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This is my first post on this site so please be gentle. I have to outfit my new boat with electronics and I'd like a little input and advice. I hear good things about the new E-series. How does it compare to the Navnet or the 6000i? Price, ease of use, functionality etc.
Furuno also has up to 3KW sounder available, as well as variable frequency from 1KW to 3KW. Ray has a bigger screen , but Furuno has the BB units and a 15" screen if you can afford it Furuno has a built in keypad, Ray is $100 extra. Depending on your setup...Ray has their softkeys at the bottom of the display, Furuno's are on the side.
You have to decide what is most important to you because there are notable performance differences in the various functions. It also matters a lot whether you will need multiple displays and networking. For example, the Northstar plotter function is still probably the best available in terms of speed of redraw. On sounder capabilities, I think that of the ones you listed, the Furuno BB sounder is the best, but a name not on your list -- Simrad -- is even better. But of course the most important thing you can od with a sounder is pair it with the best transducer. I would rather have a Ray with an Airmar B260 than a Furiuno with a cheap little P66 transom mount. When it comes to radar, Furuno and Simrad are in one league and the others are in a lesser bracket.
From a value standpoint, I think you get the best combination of performance and price from the Furuno NavNet units. They also have excellent customer support. Raymarine is also good value, but I have never really liked their interface (probably a personal taste thing). Furuno also has the advantage of giving the choice between the two cartography vendors, so you can use C-Map Max or Navionics Gold. Ray and Northstar are Navionics-only, while Simrad is C-Map only.
We just went throught the same process on a NEW 32' Boston Whaler. We went with the Raymarine E-Series totally. I personally cannot imagine a better display than the E 120. Raymarine also makes a 15" display. Did not see a need. We installed the 'very large' Airmar R99 transducer. The 4' open array radar hase a very small horizontal bandwidth Vs the others, this is good. Haven't hooked up the vidio yet...in progress. The E-Series is set up to take the NEW Navionics Platnium, when available. NEMA 200 compatable. The only thing not Raymarine is the Icom 602 VHF. We had Raytheon on the last boat for 18 years without a problem. After a hard look, we saw no reason to change. The radar/chart overlay is outstanding. Expandability is simple if needed. Great system. I believe the other manufacturers are playing 'catch up' right now. The new Furuno was a close second. Take a look at them all...then decide.
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Boston Whaler, "MUMBLER", 24 Outrage, twin 175 HP Evinrude Ocean Pros
Just remember, that R99 is only running at 1KW, and at fixed frequency at that. With Furuno you can run that thing at 2KW and at variable frequency.
Furuno's 4' open array is a 6KW unit with a .05deg higher beamwidth, I'd gladly trade for a higher power. The 4KW 3.5' open array is smaller, but does have a much higher beamwidth than Ray, once again a tradeoff, size vs power. The 4' Furuno can go up to 25KW and 72Nm (If you can get it high enough) but they have a 6' with a 1.2 deg beamwidth.
Ray means you are now stuck with Navionics, take some time to read the Navionics vs C-map thread and you will see why this charting method has a faster redraw.
The Ray machine in my opinion has the fastest redraw on the market. Also with Navionics platinum coming why would you need a choice between cmap and Navionics? The E series are extreamly bright and the the lack of a keypad is a mute point given I can enter data just as fast with the rotery knob.As far as transducer choices Raymarine makes no claim to play in the commercial fishing market and most will find that a 1000w coupled with the DSM300 is all they need. also the Ray 10kw radar is along the same priceline as a Furuno 6kw why not add horsepower? The E series also has 4 video inputs and the resolution is incredable. With raymarines customer service reliability HDFI and Navionics platinum they stand above the rest.
Actually the 10kw Raymarine is about $2K more then the Furuno 6kw.
For about the same money as the RM 10kw you could get a 12kw Furuno with a 6' array.
Also keep in mind that the RM is not true color and the 10kw must run on a 24vdc power supply. If you have a small boat you will need to add an inverter for about another $300.
Please note, I am not sponsored by any manufacturer.
The Navionics will always have a faster redraw, even the Navionics Navnet blows away the C-map Navnet. The reason is in the charts.....how they are designed.
The Navionics will always have a faster redraw, even the Navionics Navnet blows away the C-map Navnet. The reason is in the charts.....how they are designed.
Both C-map and Navionics are vector charts. What differences in their design would cause one to be faster than the other? Processor speed is more likely ot be a factor. For sure my neighbors Navionics Navnet is not noticeably faster than my C-Map Navnet.
The big difference in speed is not having to run across as many chart lines. maybe it depends on where you live, but the 9.5 mile run from the ramp to the ocean, I cross 6 charts, but if I had navionics, it would stil only be one chart. Every time a C-map plotter crosses charts it has to access the chip and redraw the new chart, not just move the current chart. This takes more time.
Here is the technical difference:
Take a C-MAP electronic chart and a Navionics electronic chart and compare them screen by screen, feature for feature. You'll see many similarities, many differences. But when you're looking for the one, major difference that separates C-MAPfrom Navionics, you'll see that it all comes down to the issue of quality.
Sometimes It's What You Don't See That Can Hurt You.
For the convenience of mariners, Navionics takes the data from several paper charts of many different scales and merges them together to create charts which they refer to as "seamless". When viewing Navionics' charts, the user cannot see the borders between charts and can scroll from area to area without having to change scale.
