Help me choose RAYmarine or Garmin Plotter/AIS

[BenBowSirocco]

I have worked in the center console boat building industry off and on for more than a decade and after speaking with enough Garmin sales reps it seems a planned common practice within the company to make a "new" products obsolete as quickly as they can. Usually 3 years or so.



Planned obsolescence is a common business practice but a little despicable, especially given the prices of their equipment.



Not sure if any other manufacturer is different- doubt it actually. Right to repair legislation may effect this in the future or at least we can hope.



We navigate with tablets and computers these days- they do everything and more than an MFD at a ridiculously low price and do not suffer from the "hardware no longer supported" problem.

[mjgill1]

We have a Raymarine Axiom 9 RM and it's been a good piece of kit. Only complaint is that they seem to come out with updates frequently.

Good luck

[TBW]

Furuno

[sinnerman]

If I am not mistaken, Garmin purchased Navionics...

[jaglaw06]

For sailboats, I don't think anything can beat B&G. I've had Raymarine and Garmin in other boats, and it was a toss up between them, but so far I'm loving my B&G.

[loneshark64]

Originally Posted by jaglaw06

For sailboats, I don't think anything can beat B&G. I've had Raymarine and Garmin in other boats, and it was a toss up between them, but so far I'm loving my B&G.

I am in the process of refitting old Garmin with B&G. Garmin and Raymarine are both equivalent. B&G is better. Their support is better. But B&G a is a bit more expensive across the board.

If you don’t want that…

I had an Axiom 7 and liked it a lot. The touch screen worked in all conditions and the screen was bright. The WiFi connect to quantum radar worked very well. The radar overlay was a little funky but overall it was a reliable setup. I disagree with the posters who said the Lighthouse charts are bad, they are fine. They are NOAA charts and I had zero problems with them. You can buy Navionics charts for it later if you decide to but Axiom 7 with Lighthouse is a good value. The problem with Raymarine is their proprietary connectors and their glitchy 0183 to nm2k converter. So for a standalone plotter it is a great deal but the connectivity is more difficult and expensive to deal with. Raymarine support has gone downhill.

Garmin is basically the same but eventually they screw you on the costs of maps. What they want to charge for maps is criminal. And they tend to discontinue support for older maps eventually. I had a c60 which was old but it worked. I could not get maps for it though. That sucks. Garmin support has also gone downhill.

[geoleo]

......and my decision00AIS. s.drumrollllll............I went with Garmin! A 7408 MFD/Plotter and a AIS800. Two reasons. Cost was 5-600 less and 2. Raymarine is made in Commie China and Garmin is made in free Taiwan. When possible I dont buy anything from COMMIE china.

[George DuBose]

Raymarine made in China? Most if not all of my Raymarine products are made in Hungary.

[goboatingnow]

Originally Posted by cottonsail

OK, my last 5 Raymarine purchases only 2 have worked as advertised. Wind instrument never worked at all even after 2 trips back to Raymarine. Autopilot 4000+ would never steer a straight line even after hours on the phone with "tech support" while underway. I40 sounder great after 30' but under that it is erratic. Support says "it's working fine! I40 knot meter is working fine. The new P70 autopilot also works OK. It cannot changed from true to magnetic or visa versa without an upgrade. That requires an expensive service service call. I would buy Garmin. I have their chart potter, sonar and Radar. They all work perfectly with fantastic customer support. Just my experiences.

I had the latest garmin AP , couldn’t steer a straight course in course mode either. Much chat with tech support including accessing “ hidden “ menus not mentioned in any manual.

Still doesn’t steer well

[geoleo]

Originally Posted by George DuBose

Raymarine made in China? Most if not all of my Raymarine products are made in Hungary.

WOW--ill be dipped!

[NSboatman]

Had all Garmin devices for 9 years on our boat. Two installed plotters, radar, autopilot, wind and depth, radio etc. Exception is vesper ais and L&S autopilot drive. All brains are Garmin tho. Can’t complain at all- been stupid easy to install, stupid easy to run; reliable, consistent- what else do you need? I would do all garmin again. Haven’t bothered to update charts for last 4 years- but rocks don’t move a lot… all has been very easy to use and totally reliable.

[CarlF]

It's going to be interesting to see who owns Raymarine in two years and what that means for Raymarine users. They were close to bankruptcy when Flir bought them in 2008. Now, Flir has been trying to sell Raymarine for a few years. But then Flir itself was bought this year by Teledyne.

Teledyne is in the defense business not the leisure boating business. I think they'll sell Raymarine fairly quickly. Depending on who buys them this could be good - or quite bad - for Raymarine support and new product investment.

[CarlF]

I would go to a boat show and try using both Raymarine and Garmin chart plotters. My bet is one will appeal to you more than the other.

I've always found the Garmin chart plotter interface easier than the Raymarine. I've never needed a manual.

More importantly, my wife thinks the same thing.

Since my wife is at the helm almost as much as I am, it's important that she is comfortable using the chart plotter.

[JC Reefer]

I have had more luck with Garmin’s. Said another way, I’ve only needed to pull ray marine units out for bench testing. Might just be luck of the draw.

[moseriw]

When you buy a product in China für 100 USD and you upgrade it with (whatever you do the invoice amount counts) 34 USD in Austria you may claim a Certificate of Origin issuing the product as austrian origin.

Betraying by law. I assume there are a lot of countries doing it.