Raymarine vs garmin

Thanks @scooper321
appreciate the info!

scooper321 said:

on my previous boat I chose a Simrad for exactly this reason. Bouncing in the waves I liked having the dial and buttons. For my current boat I went Axiom, all touch. They have the remote dial and pad, which I may install. Or I may not. The touch is sometimes annoying if I’m bouncing a lot but I don’t honestly play with the plotter that often so it’s not as big a deal for me as I thought it would be.

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I went with touch only screens with Garmin, and added their remote. I didn't want my screen real estate taken up by buttons, but still wanted some physical controls when bouncing around. This gives you the best of both worlds.

ocgrant said:

I am pure touch and no issues I love it. You can also use your phone or iPad as a remote with the app from Raymarine. I was considering the remote but figured I would try all glass first. No issues here plus 2 16’s barely fit in our boat edge to edge. No room for knobs.

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photos, or it didn't happen!

jmauld said:

photos, or it didn't happen!

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that's a perfect fit! Nice job.

I went all glass as well with 2 Axiom 16XLs. I didn’t want to give up screen space for buttons. I have one RMK-10 remote as well. I rarely use the remote but my bridge is very sheltered with hardtop and enclosure all around so I don’t get much weather. I have found with the large displays even in rough conditions I use the touch screen.

I have two Garmin 8612 units and had the remote mounted next to the helm seat, have been in some rough seas and the remote is a great back up. Even so it is much easier to sit back and not have to reach forward to touch screens.

I have the axiom 9 + the raymarine Doppler 2 radar for two years now and would say I’m extremely happy. I’m clearly bias as I don’t have a ton of experience with Garmin, however my experience with Raymarine has been great, they have a great YouTube channel that’s been doing bi-weekly live streams for deep dives into Axioms and their other products, every time I’ve had a question they have responded in 2 days or less. They also continue to upgrade their software with new features every couple months as they seem to listen to the people who use the devices. I love being able to sync my iPad with the axiom and control and control my axiom wherever I’m at in the boat, especially at anchor or on long passages when I want to walk around or go downstairs for something. Anyone, as I re-read this I sound like a Raymarine salesmen (I’m not.) just my two cents. In the end I would think they all have there pro’s and con’s

J.Wilt said:

remote mounted next to the helm seat, have been in some rough seas and the remote is a great back up. Even so it is much easier to sit back and not have to reach forward to touch screens.

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I like the remote location. It’s something I would want to do, I have Raymarine products. Where did you get bracket?

I have become increasingly frustrated with newer Raymarine MFD's lately with regards to shutting the thing down. Now that I have 4 ...you have to hold the power button for 3 seconds to power down....hold it down for 5 seconds and it will power back up...do that 4 times. I am going to rewire them together this winter so I can shut them down with a single dash switch. The other thing I dont like is turning the radar off when coming into port.... you have to answer 3 "are you sure?" screens and close another screen....this is very frustrating....I want the radar off, its that simple. The other thing is the disclaimer at power up that you have to agree to every single time you power up on 3 screens for crying out loud.... because of these I wouldnt buy Raymarine again

Jcclark85 said:

I like the remote location. It’s something I would want to do, I have Raymarine products. Where did you get bracket?

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Fabricated and powder coated by my marina who installed my electronics.

One thing I like about Raymarine is Jim and his new weekly series about features on their products. You can really learn a lot from it and you can interact and ask questions. Jim gets back to you either live or a day later. Their customer service has really stepped it up with this new weekly series. This week was cool with their new anchor watch feature...

Blueone said:

I have become increasingly frustrated with newer Raymarine MFD's lately with regards to shutting the thing down. Now that I have 4 ...you have to hold the power button for 3 seconds to power down....hold it down for 5 seconds and it will power back up...do that 4 times. I am going to rewire them together this winter so I can shut them down with a single dash switch. The other thing I dont like is turning the radar off when coming into port.... you have to answer 3 "are you sure?" screens and close another screen....this is very frustrating....I want the radar off, its that simple. The other thing is the disclaimer at power up that you have to agree to every single time you power up on 3 screens for crying out loud.... because of these I wouldnt buy Raymarine again

