500/520 DB official thread

This is a great idea. I am short on time today but I am doing a bunch of upgrades this winter to my new to me boat and will post them soon. The largest upgrade, I am going to dual Raymarine Axiom XL 16 displays.
 
Post away...we're in the market for upgraded electronics as well.
 
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Well I’ll start the upgrade postings I guess.
This spring I replaced all the Raymarine electronics with Furuno TZTouch2. With DRSA6A NXT Doppler radar.
I removed the grey burl panel and fabricated my own covered it in leatherette and made it so it sat facing upwards more.
While the boat was out getting painted I had the yard install a new transducer which gives me bottom discrimination,temp,speed.
The plotters and radar connect via an Ethernet hub and nmea2000 backbone that I made.
The Only piece of original equipment was the Autopliot which I am near the end of the install I removed the old Raymarine vhf extension speaker and installed a Furuno I70 data display on the left side and the matching Navpilot 300 on the right. Navpilot 300 comes with a remote control.
Hers are a few pics I took today all the seating from the bridge is out getting reupholstered so the bridge is ripped apart.
I also installed the remote for the mfd’s since they’re touchscreen only.
And the wheel was replaced.
 
Looks great, I am doing a similar upgrade but with Raymarine equipment.
I will have 2 Raymarine Axiom XL 16s with 2 rmk-10 remotes on with side of the wheel (same as you, the Axioms are touch screen only so need control in rough water) and a 4ft Raymarine magnum open array radar. An i70s display will replace the st60 depth gauge on the left side of the wheel and that will get signal from a airmar D800 tridata sounder.
A p70rs control head will replace the autopilot control head on the right side of the wheel.
A Ray91 remote vhf with AIS and wireless mic down in the salon will replace the old non working Raymarine remote vhf. I am going to add a backup vhf in the overhead box to the right of the engine gauges.
A Mercury vessel view 703 will replace the diesel view smartcraft display. These will all be networked together on a SeaTalkng backbone (the vessel view will get tied in with a NMEA2k to seatalkng adapter)
I have already changed all the lights and fixtures on the boat to LED, changed the nav and stern lights to LED, added LED lights to the engine room, added Siren Marine monitoring system and spent a lot of time cleaning the engine room.
I have really enjoyed getting to know the boat so far and am looking forward to the spring to enjoy all the upgrades.
I will get pics as I go along
 
Thank you for creating this!

We are going to Victoria BC for new years, and surprisingly we got the last slip in their 3 marinas!

I too will upgrade my electronics this winter, but I am switching to Garmin. Going with the new 8616 units and Fantom radar.
 
Thank you for creating this!

We are going to Victoria BC for new years, and surprisingly we got the last slip in their 3 marinas!

I too will upgrade my electronics this winter, but I am switching to Garmin. Going with the new 8616 units and Fantom radar.

Garmin was next on my list for electronics however i was very impressed with a buddy’s Furuno equipt and the radar can’t be beat.
You won’t be sorry for sure.
 
Garmin was next on my list for electronics however i was very impressed with a buddy’s Furuno equipt and the radar can’t be beat.
You won’t be sorry for sure.

I am curious, what makes you choose the Furuno MFDs over others? I didn’t look into them too much. I prefer Raymarine over Garmin but wondering what I am missing not looking at Furuno.
 
Jeremy honestly I like the user interface of the Furuno better than any other it is modeled after the time zero( nobeltec) softaware. After purchasing I’ve learned the customer service is great they actually answer the phone.
They support their outdated equipment which I’ve had bad experiences with my older equip.
 
Electronics are a ford/chevy thing. You have to play with the interfaces and see which one fits you better.

In the last two boats I have owned older raymarine (classic E and C), new raymarine (Axiom), newish Garmin (7600 series) and newish Simrad (Evo 2).

Of the newer set my least favorite is the Garmin, I don't care for their charts, and I don't find the interface intuitive. I really liked my Simrad and I really like the Axiom. I like the interface of the TZTouch, but I found the TZTouch2 a little bit slow to respond and I don't have room for the 14" TZTouch and wasn't prepared to settle on the 9". I choose Axiom over Simrad on the current boat only because Simrad doesn't have the "cruiser" following that the others do and I think it would distract from a future sale rather than add to it.

