Raymarine A50 vs Garmin 5 Series

[atmarine]

Has anyone had much experence coastal / ofshore with these plotters? I have had an A50 for about a year and it has continuely lokced up and started rebooting. The unit reboots and reboots, and cannot be stopped except by interupting the power. While this is a valid Raymarine warranty, this is the second Raymarine plotter that I have had to have warranty replaced. (the other a C80) Any comments on the Garmin 5 series plotter? easy to use, cruiser freindly features, for example anchor alarm, easy to find cursor / boat position, AH draw, etc. ? Thanks!!

[atmarine]

Has anyone had any sucess on the Garmin 441, or 541 plotters? Any decent for a stand alone plotter?

[Tripp_at_BOE]

The 441 and 541 are both great units. Garmin has these in many different configurations, depending on your breadth of travels, there may be other configurations that work for you. For instance, 541 is translated like this: 5=diagonal screen size, 4=preloaded with US coastal charts, 1= type of screen.

The 526 has a 5" screen, in not loaded with charts, and has the newer, higher resolution screen that is easier to view in bright sun(if it has an "S" as a suffix it has a sounder built in).

If you opt for a unit that is not loaded with charts, you will have to use a Garmin Vision card, but this card "unlocks" features that are really pretty cool, mainly auto guidance. With this feature you can provide parameters for the unit to follow based on your boat, i.e. height and draft, and the unit will provide a course!