However, due to Navionics' indiscriminate chart merging process, the source of the chart data is lost when their database is created.Navionics' process also violates the fundamental tenants of GIS (Geographic Information Systems) which says that you should never merge data of different quality and scales. After all, the overall quality of any database is equal to that of the lowest quality of data used in its creation.
So Much You Don't See If It Isn't C-MAP.
When Navionics creates their charts, they often use charts of a smaller scale with less detail. They manipulate the data so that the user can zoom in to a given harbor, and think that he is accessing more detailed information, when in fact, the same charts are merely being magnified. Critical navigational chart data is sacrificed as a result of this process.
C-MAP, on the other hand, has created a horizontally seamless technique which respects the scales of government agency charts by clearly representing the source data. When a user zooms into a C-MAP chart, he is actually viewing more detail (larger scale charts), not the same information in a magnified form. The inclusion of larger scale charts with additional detail and navigational information requires more storage space, and that is the reason why some C-MAP cartridges cover smaller areas than comparable Navionics cards.
The amount of navigational light list information available on each chart also varies greatly when comparing Navionics to C-MAP. With Navionics charts, the only navigational light list information provided is that found on the paper chart. With C-MAP, more than five lines of light list information is provided including the light list number as well as detailed light characteristics.
Convenience Isn't Worth Anything If You Sacrifice Confidence
With Navionics' non-horizontally seamless technique the source of the chart data is lost when charts of all scales are merged into a common database. Although convenient to the user, this process can generate a false sense of confidence because charts with different resolutions are displayed without any indication of a change. Subsequently, the mariner loses the source of data and cannot reference back to the paper chart for a particular area. Since electronic charts are meant to complement, not replace paper charts, the opportunity for the user to reference each chart source is essential, and must not be eliminated. This has been stressed in the latest RTCM draft for ECS (Electronic Charting System) standards. By providing the user with the capability to reference the source of data, C-MAP makes vital information as datum, quality, and magnetic variation easily accessible.
William...are you referring to Navionics GOLD? Not sure, but the problem you state may have been resolved with the GOLD. We get five lines of information on all bouys, light, etc. As we decrease the scale...the details get better...not just magnified. The information on the Harbor (Oswego, NY) takes us right to our slip...perfectly; we even watch the boat back in! This is used on an Raymarine E 120.
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Boston Whaler, "MUMBLER", 24 Outrage, twin 175 HP Evinrude Ocean Pros
This is the answer from the Navionics website: They don't mention wether Gold is exempt, but they lead you to believe it is the same as Classic...
Why should I choose Navionics over your competitors such as C-Map & Garmin?
Navionics offers true vector information and creates a database from the paper charts into one seamless image. No holes in the information, no discontinuities, no overwhelming clutter. This allows for faster re-draw over our competitors.
It will really depend on where you are. In Charleston the harbor is broken up into north and south shipping lanes, intercostal going thru the middle across both shipping lanes, plus 4 rivers. All the different charts have different zoom levels. The Navionics charts just shows up and when you are in an area the doesn't have as much detail as the merged info next to it, you can overzoom, but it doesn't tell you that it just interpolates the data. C-map actually changes the charts as you move and as you change the zoom level so you are always looking at the correct chart for your zoom level and position. Sometimes if you go from an area of high zoom to an area where that level of zoom is not available in paper, it has yellow cross hatches until you get close, then it changes the zoom for you. All of this takes processor time rather than just one seamless vector chart that you just zoom in and out on. If you are in an area that is covered by one map, with 1 zoom, you may never notice this, but it is significant around here.
I have had problems with my Northstar 951 with Navionics when I go from chart to chart...the overlays are not even close. There is an area by me that has a dead spot like this and it was pretty hairy navigating in pea soup fog one last fall. However, I've been told the Gold series resolves this issue...
Anyway, I chose the Raymarine E series for the new boat primarily because Yellowfin is a Ray OEM.
SALTY DOG II - 5/5/2005 10:18 PM Fishy - thanks for the info I have had problems with my Northstar 951 with Navionics when I go from chart to chart...the overlays are not even close. There is an area by me that has a dead spot like this and it was pretty hairy navigating in pea soup fog one last fall. However, I've been told the Gold series resolves this issue... Anyway, I chose the Raymarine E series for the new boat primarily because Yellowfin is a Ray OEM.
This is not*a problem with Navionics GOLD.*
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Boston Whaler, "MUMBLER", 24 Outrage, twin 175 HP Evinrude Ocean Pros
First, let me say, Somthing Fishey, CONGRATULATIONS!!! And welcome to the Hull Truth, finally!! I may have missed some of your other posts or something, but I have to say, that is the VERY first time I have ever seend you post something informative, educated, and VERY helpfull to fellow members. Nice job and thanks!!
I have also noticed the Navionics charts do not have the same detail of things on the charts. They are often missing small town names (like Fire Island town / beach names), missing many marina's and ports, and services.... which has always had me thinking, I wonder what else is missing that isn't obvious, like obstructions.....???
I did not know they had issues with the chart overlays.... interesting.
The last thing, C-map has certainly improved over the last few years with their coverage. They used to break up major marktets big time, I think they are getting better.
Normally people don't push for more info, I have no problem backing up what I say, you just have to ask. I fish on 3 or 4 different boats and use a myriad of equipment. I have installed a fair share also. most info come from the school of hard knocks and that is hard to prove.
Raymarine E vs. Furuno/Northstar 
Furuno has a built in keypad, Ray is $100 extra. Depending on your setup...Ray has their softkeys at the bottom of the display, Furuno's are on the side. 
