Garmin vs Raymarine

[JC Reefer]

Call the guys at Langer-Krell Marine Electronics in miami. They are one of the few places that actually repair marine electronics. Good people to ask.

IMO I like Garmin. If you have the budget then BNG. I have had issues with Raymarine products in the past. They crash from time to time. If your integrated with radar or other items then you lose everything.

Good luck

[David M]

I have had more than one marine electronics installer tell me that Raymarine is entry level and that Garmin is better. Raymarine also has its own proprietary language in an anti-competitive attempt to shut others out of an integrated system.

Furuno makes very good equipment but it may not be the best choice for a sailboat.

[the dude abides]

Thats interesting as that is the exactly the same as I am hearing from Raymarine dealers about Garmin. Cheers

[David M]

All Garmin equipment that I am familiar with has NMEA 0183 and NMEA 2000 inputs and outputs, with the exception of one sounder. Garmin does not have anything like Raymarine's proprietary language that no other manufacturers equipment will
understand....unless you want to purchase a translator.

[the dude abides]

So even if it is NMEA 0183 or 2000 they still cannot talk to each other if one is Garmin and the other Raymarine. So I could not have a Garmin plotter behind the helm and a Raymarine at the nav table, they cannot talk or marry up with each other?

[Tillsbury]

Originally Posted by the dude abides

So even if it is NMEA 0183 or 2000 they still cannot talk to each other if one is Garmin and the other Raymarine. So I could not have a Garmin plotter behind the helm and a Raymarine at the nav table, they cannot talk or marry up with each other?

Of course you can. Seatalkng is nmea2000 with more solid connectors, that's all. The only thing you can't mix and match is radar - you tend to need to stick to the same manufacturer of radar and mfd. To be fair, that's one of the most significant decisions to be made when choosing a mfd.

Of course, if you have two different mfds then you will miss out on some features. For example, you won't be able to share charts between the devices. I'm not at all sure why you would want two different mfds. Get one cheap one as one element of your redundancy, then use something like an xb8000 and iPads or tablets or a computer running opencpn everywhere else you want to see things. That way you have completely independent charting systems that can still talk to each other if required.

[the dude abides]

Thanks for clarifying. I have a Garmin plotter and Radar which I am happy with. The lightning strike fried most things except for those 2 items hence me wanting to keep with the Garmin products. Cheers.

[the dude abides]

I had a Fureno GPS nav which was running independent of the Garmin, and 2 other systems on a tablet. Tablet got destroyed as well

[LoudMusic]

I don't think your original question was really ever answered. Is the build quality of one better than the other. I'd kind of like to know that as well.

I'd also like to know how their chart data compares. My main thought is that with Garmin's active data collection from its users, their maps are going to get really good over the next ten years as they process the data and make it more accurate and usable for the end users. To my knowledge no one else is really doing that. But it will only be effective in areas where there are enough people visiting.

[the dude abides]

yes it seems subjective to what people are used to. Sailing through Indonesia I had occasions where I was on land for Garmin and Navionics but I also used Ovital which was the most accurate

[HighTemp]

Everyone has their preferences, but personally, my next boat will not have Raymarine on it. I find RM not to be that intuitive from an operators perspective as compared to B&G or SIMRAD.

RM also lacks some basic features. As an example, something as simple as a Night Mode. RM ( at least of my series ) has no such option, only turn down the brightness. Perhaps my eyes are more sensitive to such things, but even at the lowest brightness, it still causes some night blindness.

As far as quality, they all look to be built to similar standards. The only quality issue I have had with RM is the little joystick style button with the rotating ring on the MFD's. Feels a bit flimsy to me. I have had one stick on occasion so when you try to move the cursor, it just keeps going after you have removed your finger.

[Tenedos]

Originally Posted by the dude abides

Thanks for clarifying. I have a Garmin plotter and Radar which I am happy with. The lightning strike fried most things except for those 2 items hence me wanting to keep with the Garmin products. Cheers.

Independent of what is better or worse I think there is some value in sticking to the same brand whenever possible. NMEA 2000/SeatalkNg supposedly makes things interoperable but that is only the theory. As the saying goes, in theory practice and theory are the same, in practice they are not

I personally like Raymarine. My boat had old Raymarine electronics, and I have gone through the same dilemma when it was time to do upgrades and add an MFD. I went for Raymarine for the same reason as I mentioned above and added a Raymarine chartplotter, radar, new autopilot while keeping the old devices in place, and a third party AIS transceiver. All in all, I am pretty happy with Raymarine. Contrary to some of the comments above, I find the user interface intuitive but I appreciate these things are subjective. BTW, while SeatalkNg connectors are more expensive, they did pay off when I was trying to run cables through a 1 inch guard. So I personally buy Raymarine's argument for using smaller connectors. That is also an excuse for them to have proprietary stuff that they can charge more but it did pay off for me.

[CaptTom]

I've used them all, and each has strengths and weaknesses. I agree Raymarine doesn't have the stature that Raytheon did, but they all make some decent hardware nowadays. Don't overlook Navico, they have some solid gear.

I tend to disagree with the conventional wisdom about sticking with one manufacturer. I get the logic, but in practice I just don't see the value. On my bridge, no two devices are the same manufacturer, and everything works together great, using a combination of NMEA 2000 and 0183 and devices of varying vintage. There is value in being able to pick the best device for each task.

The only issue I've run into (as mentioned in another post) is my B&G VHF. Navico makes good stuff, but they fell flat on this one. It needs an update, but that requires a Navico MFD. Fortunately, VHF radios are relatively cheap. I'll probably just replace it with another brand one of these days.

[maine50]

CaptTom- what devices did you use to get Nmea 0183 to Nmea2000 or vice versa. I have several Raymarine I70s displays with speed/wind / depth but would like to get Navigational/Ais from Nmea 0183 chartplotter to them.

[Tenedos]

Originally Posted by CaptTom

The only issue I've run into (as mentioned in another post) is my B&G VHF. Navico makes good stuff, but they fell flat on this one. It needs an update, but that requires a Navico MFD.

I think this is a common problem across different brands. For example, this is the same for Raymarine. You can only upgrade the software on different Raymarine units (speed, depth, autopilot, radar etc.) if you have a Raymarine MFD. This was a major issue for some for Raymarine autopilots, which required a software upgrade but it was not possible to do without a Raymarine MFD. I installed a new Raymarine autopilot two weeks ago and MFD basically upgraded its software to the latest. Without it, it'd be a struggle.