Quality of newer Raymarine chartplotters?

[windseeker2]

I have had Raymarine onboard and had the same results. No after market support or wait a long time on the phone for some one to consult with. Then being told the unit is too old or we no longer support that product. I have mostly Simrad and Furuno due to much better after market support. Raymarine likes to sell but they do not like to give help especially if the unit in question is more than 2 years down the road. What Marine Electronics brand does West Marine sell?

[Roy M]

Raymarine, Garmin, Simrad/Navico/Lowrance (same company, basically), Humminbird, Standard Horizon, Interphase, and other stuff. I buy most of my customers' stuff from them, using the Plus Plan warranty extension, which, for electronics, is not a bad idea, given what can go bad in three years time. I had one customer who got an autopilot replacement delivered, with the technician to install it, free of cost. Beat that with a great deal off the internet.

[MarkJ]

Originally Posted by Beausoleil

Any comments regarding the build quality of the new FLIR/Raymarine vs. Simrad?

I think Raymarine is going to have positive changes with the FliR takeover.

About 6 months ago I had a problem with my new AIS and tried to find an email address for Raymarine Support... Which is impossible. Bounced around by RDaymarine. Didnt want phone support because its expensive from the Caribbean... Wait for 15 minutes at $1 per min and you get the idea.

So I emailed FLIR.

Well, action started immediately! Not only did FLR pass the email on but CCd me so I could see their internal conversation.

Obvious to me that FLIR wants Raymarine to perform like they never have before!

Perhaps Raymarine has also have a kick up the butt of the production line.

[nhschneider]

When I was in the market for a new chartplotter about two years ago, I looked closely at Raymarine, Simrad and Garmin. I ultimately chose the Garmin 6208 (non-touch screen version) and have been extremely happy with it and Garmin's charts. At the same time we also installed the Garmin AIS, radar, sonar and sailing instruments. We've covered almost 13,000 miles since they were installed and the only problem has been a lost wind direction blade off the masthead unit.

Good luck, fair winds and calm seas.

[Sandero]

I don't understand the appeal of touch screen... not to mention the down side of smears and trying to be precise in a pitching boat.

What are the benefits of touch screen? Larger screen and smaller footprint? Who cares? Not I.

I have a C80 which is getting old by electronic standards but works OK despite the idiotic level / structure of menus and commands. The interface designer must have been smikin somfin when he /she came up with this puppy.

I don't see ray in my future... Oh.. did I mention their customer service and crashes?

[Argyle38]

Originally Posted by defjef

I don't understand the appeal of touch screen... not to mention the down side of smears and trying to be precise in a pitching boat.

What are the benefits of touch screen? Larger screen and smaller footprint? Who cares? Not I.

I have a C80 which is getting old by electronic standards but works OK despite the idiotic level / structure of menus and commands. The interface designer must have been smikin somfin when he /she came up with this puppy.

I don't see ray in my future... Oh.. did I mention their customer service and crashes?

IMO, the advantage of touch screen is completely on the manufacturers side. An all touch screen machine is going to be cheaper to manufacture than a plotter that has dials and buttons. All those dials and buttons complicate the mechanical design of the device, make sealing it more expensive and make the plastic molds more intricate and expensive. With touch screen, you just make a screen, and the thin film to make it touch and your control system is handled by programmed microchip and your mechanical design is much simpler. The programming of the microchip for your control system has to be done anyway since even with buttons and knobs, since they are still digital controls.

The "best" part about it is that manufactures (Garmin especially) are doing their best to convince us that touch screen is this great feature. So they can move to all touch screen plotters, reducing their unit cost, but they don't have to reduce price since it is an improvement.

I don't hate touchscreens, there are a few instances where they can be nice to have, but I always want to have the option to operate with separate controls. I like Raymarines HybridTouch for this reason. I liked the wide series interface better than the new (lower case) "e" series. I picked up a E90W in the spring with the new "e" series came out (and prices on the Wide series came down) and have been very happy with it. Processor could be a bit faster but other than that I have had no complaints. Haven't had any lock-ups or crashes either.

