B&G vs. Garmin

[zboss]

Folks,

If I were considering B&G over Garmin - what would be the most compelling reasons to do so?

I see that most of the manufacturers of higher-end boats include B&G equipment on their boats. I'm not sure why considering that their 4G radar was introduced back in 2010 and on the surface I'm not really seeing anything that they offer that Garmin does not.

Garmin seems to keep innovating but B&G has the appearance of being stagnant.

- z

[gamayun]

I started off with B&G so can't really compare the two, but the big thing that seemed to set them all apart were Sail Steer. B&G is more sailing performance-oriented.

[Sandero]

These companies copy each other's feature in due time. Most of them now have too many features and most of them are not needed... but they are cool and fun.

Most important in reliability, user friendly interface (intuitive)... day and night visibility.

Personally I think touch screens are not a great idea. I don't like commands buried deep inside menus.... If one has to enter a name, for example a keypad is better than a dial... and so on. I had great expectation for the B&G T7... but it's not very user friendly... I would not get another one. My old Ray C80 is going to die and I will have to replace it.... probably with a Garmin non touch or maybe hybrid screen.

I would love to be able to really kick the tires with these things... marketing vids and demos are always slick and impressive... as they're supposed to be. The proof of the pudding however is in the tasting.

[CaptTom]

Originally Posted by zboss

Garmin seems to keep innovating but B&G has the appearance of being stagnant.

I tend to agree with that assessment.

I have both on my current boat, and have used lots of different electronics over the years. I find plenty to complain about (mostly, planned obsolescence and price) with Garmin. But after due diligence comparing features and usability, I still end up with their stuff more often than not.

B&G would have to come a long way before I'd consider buying anything from them again.

[brianlara 3]

Navico produces B&G, Simrad & Lowrance.
Most of the B&G and the Simrad stuff are identical with name changes only.
Navico, b&g , simrad do things that Garmin (afaik) do not ...e.g. auto pilots, controllers for same, rate gyros for the pilots (eg rc 42).
If you have a tiller steered vessel, and you're smart, you'll have a Simrad tiller pilot.
Garmin don't do one and the Raymarine Autohelm unit is very light duty
For me, one brand. Plotter, pilot, pilot controller, rate gyro...Simrad.
FWIW.

[Suijin]

I have older generation Garmin radar and chart plotters on my boat, and B&G instruments and sensors. I've always been a big fan of Garmin chart plotters primarily for the user interface, which is straightforward and fairly intuitive. That said, I had Lowrence chart plotters on my previous boat and really liked them a lot too.

As noted, Navico now owns B&G, Simrad, and Lawrence. When I bought my B&G instrument package, it came with a Simrad depth/paddlewheel/temp transducer and a Navico wind anemometer. All of it works seamlessly. I chose B&G for the Triton displays, which I really like...bright, easy to use, and the wind display is second to none. When I get around to replacing the radar and chart plotters it will likely be B&G, we'll see.

Certainly Sailsteer is the primary differentiator between B&G and Garmin, which doesn't have anything comparable (yet). B&G has always been sailing focused, and was a staple on the racing circuit.

[John Holbrook]

Being able to mirror and maybe control your chart plotter from a tablet is also a great function. If it interests you you should check out the apps these brands offer.

[Nagromxam1]

B&G in the racing scene haven't had real competition before hence why all you see is B&G. Since being owned by Navico it has certainly gone down hill in quality.
Garmin have entered the scene and work extremely well with Expedition and other racing software.
Garmin is certainly worth a look. You wont be disappointed.

[CarlF]

Unfortunately products and reputation from five years ago don't tell you much about what you buy today. Only Garmin is the same company as before the recession.

My first chartplotter was Raytheon (e.g. prior to Raymarine). For the era it was astonishing as was the service from the company. Things went downhill when they were spun off into Raymarine. They were bought by Flir for loose change just before bankruptcy -- Flir's improved things - if a bit slowly. The great news is that Flir is not owned by private equity but is a public company in the S&P 500. Maybe not the deep pockets of Raytheon but a hopeful future. I still find the Raymarine usability and network capabilities well below current Garmin.

