Raymarine - any good???

[Out-Station]

After about 6 years of trouble free service (the first 4 as a combo unit and lateley as just GPS) I think its time i retired the old H'bird matrix 97. Been a good thing but now parts etc for these are out of production and i recon 6 years on electronics is time to upgrade. I'm looking for a good quality stand alone plotter in a 7 inch screen (don't need a combo cos i got a furuno), 5 to small for me and 10 won't fit.

I'm thinking a raymarine A70, or maybe theres something in the garmin range i havn't looked that hard at the yet. Not interested in lowrance or northstar.

Anyone got any comments on Raymarine reliability and user friendliness please??

Anyone got any comments on the 7 inch garmin units, touch screens etc??

Thank's, Scott

[fez]

Scott,

There has been a bit on the Garmin 750 (Plotter) and 750s (Combo) on here recently. I run the 750 and am bery happy with it.

PM Wayne - Kitty Kat he is a Garmin Dealer/Installer he has all the good oil.

fez

[trueblue]

I just went away from Raymarine...

dunno what the new ones are like, but haven't been very happy with my 435 chartplotter

[Sheik]

I know you're talking a 70 but I had an A50D and it was pretty clunky as far as both GPS and sounder are concerned. The Garmin 620 I have leaves it for dead as far as GPS is concerned. Just my opinion and I only had the Ray for 12 months or so.

[Out-Station]

Thanks for the the feedback all. I best have a really good play with the A70 and the Garmin 750 by the sounds. I don't recon you can go wrong with garmin, they were making gps when others were still in their nappies!!

[waterbouy]

Let us know which one you go for and how it performs. I am looking at the same two the Raymarine A70 and the Garmin 750 touch. The Raymarine cos it runs the navionics. Have herd good things about the garmin and their maps too. There is a vid on utube showing a garim touch playing up thou. But still am unsure, time is on my side though.. so give us an update when you can.

[tenzing]

Have been usung a65 for a few years now.
Have been very happy. Running navionics gold and gps is fine. The sounder is actually very good on the auto setting, is digital , and gives some of its fancier cousins a run for their money. I also use FCV620 and the ray holds its own.
Would like to be able to search the waypoint list for a point ( ours is full) but you need to scroll. a real pain. Its easier to look for it on the map and select.
The routes function is good and coloured lines easy to follow.
a70 has built in antenna and sounder module so all in one. Overalll not bad for the money.

I was at sanctuary cove yesterday and looked at the simrad NSS touchscreens.
The y look very good and the prices are good too, Take a look.
Cheers
Brendan

[Out-Station]

Thanks everyone, this is going to happen over the next few months so I'll post when I get it done. Hadn't checked out simrad yet but I will now.

[Sevric]

Hi Scott,
I recently purchased a 750s Garmin touch screen. It is the combo unit but the plotting functions are the same as the stand alone unit. The menu is easy to work and i have been very happy with it. The only problem i have encountered to date was very wet weather. I have an open boat and the screen does get wet when it rains. If you simply wipe the screen to get a clearer image the unit goes into overdrive. Not hard to go back via the menu but none the less i will have to learn to look at a wet screen from time to time or break the habit of wiping the screen.

[waterbouy]

Try using rainX. I recon it would work?