Brand interest Raymarine vs Garmin

yobub

Well-Known Member
Jul 29, 2016
952
Northern Illinois
Boat Info
1998 400 Sundancer
Engines
Cat 3116's
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One thing that was really noticable at the Miami boat show was the interest in the booths for the various marine electronics manufacturers.

The Garmin booth was packed. The Raymarine booth had some traffic, but most seemed to be interested in FLIR.

Funuro, Simrad, almost none.

Not a comment on the quality of the gear, more just an observation on consumer interest in the products.
 
Wow, interesting. Personally I prefer Garmin also, but thats probably because I'm more familiar with it. I've never had anything but Garmin and the original Raytheon equipment that was in my boat before I upgraded.
 
I hated my original Raymarine equipment. The PO added a Garmin without touch and it was good but not thrilling. When I did a total upgrade I was considering going Garmin but after seeing the new RM MFDs I went with Raymarine Axiom's and love them.

I think Garmin has more of a consumer awareness since people know them from their cars.

-Kevin
 
I too had old RM and upgraded to Axiom. I like it better than the Garmin stuff on my previous boat. Hated the older RM stuff. Completely different company since aquired by Flir. The Smartcraft display I installed is a Simrad and its fine. I consider Furuno more high end commecial stuff. Really any of these 4 will do a fine job these days.
 
Very interesting, thanks for sharing.

Any other observations from the show?
If you are in the market to replace a generator, it's a good opportunity to talk to the people who work in the factory, to get an accurate story about how close of a match the new model is to the model you're replacing. The show pricing was also significantly lower than the best price I had found otherwise.

Beyond that, I know Miami is a much bigger boating community than Chicago, but after watching the Chicago boat show shrink in size to about a quarter of what it was 30 years ago, it's really encouraging to see the strength in the market. If you want to talk to a manufacturer, there is a good chance they are there, especially if they are in the electronics world.

It rained pretty heavily so I didn't spend as much time looking at boats as I would have liked, but if you are interested in a center console, this is your place. I didn't see too many boats over 40', and didn't see too many express cruisers or sedan bridges, but it seems like this show focuses more on mid-size console boats. It was really disappointing to see the Sea Ray line. They had a 320 and a 380 there, which is about the best you could hope for, but so disappointing not to see the bigger boats.

Overall worth taking a trip to see. I will probably try to get back for the FLIBS next year.
 
Yes Maimi show is good but a little broken up with brokers and dealers having boats at too many locations on Biscayne Bay. I didn't make it this year because of a convention I am at in Vegas right now. I prefer FLIBS as it is just down the street from my dock. Much more to see in a closer area. Water taxi to get to all the venues easily. Plan on at least 2-3 days to do the whole show as it is huge. My only wish is that they should have a dingy dock for locals to get there via the water.... Traffic is a bitch on A1A... Look me up if you come...
 
I had Garmin on my old boat. This boat came with a Raymarine setup.
I prefer Garmin because I found it simpler to use.
 
They had a 320 and a 380 there, which is about the best you could hope for, but so disappointing not to see the bigger boats.

Overall worth taking a trip to see. I will probably try to get back for the FLIBS next year.

SR doesn't make a 380 currently?

I really wish Miami could figure out how to pack everything into the same venue like FLIBS. I love the water taxi ride over to Virginia Key, but that's just the "boats." Even though I'm not the target market, I do enjoy seeing a few yachts, but that separate show is downtown.

As to electronics, curious to know if Garmin was the first booth as one entered the tent? That could have an impact on traffic. I've recently had Raymarine (Axiom), Garmin, and Simrad. Honestly, I think Simrad wins it for me...but truth be told, they are all rather user-friendly.
 
SR doesn't make a 380 currently?


As to electronics, curious to know if Garmin was the first booth as one entered the tent? That could have an impact on traffic.
Might not have been a 380, I just walked by and glanced at the badging.

Regarding the Garmin and Raymarine booths, placement wouldn't have been a factor at all. Both were interior, pictures were taken fairly close together. Bootha were comparable sizes, and comparable displays. The difference in interest was really striking, which is why I took the pictures.
 
It was a similar situation when I went to the Newport show 2 years ago. You had to fight to get time with the Garmin reps. On the other hand I was able to talk with the Raymarine folks easily, and for a good 45 minutes uninterrupted.
 
Just a thought...but since Garmin has a solid line of fitness devices as well as auto navigation products (I can recall about 15 years ago when we'd pile into the family car headed somewhere unfamiliar, somebody would say, "do we have the Garmin?"), I wonder if their bigger brand recognition is a contributing factor?

(It's a great product, but curious about the traffic differential.)
 
Just a thought...but since Garmin has a solid line of fitness devices as well as auto navigation products (I can recall about 15 years ago when we'd pile into the family car headed somewhere unfamiliar, somebody would say, "do we have the Garmin?"), I wonder if their bigger brand recognition is a contributing factor?

(It's a great product, but curious about the traffic differential.)

Its totally possible. They might get some bump but I didn’t think it would account for that much of a difference. I personally think they have a better product and market it well.
 
