New Electronics

[Arclight]

I plan to upgrade the electronics on my 40' cutter. She will be used for blue water cruising and possible some distance racing. Features of Simrad, Furuno and Raymarine have caught my eye. Any comments or opinions regarding reliability, performance and support will be greatly appreciated.

[St. Elsewhere]

I have had good good experience with Simrad ,now Navico, with their instruments, autopilot, and radios. I also had a recent favorable experience with their repair of a 13 year old Northstar 951XD GPS. Norhtstar is also now a part of Navico.

[Arclight]

I like the look of Simrad's Broadband Radar due to the low current draw and low radiation...how reliable have you found their porducts to be?

[St. Elsewhere]

In 13 years there have been no failures of any of the Simrad gear. It is a power boat. Except for the bridge, all equipment is in the cabin.

[paulrack]

I am busy finishing off a new 40ft catamaran. I researched and looked at Garmin, Raymarine, Furuno and Simrad. My decision was to go with Simrad, from what I have seen I am very happy. My previos boat had a Raymarine plotter and radar and Tacktick instruments

[Arclight]

thanks guys! simrad and furuno are on my short list

[Healer52]

Whats the wisdom on the various manufacturers?

[capt_douglas]

I've had no problems with Simrad, Sailor, Garmin, or Furuno. I can't say the same for Leica.

[rourkeh]

I just posted this to a previous thread..
I have just bought new electronics for my boat, I bought it with nothing on it but a Kennedy era VHF. I went with Simrad for reliability, quality, and low cost. I got a NX45 12" plotter for nav station $1,900, NX40 8.4" chart for helm $1,350, and BR24 broadband radar $1,590. The radar unit is new era technology and has near zero harmful emmisions and one of the best target definitions I have ever seen. For the AIS I used B with the Standard GX2100B VHF/AIS radio. They also have XM Weather module and other goodies and everything interfaces through a junction box so installation is fairly straight forward. I spent alot of time researching this and bang for the buck Simrad is the hands down winner. They build a ton of commercial nav equipment and their tech trickles down fast to the recreational market products. Have a look at their web site
Good luck. Rourke

[SaltyMonkey]

Do you think Simrad autopilots are a leader as well?

[Pblais]

Between the Simrad and the Raymarine below decks autopilots I like the course computer for the Simrad better. It has better adaptive software. If you are thinking of getting wheel autopilot - they all suck. On a 40 ft boat they are all worthless because they can't do the job when you can't. It's a big ticket item but it matters.

For wind, depth, and speed the transducers any of them are about or exactly the same. Interfacing the gear together is a little bit easier sticking with one format. I've replaced wind instruments on two boats and went with TackTick. I would still do it. They cost a lot more but the installation is far easier since the wind transducer wire needs to be bundled or it will flog itself dead in about 3 to 5 years. Not running wires is worth more than you think.

For radars I like Furuno.

[SaltyMonkey]

Thanks Pblais! This is certainly one of the most complex decisions when costing an outfitting - coming up with AIS, Instruments, Radar, Chartplotter, and AutoP....and they all have to work together and be affordable. At one point I just gave up and decided that when the time was ripe, I'd be lazy and get RayMarine - threw that into my budget sheet. These recent discussions give me new thoughts.

The AutoP would be for light weather and motoring only. For more wind, I'm going for another Monitor WV.

[Pblais]

The AutoP would be for light weather and motoring only. For more wind, I'm going for another Monitor WV.

Don't under estimate the value of a solid auto pilot. Mine will handle 25 knots off the nose in 6 ft chop. Try steering that by hand for an hour. The autopilot is for when you can't steer by hand for any length of time. In chop the vane won't be good enough. Vanes are best on long passages for long periods. The two are not the same and they each have their place and there isn't a lot of overlap. The AP will work in all conditions but with greater use of electricity in heavy weather. It can exert great force on the wheel and compensate quickly every time.

The Vane will work best in steady conditions and even in strong winds if sails are trimmed properly and with longer wave periods. In coastal conditions the vane may be useless at times.The power of the vane is all from the wind. It's easy to want it to work all the time. It won't work at all in steep short period waves. Personally, I have both. I would not bother with a wheel pilot if you don't get a below decks pilot. They only work well in a dead calm when the vane won't work.

[rourkeh]

The Simrad autopiot is excellent. These manufacturers have all got there pricing very close to each other so to find a price differential you will need to plan your system, as I did and then cost out each manufacturers equipment. You do not need to use all the same make as the protocols will talk to each other with a little adaptation so find the item you like most. I went with Raymarine instruments because I like the dispays and am comfortable with them, also they have a deal on a wind/depth/speed/temp package right now. Also check on rebates, this may have an effect on your timing. I finally figured it all out and went to buy everything and now I find half the stuff is on back order because the manufacturers are not keeping any inventory due to the global economic meltdown. So you may end up waiting for half your items like me.

[SaltyMonkey]

I loved my Monitor. In very light winds it was sh*, even with a light vane, but in more moderate/heavy winds it was great. Only issue was snaking and wind shifts. My taste with electric was only with an old tiller autohelm. Used it for motoring, and it eventually burned out. Hated the electric draw w/o motoring. So, I've never been a fan of electric steering. Times and technologies have changed though. Looks like simrad needs to be considered.