Garmin vs Raymarine Chartplotters

Serenity

I own a 2005 320. It has a Raymarine C70 GPS/Radar. I am looking to change and upgrade. I have seen the Garmin 5208 and it seems easier to read and much more functional. If anyone has one of the new Raymarine Plotters or the Garmin please let me know your thoughts. It will be a winter project at this point of the season. Thank you.

john744

I have the Raymarine e7d Multi-Function Display / Chart Plotter/GPS.  My heart was originally set on the Garmin, but I saw the e7d at the boston boat show & was sold.  The most significant feature swaying my decision was the hybrid touch screen.  The Garmin 740 is a great unit but touch screen only (power button exception) and not networkable.  The rotary knob on the e7d allows you to zoom in and out quickly and accurately, and I find it easier to use when underway & the boat is bouncing a bit (FV 310).  Take a close look at both at West Marine (or elsewhere) and picture using it while underway on your boat.

Having said that, I was very unhappy with Raymarine & my e7d when my brand spanking new unit failed to read my brand spanking new Navionics chart chip.  I had to send the unit back to Raymarine at my expense and wait til the evaluated the unit, repaired it, and sent it back to me.  Turns out the CHINESE Made unit had a bad chip reader socket.  Repaired under warranty, but damaged my confidence in a device that I must rely on in all sorts of conditions.  I since had some other issues with it, not always seeing the radar unit, and have had to recalibrate the touch screen a few times.

Raymarine - Well designed unit with great interface.  Poorly manufactured (China) for something so critical on a boat.  Just MHO

Black_Diamond

Electronic= made in some low wage Asian country. Same for everyone.

TonyWalker

This may be just me.  I have the C70 Raymarine.   I love it.  It is simple to use.

 

I have it on North Up.  That makes it a great navigational tool.  Easy to use.  Just for grins, I will tell that I have an airline pilot friend who uses head up on his trips.  He does not understand why I use "north up" and I do not understand why he uses "head up,"  Due to a lack of other reasons to tell him why I made my choice I came to the explanation that I use "north up" because all of the paper charts I have ever used have all their text written in the "North Up" mode.  I transitioned from paper charts that I used during my days of 172 and 182 flying (north up) to boating electronic navigation (north up.)  He bought my argument.

 

And it does not have a "touch screen."  I found out that I touch the screen too much point to things to make this advance in technology work for me.   8-| 

 

Just thought I would confuse the thread.

 

Tony

Salt Shaker 342

Black_Diamond

Tony: I have the C70 also and find it works great, easy to use.  Might just be me, but a touch screen would be a pain to use while bouncing off the waves, the buttons work good, easier target to hit. lol  North up for mine too.

raybo3

I cant get mine to go "head up" I can get "north up" or "course up". I hit that "head up" button and nothing happens??????????????????????????????????

Serenity

Thank you Everyone. I was looking at the new e7 but was not totally convinced. My unit works fine but my main problem is the tracking and routes are this small narrow line that is hard to find and follow especially in the dark with the unit mounted to the left of the wheel and lower. The Garmin has a thick purple line that is very easy to see. I do not know. I guess I will wait till the winter boat shows and see if these sales people can show me the difference and maybe a fix.

Michael T

I have a touch screen garmin that is two years old. It can be dual connected via both NMEA 0183 and NMEA 2000 simultaneously to multiple other devices. it is wired into my Smartcraft/Vesselview, Axius Premium and VHF. It has been connected to all Mercruiser functions via a Mercury energized NMEA 2000 backbone. It talks simultaneously wilh all of the decives. It will run auto pilot and waypoint charting. You can swap info across screens. The touch screen, even in 3 foot waves is a breeze to use. The pan in and out is super fast and accurate. You can rip through screens by swipinng your finger across it just like a 4G phone.The G3 chip has satellite overlays. You can identify any local business from marinas to a massage parlours (whoa, hope the Admiral doesn't see that). Iam about to order the brand new garmin that is its newest version. The new one has the glonass satellite update system. Its brand new as of this spring. My friend has one. It updates info 10 times per SECOND. It's like watching a super high quality video game.It is so fluid its wicked.There are coloured and adjustable satellite overlays just like google map. You can wifi import any apps you want from your 4G smartphones or send data backwards from your system to your smartphone. My friend thinks he can even remotely monitor the functions of the boat via his smartphone. How cool is that? It beats the cr** out of anything I have ever seen hands down. It stores up to 5,000 complicated waypoint trips. I can hardly wait. Even the Admiral (known to thumbs down some of my "toy" requests) has green lighted this one! My 2 cents MT

