinine to the 9th degree! For the rest of my life I will tell this story and steer people away from Garmin ... :twisted:

 

[ParkerJr]

That is a pretty ridiculous response for customer service, especuallly from a manufacturer that "specializes" in outdoor and aviation instruments/electronics.

I'm sure they offered you that flat rate repair nonsense and all that blah.. blah.. blah. Half the time they just send you a remanufatured unit anyway. There's no telling how long those last. I'm sure if they would have tried that with me I would have told them to "shove it" as well.

 

[warthog5]

That's a tough one Dale. Can I ask what model it was?


Before this boat...I'd push Garmin for navigation and Furuno as the Fishfinder.

 

[QwikSticks]

Raymarine is a lot better now that FLIR took over. I put a C127 12 inch in my 2320 and it is great. The internal GPS will aquire sattelites through my pilot house and the roof of my garage. The 127 also has the built in sonar module which works as well as the DSM 300 on my C70 the detail is actually 20x better probably from more pixels. I am toying with upgrading to CHIRP for no reason other than the cool factor. Raymarine is a little voltage sensitive and when i first installed it I would get the occasional restart or frozen screen. I decided to run a dedicated 10awg wire from battery to the c127 and all my problems have gone away. I have the 18 inch HD radar dome and it works well and I am completley confident in it after many trips in thick fog and total darkness. I love that its a hybrid touch and use it 50/50 touch and non touch.

Some other cool features I have not played with but plan to. Bluetooth link with full control of the unit through phoines and tablets. I just noticed the other day that it looks like I could hook my go pro up to it and see what is being recorded or just use it for the video to monitor the rods.

I have had Garmin and Lowrance in the past and I do think the newer Raymarine units are better. I do not like my older c70 and if these newer units were like the older style I would not have bought it.

 

[HOTPURSUIT]

Thanks Guys for all the responce, It has definitly helped me in narrowing down my choices. I think I will pass on the ray marine deal and start looking a little harder at some other units. It doesn't quite sound like this bargain price may be a good bargain. thanks again Mike