New GPS/Navigation system

J&H 49423

New Member
Aug 6, 2022
2
Boat Info
2001 Sea Ray 380 Sundancer
Engines
MerCruiser 454 Magnum MPI
Our 2001 380 Sundancer has the original Navigation system. We are looking to upgrade. We are in the Great Lakes area and will only be going to other ports along with great lakes. What navigation systems fit and work well? Thanks in advance.
 
Well, what's installed now? If its like a lot of 2001 380/410, Raymarine with an open array radar, autopilot...

If so, It's 3-4 generations old and your looking at a complete upgrade...MFD, radar, autopilot, network.

Raymarine and Garmin are the 2 I think are the most talked about on CSR.
 
I was originally favorable to RayMarine but chose Garmin when I actually pulled the trigger. I think either are fine but I liked that the Garmin would do auto-guidance (route trips) with the built in maps where RayMarine required an active navionics subscription. So far, I haven’t been disappointed. Installed all the gear myself: Garmin GPSMAP 8612 (no fish finder option), Garmin Steadycast (Allows GPSMAP to maintain accurate heading when traveling under the minimum speed for GPS to function), Garmin Fantom 18x Dome radar; all on my 2001 Sundancer 310. My boat is pre-smartcraft so I also invested in a pair of FoxMarine MEFI-3 gateways to pull in engine data. Over the winter I plan on replacing my depth gauge and transducer with a NMEA 2K compatible unit so I can include that on my GPSMAP as well. The GPSMAP is the hub of my system and also connects to my Fusion RA770 stereo head.
 
Well, what's installed now? If its like a lot of 2001 380/410, Raymarine with an open array radar, autopilot...

If so, It's 3-4 generations old and your looking at a complete upgrade...MFD, radar, autopilot, network.

Raymarine and Garmin are the 2 I think are the most talked about on CSR.

The auto pilot can stay, but will need to be connected via NMEA0183. That will support goto/route etc. and to Dave's point will not integrate visually with any MFD like the newer ones will.
 

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