Serenity

MT--Holy Cow. That is awesome!!!!! Which Garmin do you have and is the new model the same number? I really want to look into it. Many fellow boaters at the marina have the Garmin and I have not heard anything bad yet. I have a 2005 320 with twin Mercruiser 5.0 and BIII. I wish I had the vesselview. I loved it on my prior boat and wish I had it on this one. Thank you very much.

Michael T

Serenity, the one my friend has was purchased at West Marine (as was my older model). He did not get the one with transducer as he already has one. He bought the "basic" GPSMAP 721. It cost $1649.00 plus he got the same chip I have - the BlueChart G2 Vision chip. I'm pretty sure he got some kind of special at about $300.00 off. You can get specials from time to time when the chip is included or reduced in price. You can also bundle the 721 with a radar package if you want at special pricing. I'm just going to buy the basic GPSMAP 721 as I already have the chip. Shop around as there are can be deals on it. It is super easy to install as a GPS. If you want to link it to all of yopur instruments (if you have the modern "smart" ones) you'd have to pend some time and a bit of  money on harnesses but as a stand alone GPS it is wicked for refresh time, update accuracy etc. I do repeat that even with all the technology I have I still consult a chart when I see things up ahead that I don't like the look of and I do not leave my helm unattended. This technology is really amazing but, so far, nothing replaces us! P.S. Garmin either has or is coming out soon with really big screen versions of this technology. For me the 7 inch screen size (of the 721) is plenty big enough. There are big Garmin touch screens already available in big screen sizes (I think up to 12 or even 18 inch size)  but I'm not sure any of them have the glonass technology yet.MT

Lifes Good

@ Serenity. I have the 320 2006 . same dash as you. I installed the 5208. great size and super easy to use in heavy seas. I can post pics if you want. its a tight fit but it fits! I added the garmin infrared camera so I have visibility to both engines and lowest point of bilge. best investment! it already paid for itself twice! blew an exhaust y pipe bellow hose clamp at 4500 rpm. fire hose water pressure and 15 gallons in seconds. camera caught it before huge issue. few months later blew remote oil line at filter at 3900 rpm and sprayed 4 quarts oil everywhere in a matter of seconds. camera caught it before low oil alarm went off. saving huge engine repairs. worth every penny! and piece of mind while cruising long distance.

LG

Serenity

Thank you Lifes Good. Yes please post pictures. That would be great. I never thought of the camera to see the engines. That is the unit I was leaning toward. On another note-how is it seeing the screen--I have an issue with the unit being so low to the left. Maybe with the larger screen it may help. I am usually standing when on plane. Better to see debris in the water especially still from Sandy. Also did you get the radar with it.

Michael T

Serenity, If you can't find a location that you like to mount your new GPS I'll get a bracket that my friend had made (he had two copies made) take a picture of it and post it. IF you have room anywhere else on your dash area you could get a custom bracket made for about $50 that would let you place it where it is best for you. MT

Serenity

MT that would be great. Thank you. Another option I am dealing with is my Faria Tachs. I have had them back to Faria twice and now yesterday the port gauge is messed up again. I am looking into the Mercury smart gauges. If I use the smart gauges-I could make some room on the dash. I may bite the bullet and while I am at it-move the GPS/Radar up front and center where it should be. May be a good winter project under the shrink wrap. But please forward the pictures, thanks again.

