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Old 09-01-2020, 00:58   #1
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FURUNO or B&G

Any experience with these two brands for offshore cruising? Tell me your opinion only if you’ve owned either. Weighing up the option for chartplotter, radar, Autopilot for new boat build.
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Old 09-01-2020, 01:38   #2
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Re: FURUNO or B&G

I have run both Simrad (Navico, same parent company as B&G) and Furuno, though the systems were not of same vintage - Furuno system was about 4-years older. I was initially drawn to Furuno because they are so ubiquitous on commercial boats, but the system was more expensive. I also found it difficult to update the firmware on Furuno and the interface generally a bit slower and clunker, but it is reliable. That said, if both systems were in gift boxes and I could chose only one, would be Furuno due to long standing reputation of reliability for cruising.

Not totally familiar with B&G products, but an important factor for me when I chose an MFD was to have a knob input device instead of only touchscreen. When things are bumpy, touchscreen is difficult for me to be accurate with.

Good luck! Will be interested to see how this thread develops

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Old 15-01-2020, 00:53   #3
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Re: FURUNO or B&G

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Originally Posted by simonhantler View Post
Any experience with these two brands for offshore cruising? Tell me your opinion only if you’ve owned either. Weighing up the option for chartplotter, radar, Autopilot for new boat build.
Both good, but in different market positions. Choose the features you want and go for the brand/series that supports your needs. I run Furuno on my boat but install a lot of Navico stuff.

If you could tell us a little about your style of sailing then you'll get better answers.

Chris
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Old 15-01-2020, 01:39   #4
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Re: FURUNO or B&G

Furuno is the best. Use them every day on commercial boats.
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Old 15-01-2020, 09:02   #5
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Re: FURUNO or B&G

We've run Furuno chartplotter, radar and autopilot for the last 9 years of offshore cruising. Very reliable gear. No current experience with B&G.
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Old 15-01-2020, 09:18   #6
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Re: FURUNO or B&G

Not B&G but I have Simrad gear (same company). If I were buying a RADAR and i supposed by that rationale an MFD too I would go Furono.

The Navico RADARs are lacking in comparison. No APAR (only MAPAR), and it's implantation is broken, guard zones are poorly thought out in the Navico gear to. When you set a guard zone the alarm default is for something exiting (what use is that). It also doesn't save the guardzones if you power off (not standby) the RADAR and MFD.

The anchor alarm and some of the other alarm features are also poor.
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Old 15-01-2020, 16:06   #7
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Re: FURUNO or B&G

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Not B&G but I have Simrad gear (same company). If I were buying a RADAR and i supposed by that rationale an MFD too I would go Furono.

The Navico RADARs are lacking in comparison. No APAR (only MAPAR), and it's implantation is broken, guard zones are poorly thought out in the Navico gear to. When you set a guard zone the alarm default is for something exiting (what use is that). It also doesn't save the guardzones if you power off (not standby) the RADAR and MFD.

The anchor alarm and some of the other alarm features are also poor.
You can the guard zone internal or external... i.e something entering or exiting.

Navico (simrad etc) also do full ARPA radars... You pays your money and takes your choice
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Old 15-01-2020, 16:40   #8
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Re: FURUNO or B&G

Furuno radar and plotter is great. Their Autopilot is crap for sailing. But there is no problem interfacing Furuno plotter with a B&G or Raymarine autopilot in case you want the best of the best.
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Old 15-01-2020, 17:04   #9
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Re: FURUNO or B&G

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You can the guard zone internal or external... i.e something entering or exiting.

Navico (simrad etc) also do full ARPA radars... You pays your money and takes your choice
You can but the default is exit which is daft.

There no ARPA in the 3/4G rage which is the basically the only range cruisers are going to use.
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Old 15-01-2020, 21:01   #10
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Re: FURUNO or B&G

Thanks guys, it’s endorsed what I researched but I didn’t have any experience with theses brands.
As to the auto helm, is it ok to use someone else’s with furuno nav gear. What exactly is an auto helm made up of?
I’m building a new 52’ cat and want really good gear that’s built like a brick shithouse (well not if there’s an earthquake��) and happy to pay for it. Steering systems is something I haven’t done much homework on. Cable, hydraulic??
What does 4G do for a radar?
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Old 15-01-2020, 21:15   #11
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Re: FURUNO or B&G

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Thanks guys, it’s endorsed what I researched but I didn’t have any experience with theses brands.
As to the auto helm, is it ok to use someone else’s with furuno nav gear. What exactly is an auto helm made up of?
I’m building a new cat and want really good gear that’s built like a brick shithouse (well not if there’s an earthquake&#128563 and happy to pay for it. Steering systems is something I haven’t done much homework on. Cable, hydraulic??
What does 4G do for a radar?
In general you can use any autopilot you want with Furuno gear. Preferably nmea2000.
Personally I really like the Furuno autopilots for my use case. The units are built with the fishing boats in mind, so they have a bunch of special course modes that are useless on a sailboat. They also do not have the high end sailing functions that you'd get on an NKE unit.
The Furuno units are built very solidly. We have never had to turn the unit off and hand steer in the last 40,000 miles. When the unit gets knocked too far off course it will alarm. But it will fight to get back on course.
Compare this to a Raymarine unit. It will alarm and then quit steering. Just plain unsafe. Every Ray unit I've had (3 AP computers) at one time or another has taken a flyer on me - just decided to stop steering and let the boat round up.

The autopilot drive unit does not need to be the same manufacturer as the AP computer. In our case it is a Furuno AP and an L&S hydraulic drive.
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Old 16-01-2020, 07:27   #12
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Re: FURUNO or B&G

My Amel 50, from the factory, has Furuno MFDs & autopilots, and B&G for the rest of the dislays.
I am happy with the setup so far...
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Old 16-01-2020, 07:52   #13
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Re: FURUNO or B&G

I inherited Simrad and Raymarine on previous boats. Had the opportunity to chose whatever system we wanted on a new build and went Furono. There is a reason most commercial boats and recreational cruisers who travel farther than I do use Furono.
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Old 16-01-2020, 08:03   #14
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Re: FURUNO or B&G

For a sailboat definitely the B&G autopilot which has the legendary Robertson AP blood in it’s veins.

For radar and chartplotter you have to select the same brand as it’s the same display unit. I went for a B&G 4G radar (Simrad is the same unit but has a shorter cable, i.e. is for motorboats). You can get much better radars with Doppler technology etc. from either brand but with AIS today the role of radar is reduced to smaller range during fog, tracing squalls and the occasional target without AIS. To keep things simple, a 4G Radar fits pretty good.

Also, you can run the 4G Radar with only OpenCPN so without chartplotter. You can even do the setup that way.

I choose the cheaper B&G Vulcan 9” display/plotter because we use iPads and iPhones for charts as well and the plotter mostly for sending course info to the AP and instrument display. I use the charts to quickly point to a waypoint for entering it and overview.
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Old 19-01-2020, 01:50   #15
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Re: FURUNO or B&G

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You can get much better radars with Doppler technology etc. from either brand but with AIS today the role of radar is reduced to smaller range during fog, tracing squalls and the occasional target without AIS. To keep things simple, a 4G Radar fits pretty good.

Also, you can run the 4G Radar with only OpenCPN so without chartplotter. You can even do the setup that way.
Lucky you! Sailing where there are only occasional targets without AIS.......
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