[Roy M]

Simrad NSS gives you both options. I like it that you can "anchor" your right hand (sorry, lefties) at the upper right corner, when bashing in rough seas, and duplicate all the functions as though you were using the touch screen. And if my hands aren't yucky with fish goo, the touch screen is pretty intuitive design.

[Sandero]

I agree with Argyle... I prefer bottons and perhaps hybrid... but no ONLY touch. My little PDA Garmin IQue3600 uses a stylus for many commands. For zoom and pan it's great ... but I don't do much more than look to see where I am and heading line... so the touch *stylus* is fine. It's too small for buttons anyway . But for a fixed mount below decks... no touchie feelie for me.

[44'cruisingcat]

Originally Posted by Roy M

Simrad NSS gives you both options. I like it that you can "anchor" your right hand (sorry, lefties) at the upper right corner, when bashing in rough seas, and duplicate all the functions as though you were using the touch screen. And if my hands aren't yucky with fish goo, the touch screen is pretty intuitive design.

HOW? I've read the manual again, and I just can't see where it describes not using the touch screen.

If you could refer me to the correct page of the manual I'd be very grateful.

[hbrown01]

I realize this is a bit late to reply, but maybe it will help others. I upgraded 8 months ago to a Raymarine e125 MFD. It has all the bells and whistles when it works which is most of the time. However, it randomly reboots and equally bad the chart willl simply stop moving even thought everything else is updating and the symbolic boat is even able to turn. The latter is only when zoomed in, like when you are coming into a bay to anchor at night. Seriously, I have had it freeze twice when needed to maneuver around rocks at night. Fortunately, it was not foggy or raining. Both times I eventually realized what was happening and reached for the iPad with Navionics to get the right frame of reference.
I have just sailed by into the marina where the dealer is located and he says they will replace it. This is the second one he has seen with these problems.
Otherwise I have had good service so far from new Raymarine autopilot, AIS and radar.

[Pau Hana]

Originally Posted by hbrown01

I realize this is a bit late to reply, but maybe it will help others. I upgraded 8 months ago to a Raymarine e125 MFD. It has all the bells and whistles when it works which is most of the time. However, it randomly reboots and equally bad the chart willl simply stop moving even thought everything else is updating and the symbolic boat is even able to turn. The latter is only when zoomed in, like when you are coming into a bay to anchor at night. Seriously, I have had it freeze twice when needed to maneuver around rocks at night. Fortunately, it was not foggy or raining. Both times I eventually realized what was happening and reached for the iPad with Navionics to get the right frame of reference.
I have just sailed by into the marina where the dealer is located and he says they will replace it. This is the second one he has seen with these problems.
Otherwise I have had good service so far from new Raymarine autopilot, AIS and radar.

We have the e125 and e127 onboard, and have had no problems with them- nor did we have problems with the e7d on our previous boat. we have the 48 mile open array radar and P66 shoot thru tranducer.

The Hybrid touch (touch screen and buttons to control the various functions) gives the best of both worlds. we went RM because of the freshness of the product, as well as the FLIR acquisition. Garmin products are quickly becoming legacy, and I don't like the way Garmin has limited support for their products.

[Lagoon4us]

Do fingers have to be dry for the touchscreen to work effectively and does the screens function with droplets on it's surface?

Cheers

[CHM]

I have an E80 with an ST60+ wind instrument, DSM300 sounder, RD424 radar, and 2000 autopilot. At this time, I have had no problems with the chartplotter and am pleased with its performance. I'm sure this may be an "old" unit for some, but I just installed it new about 8 months ago.

[chala]

I have a c95, not a very good unit, lack of computing power, screen refresh is to slow, must be run without any offset and wind vector for the screen to be able to try to keep up. Some time the chartplotter need to be restarted. Clumsy control, poor presentation any programmer that put horizontal data in vertical cells should be fired, so much for Light House.