Navico NAC-3 autopilot vs Raymarine EVO-400

[Oceansailor]

Hi,

I'm in the process upgrading my Raymarine 400G (S3G) autopilot.

The two I have in mind is the Raymarine EVO-400 and the NAC-3 from Navico.

I would appreciate any comments from users who have already upgraded to either EVO-400 or NAC-3.

I'm particularly interested in performance and any hardware failures you might have expearanced?

[mikedefieslife]

What did you go with in the end? My AP just died (motherboard).

I have a Simrad NSS Evo2 chartplotter so the Simrad system might make more sense, but I seem to prefer the Raymarine for ease of setup and dealer access in the EU.

There are blogs and write ups on forums about the Raymarine system. The Simrad nac-3 is slightly cheaper and more powerful, but there is nothing at all about it online.

[Oceansailor]

In the end I did not do anything. When I talked to people I got the feeling that the new generation was not giving significantly better performance. I have two autopilot 400G on my boat. They do a pretty good job. I will do an Atlantic crossing in the fall with those two. There is something worth having two exactly same pilots in case a component fails....

[mikedefieslife]

Fair enough. I guess I'll report back with whatever I get. It's looking like the Raymarine EV-200. As the Simrad is much harder to get hold of.

[mikedefieslife]

As promised a couple months ago, I said I'd report back on the raymarine unit.

I installed it back in Mallorca and did a circumnavigation before heading to Menorca, Sardinia, Sicily, Malta, and back to Sicily.

So far the Evolution system has been perfect. It took a little while to learn the characteristics of my boat, but now I have a deviation of only 7 degrees, and pilot runs well.

Install was a breeze. I already have the pump and all the wires were set up from the old system so it was basically plug and play. I haven't installed the rudder position sensor as it was too big to fit where my original one was. I did connect the original but it was 20 degrees out, so I've just been running without.

I've got it on a network with my Simrad NSS8 MFD so it can get receive and follow routes, though can't be engaged/disengaged from the MFD.

My only complaint really is that it is too slow to tack. It tacks through 90-100 degrees, but I find the system is too tentative which leaves me (being a cat) stuck in irons.

I've done a full write up of my install on my site.

Installing an autopilot: Raymarine Evolution EV1 / ACU-200 - Defylife