Michael T

Serenity - Front and center would be great. I'm thinking of swapping the positions of my Garmin GPS and my Mercury Smartcraft/Vesselview so the Garmin is right in front of me. I'll ask my friend to give me the copy he made of the bracket he uses. I'll take a picture of it and post it. As well you could easily add a swivel to the bracket for even more options. I'm going on a trip for five days when I get back I'll post for you. Take care! MT   P.S. It's none of my business but did you name your boat after the starship in the science fiction show Firefly.

Serenity

MT--thank you. Enjoy your trip. That is funny with the name. No I did not name it after the starship. I bought the boat used with 5 hours on it with the name already on. Here is a little story. I owned a 32 Luhrs 10 years ago. I did not like the name so we renamed it without the special renaming ceremony. Well 3 months later the marina sunk it at the dock. So when I bought this one-I was not going to give it any chances even with the name change ceremony. So the name stays. We have owned this one since 2007 and loved every minute. It has been very good to us. Thank you again.

Lifes Good

here is one pic I have right now. I will take more on friday with the cover off and camera on. note the red light. thats the on off for the camera. the camera is mounted on the front if the genny. if your genny is off to the side then the firewall will give you even more view of the engines. no radar yet... I have no issues with viewing as the screen is big. standing makes it a bit more challenging to see but I sit most of the time. another cool feature on thr 5208 is the optional google earth overview and marina overhead photos. makes it nice when entering a marina your not familiar with...

politby

Just adding my 2 cents - I have 2 Garmin 720s in my 342 (second one for radar display). If you are interested in doing route planning on a computer for downloading into the chartplotter you should definitely pick Garmin.

Their software (HomePort) is easily the best. I especially like how it integrates with Google Earth. Very cool.

Lifes Good

here are more pics from today with camera on and the split screen option. sorry the pics are on there side.

Serenity

Lifes Good--thank you. That is really interesting. I am really leaning toward the Garmin but want to see if I can move it up front. Thank you. I will let you all know what I decide and how I completed the install.

Michael T

Serenity, sorry it took so long to get some pictures I promised you of the mounting bracket that my friend had made. He was away for a few weeks. Finally, here they are. He just went to a machine shop with his own diagram and they made two U shaped plates with two movable extension arms. They made them from 1/8" aluminum. Total cost about $50. My friend primed them with merc primer and several coats of merc phantom black. The pictures I have show the U shaped plate with three holes for FIXED mounting. On the one he installed he had one hole drilled in the center of the bracket to make it a SWIVEL GPS holder. He used two large washers and a nut with a screw down knob in the center bottom of the bracket. This way he can swivel his Garmin and also move it up and down. I have found that almost anything is possible to have fabricated if you take some time to design it and talk it over with the machine shop guys - they are often bored with routine work and love a challenge. If you read Mark Bellino's thread on his cockpit table support that is another example of some creative thinking and a fantastic result. The bracket in the pictures is for Garmin models 720, 740 and the new 721 high speed. Whatever Garmin, or any GPS you choose you can have a bracket made for it at reasonable cost. BTW West Marine sells a number of GPS "pods" that will hold GPS units. You can also go on the web and google mounting arms and mounting brackets. You wouldn't believe what's out there. Personally, I like to have a custom fabrication done but - there IS a lot of choice. I took two pictures with the movable arms in different positions. You just loosen the small side knobs to reposition the arms then re-tighten. The two big knobs hanging from the arms are the "standard" attachment knobs that come with the Garmins to attach them to the plastic Garmin fixed mounts that come standard with the GPS units and are not adjustable. Best of Luck! MT

Serenity

MT--thank you. that is a really great idea. Maybe this weekend I will sit on the boat and look to come up with something. The bracket your friend made is very simple--sometimes we look at complicated situations and overlook the easy. You know the KISS system. These brackets just may be the answer.

Michael T

Serenity, best of luck! MT