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We have owned all of them except for Garmin. They were the newest technologies at the time we purchased them and all worked well in the context of the day. This stuff changes so fast, there is better equipment with each passing year. Furuno stands out as great, although the instructions manuals were terrible and the equipment was not very intuitive. Once you learned how to use it there was nothing better. The USCG bought a lot of Furuno stuff. All of my RM equipment was very modern with great features when first introduced. It never malfunctioned. Garmin was introducied into the Tiara line after I bought my last boat so no experience with it. A lot of glass cockpits in private airplanes are Garmin so it must be pretty good. The best auto pilot hands down was the Simrad I put on my Tiara when it was brand new. It would hold the line within 30 feet in anything Lake Michigan had to offer. The RM I installed to upgrade things was less impressive, but radar was wonderful.
 
Not weighing into which brand is "better", just commenting on booth traffic.

Last major boat show I was at was FLL a couple of years ago. We had purchased our current boat earlier that year, it came with relatively new Garmin equipment. I had been RM on the past couple of boats, was curious about both.

2 years ago:

At Garmin, you had to wait out in the aisle to see an opening to work your way into the booth - so packed.

Ray Marine - Their staff was waiting in the aisle to talk to people as you walked by - just the opposite.
 
Garmin was top dog in most peoples minds (for recreational users) for many years, and tons on boat manufacturers switched from supplying Raymarine by default to Garmin by default. I never liked the E or C series Raymarines, slow, hard to use. The Garmins were certainly easier to use so many manufacturers went that way and it swayed a lot of people to be big fans of Garmin.

My last boat had Raymarine C80 that I replaced with Simrad NSS Evo and HD radar and LOVED IT. Biggest issue I had was brand recognition when I went to sell it, only the fisherman knew anything about it. I think I actually lost an early potential sale because they really wanted Garmin and/or had no clue what the Simrad was like. I put the Simrad Autopilot on that boat as well, by far best autopilot I have ever used (wish I went with that when I upgraded current boat).

Current boat had E120's, first replaced one with a Garmin and really was not impressed. I found it hard to find the settings you don't use often. I tried the Axioms at boat shows and really liked them so now have a pair of Axioms that have been great.

Noticed there were a lot more boats with Axioms at recent boat shows than in past years where it was 90% Garmin.

I think that why you see the bigger interest in Garmin its what more people know and it was drilled into them, right or wrong, that Raymarine is bad and hard to use, which 5 years ago was true!

All in all Raymarine, Garmin, Simrad and Furuno all make great equipment, cant go wrong with any of them today. It comes down to what you like and how/what you use.
 
We were at the Miami show. It appeared more people were at the Garmin booth vs. the Raymarine booth.
 
After having Garmin on my previous boat and Raymarine on my current boat, IMHO:
For as much as I know about marine electronics, basically not much, I found both to be quality products.
From a users point of view I found Garmin is much easier to use with much easier to understand user manuals.
From a customer service point of view, after calling both at different times, I found Garmin easier to get through to and get straightforward answers from.
The Garmin guys seemed to be talking at an average boaters level. The Raymarine guys seemed to be aiming their answers to more of a technical user than I am.
When I bought my current boat 3 years ago the two Raymarine 12” MFD’s and Radar were less two years old. They’re integrated with the Raymarine Autopilot, Tridata, VHF, etc. and serve my needs so replacement would cost be a waste of money for me.
But if I had nothing all, or was looking to do a complete system replacement, I would go Garmin.
Raymarine is probably better suited to someone who is more tech savvy and enjoys that sort of thing.
 
If not for the introduction of the Axiom line I would have Garmin. I found it to be much faster and think the interface is pretty easy.
Whish someone made a really small radar dome for folks who just want collision avoidance from a few miles.
 
Garmin was top dog in most peoples minds (for recreational users) for many years, and tons on boat manufacturers switched from supplying Raymarine by default to Garmin by default. I never liked the E or C series Raymarines, slow, hard to use. The Garmins were certainly easier to use so many manufacturers went that way and it swayed a lot of people to be big fans of Garmin.

My last boat had Raymarine C80 that I replaced with Simrad NSS Evo and HD radar and LOVED IT. Biggest issue I had was brand recognition when I went to sell it, only the fisherman knew anything about it. I think I actually lost an early potential sale because they really wanted Garmin and/or had no clue what the Simrad was like. I put the Simrad Autopilot on that boat as well, by far best autopilot I have ever used (wish I went with that when I upgraded current boat).

Current boat had E120's, first replaced one with a Garmin and really was not impressed. I found it hard to find the settings you don't use often. I tried the Axioms at boat shows and really liked them so now have a pair of Axioms that have been great.

Noticed there were a lot more boats with Axioms at recent boat shows than in past years where it was 90% Garmin.

I think that why you see the bigger interest in Garmin its what more people know and it was drilled into them, right or wrong, that Raymarine is bad and hard to use, which 5 years ago was true!

All in all Raymarine, Garmin, Simrad and Furuno all make great equipment, cant go wrong with any of them today. It comes down to what you like and how/what you use.

swaterhouse....I am actually in the process of deciding on an upgrade of my electronics right now. Having used both the Simrad system and the Axioms which do you prefer? I was leaning towards simrad just because of the easier integration with the merc interface.
 

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