The Simrad autopilot however was hands down the best, I installed the new Raymarine and its way better than the older one but nowhere near as nice as the Simrad I had in my last boat.

That said the 52DB is on our potential upgrade list and I am happy to know that the console will fit two 16" displays!
 
Of the newer set my least favorite is the Garmin, I don't care for their charts, and I don't find the interface intuitive.

Garmin's G3 charts will likely be a game-changer in that category, but as a multi-decade fan and user of Garmin equipment, I completely agree that the current UI isn't intuitive. I was surprised to see them carry it over to the 86 series.
 
Electronics are a ford/chevy thing. You have to play with the interfaces and see which one fits you better.

In the last two boats I have owned older raymarine (classic E and C), new raymarine (Axiom), newish Garmin (7600 series) and newish Simrad (Evo 2).

Of the newer set my least favorite is the Garmin, I don't care for their charts, and I don't find the interface intuitive. I really liked my Simrad and I really like the Axiom. I like the interface of the TZTouch, but I found the TZTouch2 a little bit slow to respond and I don't have room for the 14" TZTouch and wasn't prepared to settle on the 9". I choose Axiom over Simrad on the current boat only because Simrad doesn't have the "cruiser" following that the others do and I think it would distract from a future sale rather than add to it.

The Simrad autopilot however was hands down the best, I installed the new Raymarine and its way better than the older one but nowhere near as nice as the Simrad I had in my last boat.

That said the 52DB is on our potential upgrade list and I am happy to know that the console will fit two 16" displays!


Scott the displays I have are the 12” tztouch2’s there’s a large piece of fiberglass in the middle a
That would need to be removed but I think the 15” displays may just fit.
 
One problem with our era Boats is the delaminates of the cabinet doors. As we know finding the material is unlikely so my buddy took his doors to have another solution done
I like this idea where you could pick a color or material to match your decor.
We have 1 door behind the sink that suffers from this.
Here’s our door and his larger doors after the repairs.
 

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Electronics are a ford/chevy thing. You have to play with the interfaces and see which one fits you better

That said the 52DB is on our potential upgrade list and I am happy to know that the console will fit two 16" displays!

I agree that it is a Ford/Chevy deal. I think in the end they are all good products and I know they all will get the job done.
I have done the math on the Axiom XL 16s fitting and it should fit with about 1/2” between them. I will be fitting them in sometime in January and see if the math is reality.
 
One problem with our era Boats is the delaminates of the cabinet doors. As we know finding the material is unlikely so my buddy took his doors to have another solution done
I like this idea where you could pick a color or material to match your decor.
We have 1 door behind the sink that suffers from this.
Here’s our door and his larger doors after the repairs.

I may have to get creative with something like that as well. I was thinking a thin stainless strip of metal at the bottom to tie into the hardware on the boat.
 
The lake I’m currently on doesn’t require any type of navigation with charts but I will be moving to Lake Michigan in 2020 and will be looking to upgrade my old system soon. I appreciate hearing about what you like and don’t like about the different manufacturers. One question I have the group is about Garmin acquisition of Navionics and active Captian. Have they released the newest charts with these 2 products integrated in the new chart Plotters? Also are most if not all the new mfd units connecting to internet for updates? Good winter time topic.
 
Electronics are a ford/chevy thing. You have to play with the interfaces and see which one fits you better.

In the last two boats I have owned older raymarine (classic E and C), new raymarine (Axiom), newish Garmin (7600 series) and newish Simrad (Evo 2).

Of the newer set my least favorite is the Garmin, I don't care for their charts, and I don't find the interface intuitive. I really liked my Simrad and I really like the Axiom. I like the interface of the TZTouch, but I found the TZTouch2 a little bit slow to respond and I don't have room for the 14" TZTouch and wasn't prepared to settle on the 9". I choose Axiom over Simrad on the current boat only because Simrad doesn't have the "cruiser" following that the others do and I think it would distract from a future sale rather than add to it.

The Simrad autopilot however was hands down the best, I installed the new Raymarine and its way better than the older one but nowhere near as nice as the Simrad I had in my last boat.

That said the 52DB is on our potential upgrade list and I am happy to know that the console will fit two 16" displays!

2 16" displays barely fit!!!
 
Furuno and I’m sure all brands now have WiFi and active captain but I lost the function when Garmin acquired AC
Furuno says the access will return in the next update.
 

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