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That would be very frustrating. Are you sure that everything can't be linked for off and on?
I completely understand; I would rather watch where the boat is going than focusing on complexities of operating the nav system.
I went with Garmin because of similar control challenges with the Ray stuff I replaced; albeit it was all E120 vintage.
The Garmin system I have now networked together (it's pretty extensive) all comes on with a quick touch of the power button location on any one of the screens; everything powers up except for the Fusion audio and VHF; and it's fast. There is a warning splash banner and "Accept" button but that remains for about five seconds then disappears by itself or touch the accept button and it's gone instantly from all of the screens. To power down hold any of the power buttons for three seconds and the entire system then powers down. The radar scanner is always available pretty much instantly as well as instantly off with the single touch of an icon button on the screen which is much more user friendly than the Ray scanner system I had previously.
One of the big reasons that drove me to Garmin is they played well with third party NMEA 2000 devices and used standard cabling which Ray did not at the time; I must have twenty NMEA 2000 devices connected and it's completely seamless with the Garmin equipment.
Contrary to a couple of other comments I think the Garmin charts are excellent especially with the radar overlay capabilities, photo library, and Active Captain data (this is all a part of their premium chart package).
Arguably, for recreational use the Garmin sonar technology is the top of the pack; I have their middle of the road CHIRP/ClearVu and couldn't be happier with it.
Everything is lightning fast and most impressive to me is the speed in page selection; you can't select pages faster than they can be displayed. Most importantly the system is rock stable; I've never had a glitch or hiccup with the Garmin equipment on this boat or my last boat.
Another feature that is pretty cool but I don't use much is the entire Garmin helm can be seen and operated from my cell phone or Ipad including everything the helm monitors and operates like the NMEA2000 devices, Fusion Audio, AIS, etc. All in all the Garmin speed, integration, operational simplicity, and installation simplicity was the reason for my selection.
My only complaints are the screens get very hot to the touch which was true with the Garmin screens I had in my 400DA, and access into the Garmin IP network for adding things like third party IP cameras is impossible - locked down hard; probably for liability reasons....

I installed my axiom+ and finally got the transducer mounted yesterday. This is so much better than the simrad that it replaced. I’m happy with the purchase and looking forward to doing this all again on the Sundancer. Hopefully this upcoming winter before the taxman shows up asking for a check.

Photo taken the other night.

Blueone said:

I have become increasingly frustrated with newer Raymarine MFD's lately with regards to shutting the thing down ...I am going to rewire them together this winter so I can shut them down with a single dash switch... The other thing is the disclaimer at power up that you have to agree to every single time you power up on 3 screens for crying out loud.... because of these I wouldnt buy Raymarine again
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My Axiom is connected to switched DC. I know I would accidentally leave it on at times if I didn't do this. I just use the helm switch to power on the electronics and the Axiom comes on. The additional benefit is not having to deal with the little touch slider power "switch" at the bottom.

And I get what you're saying about the acknowledging disclaimers. But it's a legal thing that if you try to sue them for using their product and crashing, they can say "we warned you not to use this device as a nav aid" and therefore be covered against lawsuits. Sort of like putting "Warning! Contents are HOT!" on coffeee cups at McDonald's. Don't all plotters have a power on disclaimer like this? Can't believe that would be a RM-only thing.

scooper321 said:

... And I get what you're saying about the acknowledging disclaimers. But it's a legal thing that if you try to sue them for using their product and crashing, they can say "we warned you not to use this device as a nav aid" and therefore be covered against lawsuits. Sort of like putting "Warning! Contents are HOT!" on coffeee cups at McDonald's. Don't all plotters have a power on disclaimer like this? Can't believe that would be a RM-only thing.

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Yep, Garmin has them but also auto acknowledges in a few seconds. Same with Simrad, but that doesn't auto acknowledge you must hit "agree". What's cool with Garmin is you can customize the splash screen as well. https://www.garmin.com/en-US/blog/marine/customize-startup-screen-gpsmap-chartplotters/

My Raymarine 4kw open array stopped working after a firmware and software update on my Axiom. have watched others struggle with all sorts of issues every time they update their Axiom software so I've been putting it off as long as I could now I'm one of those poor bastards. Since I've been trying to slowly move over to Garmin this may expedite that project. Have heard from Raymarine that they have some game changer release coming in the form of a new open array at the FLIBS. Will wait to see what that is before i make the call to shop for a new Garmin radar, but they have to get these software updates in order.

So here is the new radar teaser from Raymarine. Anyone attending the FLIBS that can check it out and report back?

Are we sure it is radar??? I am definitely going to go over and check out their booth.