Simrad and B&G were fantastic companies. My Simrad autopilot was designed for fishing boats in North Sea gales. And in sail focused instruments, B&G was the only game in town. But then came the Private Equity rollup and the familiar triumph of financial engineering over product quality. The Navico rollup of of Lowrance, B&G and Simrad was done by a Norwegian PE company named Altor. This year they sold Navico to Goldman Sachs Merchant Banking System who is probably better at financial engineering than product vision. In the press release announcing the by buy-out, Goldman Sachs is very excited about Navico's $62 million of EBITDA but didn't bother to mention autopilots or sailsteer. Presumably they'll follow the playbook and "flip" Navico to another PE company in 3-5 years.

Ownership | Navico

Like Flir, Garmin is a public company on the S&P 500 based in Kansas. Their glass cockpits set the standard in private aviation - a much more demanding product area than marine electronics as the FAA has to OK everything. I've owned Garmin for eight years on two boats and never had a crash or service need. They've also been great at providing free software upgrades about every six months that both add functionality and fix bugs. You just download from the Garmin site.

[svrevelations]

We currently have a older B&G 2000 Hydra system on our yacht which served us well. It is due for a replacement soon - but this time around, I will be looking at Furuno products. For us, it is far more important that the products we buy today can and will still be supported/replaced/repaired 15 years from now.

When you have a failed or damaged product a few years after buying it and then find out that it is no longer available or supported is no fun. You also want to be sure that there is support for your products where you intent sailing.

[Stumble]

For a full replacement I would switchto NKE in a heartbeat. Their autopilot is easily the best around right now. The system is also completely modular so you can add all sorts of sensors if you want them, or just pare it down to bare minimums.

Garmin and Raymarine in my view are really powerboat gear that can be used on sailboat. Not bad necessarily, but they lack real sailing refinements. B&G used to be best onthe block until NKE knocked them off, but they still have a pretty solid system designed for sailing not power boating.

[CaptTom]

Originally Posted by CarlF

They've [Garmin] also been great at providing free software upgrades about every six months that both add functionality and fix bugs. You just download from the Garmin site.

Wow, your experience differs from mine. As soon as they came out with an ever-so-slightly new model, Garmin dropped support for my 3-year-old unit like a hot potato. Even though it's clear the base code is the same as the new model, they won't release any of the new software features for mine.

For example, the new model displays ActiveCaptain data. Mine takes the exact same data card, with the AC data loaded on it, but doesn't display it. That's purely a software update Garmin could easily have been made available for my unit. But they want me to shell out $1-$2K on a new one to get that feature.

That sort of thing leaves a bad taste in my mouth, even though I admit Garmin often offers better quality, both hardware and software, than much of the competition. Just don't expect any meaningful software updates after the first few months of ownership.

[TJ D]

I second Stumble's NKE recommendation. It's the best autopilot I've ever used by far. All of our other sailing instruments are B&G (hydra 2000, the good stuff...), but when it fails, our instrument package will go all NKE.

TJ

[zboss]

We have Garmin and I have been playing around with the navionics sonarcharts and they are much more detailed than the Garmin charts. I'm not thrilled with my Garmin Reactor autopilot... in any following seas (using "follow route") she wants to head up and then head down... carving an s curve all the way. As soon as i switch over to simple "follow heading" it goes much better. I've been thinking about electronics selections for our next boat, which is why I posted the question.

[barnakiel]

I like all major brands but I prefer Garmin, Furuno and HS when I interface things.

I think if you go with all parts from one company, it does not really matter which one you take - look for the functions you want, then pull out the wallet ...

I agree with posters above who noted many performance or big sailing yachts use B&G. I have seen it on IMOCAs and on Maxis. Must be good stuff then.

Garmin is a good brand and I never ever had any issues with their products. We have some onboard and I would buy more and again.

So to say, you have only good choices. Lucky duck.

b.