Raymarine C80 Replacement?

[joesearay2003]

Anyone replace their C80? Did you stick with Raymarine or move to a new brand? I am on the fence between Garmin and Raymarine (I know I will need to replace Raydome, transducer, etc no matter what brand. Anyone have thoughts on Garmin vs. Raymarine (Years ago, it was almost impossible to get through to Raymarine tech support)?

 

[Ididntdoit]

The future of Raymarine is unclear - will Flir shut it down or sell it? How will a new owner support it? To me, it kind of makes the decision an easy one

 

[Steve S]

I also think that Garmin is more intuitive and user friendly than Raymarine.

 

[Riptide III]

I also think that Garmin is more intuitive and user friendly than Raymarine.

+1

 

[Riptide III]

I have three Garmin on my boat. They use the original transducer that came from sea ray. You cut the the plug off and screw the wires into an adapter box that plugs into the Gaermin. (About $70 from West Marine.

 

[Henry Boyd]

We just dropped a bundle on twin axiom displays, EV-2 autopilot and assorted networking add ins. I stuck with Raymarine for two reasons; 1) we already had a usable HD Color open array, 2) the Garmin autopilot is about 3x the Raymarine EV-2. I regret not pulling the radar and selling it with the old displays and going with something else. Raymarine just gets worse and worse every day.

 

[Shaps]

.....Raymarine just gets worse and worse every day.

@Henry Boyd Can you explain a bit more please?

 

[joesearay2003]

I think all of you answered my question-Go with Garmin

 

[joesearay2003]

So will the Garmin RADAR mount on my existing Radar mount for my Raymarine unit?

 

[KevinC]

We just dropped a bundle on twin axiom displays, EV-2 autopilot and assorted networking add ins. I stuck with Raymarine for two reasons; 1) we already had a usable HD Color open array, 2) the Garmin autopilot is about 3x the Raymarine EV-2. I regret not pulling the radar and selling it with the old displays and going with something else. Raymarine just gets worse and worse every day.

What problems are you having? I have been pretty happy with my raymarine axioms. They seem to have regular updates with added features and they just introduced a new line of axioms and are releasing a new charting option. They also have a fairly active webinar schedule.

As far as there future with FLIR who knows these decisions to divest don't always make sense outside of short term returns.

-Kevin

 

[pyro]

I'm also debating between Garmin & Raymarine and currently have a C80. I'm looking at 12" so I only have to enlarge the cutout slightly. The 9" requires covering up the height.

I'm leaning towards Raymarine. From what I have read, they seem to have a few more options, but less intuitive than Garmin. The C80 user interface is impossible. For example, just today, I could not figure out how to make a route, even though I know I've done it before. I've heard the marketing claiming the Raymarine's are faster and brighter with the Axiom+. Not sure how significant this is. But they are a bit cheaper. In fact, since Axiom+ just come out, Axiom regular seemed to drop a few hundred dollars, and now much cheaper than Garmin.

I also wonder are you considering the built in sonar models? I definitely don't fish, but like electronic gadgets so considering getting the sonar with the RV-100 transom transducer, but have no idea how it will work with twin I/Os. I'll keep the smartcraft through-hull transducer and hopefully have it show up on the MFD.

 

[Three Seasons]

Garmin... so user friendly and intuitive with great support if you need it.

 

[Henry Boyd]

@Henry Boyd Can you explain a bit more please?

The recent Lighthouse software upgrade disappeared the radar array. It took two weeks messaging Raymarine customer service to come back with “call your dealer”, something they could have / should have told me after my initial message. Instead they replied, “we are working on it, and will get back to you”. I then contacted my dealer installer who needed a week to get back to me. They came and fixed it. I can’t fault them, it was part of the reason I held off calling them. Total time the radar was down because of shitty software: a little over three weeks. That’s the service buying $12k of Raymarine products buys you. Before if this had happened the Raymarine forum mods would have either answered the question within a day, or kicked it back to the dealer. Guess the “new customer service” model may be cheaper than the forums,but there certainly is very little service being handed out.

 

[Shaps]

Thanks @Henry Boyd
I've got twin E120s, and was thinking about doing a cheapy upgrade to e125s (hybrid touchscreens). They are supposed to be plug and play with what I have now.

I was thinking, maybe wishing, that is probably all I need for now, but maybe I should just hold off.