Raymarine MFD connect to the web

[callistov42]

One of the big selling points for the Raymarine MFD was it’s ability to connect to the web for updates. I can not get on line because there is no way to go through an authentication process like you would on a browser. Every marina I have ever visited had a wi-fi authentication process. Any suggestions on getting a Raymarine MFD to connect to a voucher/password protected wi-fi?

[Sailmonkey]

Interesting, I’ll be watching this. I’ve only updated ours at home.

[Reefmagnet]

Use a cell phone as a hotspot instead? Another option is to use a wireless router to connect to the protected wifi then connect the mfd to the router wifi.

Having thought a bit about the wifi router, that may not work.

There is a way to this, however, if you have another device that can spoof MAC addresses. If the last three words sound scary, this probably isn't the method for you.

[Sailmonkey]

I’ve thought about the cell hotspot, but the updates are in the GB range.....not paying for that data.

[Reefmagnet]

Gb's? Man, that's crazy! In that case, it's more than likely possible that the updates can be downloaded via another device, then installed to the MFD more conventionally using an sd card.

[smac999]

if you had something like a bullet wifi ant. and an on board router. you would connect a PC / phone and ray to the boat router. connect bullet to marina wifi. put password using phone / PC. then both should be online via your router.

or just download onto PC and onto card.

[smac999]

Originally Posted by Reefmagnet

Gb's? Man, that's crazy! In that case, it's more than likely possible that the updates can be downloaded via another device, then installed to the MFD more conventionally using an sd card.

the new garmin update is 4gb. because it's one file for every product they make.

[Mooseboat]

I did exactly what you’re looking to do on my Axiom Pro MFD and had success. You need to have a Wi-Fi extender on your boat. We installed GLOMEX Webboat 4G PLUS wi-Fi extender on our Jeanneau 440. Turn on the MFD and connect to the boats Wi-Fi. Then download any of the updates. Caution the updates are massive and take about an hour or more to install even with perfect Wi-Fi connection. The SD card route is a lot quicker but a little tricky with zipping and unzipping the files. I asked my son for help he made it look easy. To be young👍🍀 good luck

[RickG]

We point the Axiom MFD at the router on our boat and that works nicely for us. Our marinas have used WPA2 for authentication, so you just type the password in when you point the MFD at the SSID. I like to consolidate all of the devices to a house router as we are cruising and the network passwords change frequently. We also have hotspots that we use, otrmobile.com on the AT&T network and Island Wifi on the BTC network; I give the hotspots the same SSID name and password so that we don't keep change those all the time.

As Mooseboat mentioned, the SD card route works where the direct network approach does not. The last update I installed was 1.9GB.

Cheers, RickG

[ranger58sb]

Originally Posted by callistov42

One of the big selling points for the Raymarine MFD was it’s ability to connect to the web for updates. I can not get on line because there is no way to go through an authentication process like you would on a browser. Every marina I have ever visited had a wi-fi authentication process. Any suggestions on getting a Raymarine MFD to connect to a voucher/password protected wi-fi?

You can make a WiFi hotspot using Win10 (built-in) or something like Connectify in Win7... after one of those is connected to a marina WiFi. I assume you could point the MFD to your new hotspot name. Your WiFi hotspot could be a temporary entity, no password, set up only for the MFD update and then discarded.

-Chris

[Sailmonkey]

Originally Posted by smac999

or just download onto PC and onto card.

That’s how I’ve been updating ours. Download onto SD, unzip, install.

Although I suppose I should be interested in the Netflix app on my chart plotter.

[masonc]

Originally Posted by callistov42

One of the big selling points for the Raymarine MFD was it’s ability to connect to the web for updates. I can not get on line because there is no way to go through an authentication process like you would on a browser. Every marina I have ever visited had a wi-fi authentication process. Any suggestions on getting a Raymarine MFD to connect to a voucher/password protected wi-fi?

My raymarine dealer told me they never do this as the internet is not reliable and it causes hangs, they download to the SD card first.

[Alita49DS]

One of the problems with Raymarine is that they now seem to insist that updates are downloaded, in whatever way, and then installed through the MFD. Great it you have a Raymarine MFD but useless if you have Raymarine instruments and another MFD.

Garmin let you download easily from the web to a PC and thence to SD. However, as others have pointed out, some of the downloads are stupidly and unnecessarily large.

Which leads to me to ask, do these marine manufacturers actually ever think about the convenience of the end user? Are they indolent or arrogant? Or just years behind the curve of IT in general where providers have accepted that updates should be as compact and easy to install as possible?

[Alita49DS]

Further to my earlier post, if you have a look at these Garmin links, which come up on an update search, you will find that the company offers no sensible assistance at all:

1. https://www8.garmin.com/support/down...ls.jsp?id=8743 This is a download of, wait for it 3.44GB. GB. Not MB. The version number is GPSMAP Series with SD Card software version 2019.0424.0. Note that.

2. https://www8.garmin.com/support/down...ls.jsp?id=8745 This is a download for version number, breathe in when you read it, Legacy GPSMAP with SD Card software version 2019.0424.0 So, identical as to version.

Both come up when one searches, and there is zero assistance. Yet the second one in a download of 373.83MB. Still hilariously too large but just over 1/10th of the first offered.

As I wrote, these companies are either indolent or arrogant. One way or the other they would not seem to have you or me in mind as consumers. Breaking up the files should not be rocket science. Not least as most of the changes are minor increments.

[Reefmagnet]

That's the problem with software these days. It's either unnecessarily complicated because the developers have encouraged runaway scope creep from the client (hello Government contracts!) to maintain an income stream, or the software development contract was awarded to the lowest bidder, usually located offshore.


Either way, this is how we end up with multi-gigabyte update files when all we are really getting are some bug fixes and/or some feature updates.