Furuno / Raymarine / Garmin Chartplotter & Radar combo units

[bear 13]

HAPPY NEW YEAR ALL!

I am researching the purchase of a new radar ( boat has none) and figured I'd update my chartplotter (currently a Garmin 2006c) while at it. The current fishfinder is a Furuno, and I couldn't ask for a better unit, I swear I can see a fish fart! That has made me mainly consider Furuno for the to be purchased Radar / Chartplotter combo unit. After some THT reading I think differently about the Furuno chartplotter. Let me explain its purpose I am a hard core N. East fisherman, often leaving before daylight I wreck fish alott so I need to be able to zoom in the chartplotter. I also chase fish offshore, occasionally ended up in the canyons so a radar that will mark birds is something I like to have. The unit will be mounted onto a 23 Reg. Any advice would be much appreciated. Thanks

[Big E]

If the "bird finding" aspect is somewhat critical to you, IMO, you have no choice but FURUNO. ALthough seeing birds with a 4kw radar is possible, they are not seen much beyond the visual range of a good pair of binoculars. You really need a radar that pumps 6KW, or better, to consistently see birds beyond binocular range in a boat of your size (lack of tower height).

Raymarine and Garmin both have nothing between the 4kw or 10 KW range where Furuno does. Also Furuno uses "true color" radar imaging which makes it some what easier to pick out the birds if you know what their returns look like.

Additionally, if you go beyond a 6Kw set up, you have a lot of weight sitting n your hardtop.

I've seen the Garmin radar only once in action, and was not overly impressed. It is a huge, heavy dome and I'm also not keen on the dual magnetrons they use, since those are the most expensive parts of a radar to replace if they go.

While the Garmin plotters are tough to beat, the Furuno Navnet 2 units have been much improved. Still can't get the blue charts, but you have your choice of Navionics or C-Map includining the Wide series. Raymarine is Navionics only. If you do a search, you will find issues with the accuracy and routes in Raymarine units. Raymarine is supposed to 'remedy' the route problem, not sure what they are doing with the chart accuracy in some chartsets.

[chainsaw42]

i agree that a 4kw radome is not ideal for marking birds. an open array antenna is generally considered a must if you want to consistently 'see' birds w/raday. garmin does not offer an open array antenna. but, a 6kw open array on a 24' boat? wow, that's going to be huge. (and also cost a fortune)

however, other than that, i think the 3000 series garmins are tough to beat, and it seems they are drastically reducing the prices of these units as we speak. you'll be able to get in a 3000 series unit for hundreds less than you could have a week ago. i like furuno stuff, but it is priced so that value-wise, it's questionable. just guesstimating a little bit, a furuno navnet system w/a 6kw open array radar & a 10" screen & sounder module will run you around $7k, but you can outfit a garmin system with 10" screen, 4kw radar, gps & sonar for less than $4k--and that would include the XM weather receiver, something you can't even get w/furuno. you have to decide how important the bird hunting ability of the radar is to you and whether it's worth the money.

[bear 13]

Thanks for the info. I definately do not want an open array on the Reg!

[NauticalSmiles]

I think the Furuno price you mentioned might be high. I got the 4kw dome 10" screen for $4100 from Jim at BOE.

I'm pleased with the unit. I liked some of the Raymarine E series features, but didn't like the Navionics update prices and I got scared off by all the quality issues I read here (screen scratching, smarttrack, accuracy, durability). I also like the keypad. I've never had one before and figured I wouldn't use it much, but I'm using it already (and it's not even installed on the boat yet!)

I love Garmin for my car and my snowmobile, but I really wasn't impressed with the Bluecharts for my area - all the marina names were missing and some of the marinas weren't on the map at all. That made it hard for me as a new boater to the area when I'd radio a buddy and he'd tell me to meet him at .... marina!

Raymarine seems to have really good tech support and a much bigger presence in my area - Furuno is almost non existant here. My only beef is that Furuno doesn't offer it's firmware updates over the web. You either have to have it done by a dealer (not an option for me), send the unit in (mine will be flushmounted, so not an option), or you can order the SD cards with the Map OS on it and just send them the cards, which they update and send back. As long as there aren't lots of updates, I think this should work out fine.

PS. Furuno is the only plotter that can be "updated" from navionics to cmap, and then "updated" back again if you want. It would mean that you aren't stuck to one map maker's charts - in case the other manufacturer comes out with something better!

[Wolakrab]

I have the Garmin 3010C with the XM weather/audio receiver. I opted to go with the Furuno Navnet VX2 with the 2.2KW radar and black box sounder. I had the same arrangement on my last boat, only with the 4KW radar. The only time I had a return on birds with that unit was when they flew close by....as mentioned, an open array is what you need to mark birds. I have always liked the Furuno bottom machines...never a bit of problem and always gave me good results. The Garmin network is slick, and the plug-and-play makes wiring a breeze; but I decided against their radar because of some negative feedback I got from folks who have them. No one had much to say-good or bad-about the Garmin sounder....I always had good luck with Furuno there, so that's where I went in that regard.

[Glen E]

I have the entire Garmin network on two screens a 10 inch and a 5 inch. I think everything that has been said here is true and read long ago that the Garmin radar was not the best and had side-lobing. I am doing some beta testing for Raymarine with the verado AP and have had different engineers out with me now on about 8 occasions and all have remarked that it is a great “picture” so I really don’t know what to think. But radar is only used in my case for collision avoidance so it’s fine by me. The reason I went with the Garmin system was pretty simple, it gave you the most bang for the buck and they have great product support. Noone even has the weather module yet except Garmin and it does keep you dry. Everything is plug and play so putting in the system was a snap., The other thing no one seems to have without going thru gyrations is the ability to up and download via chip your WP’s and use your charting programs at the house PC before going out. Doing a route to the keys or the Bahamas is burned in 2 seconds to the chip that slips in and is downloaded to the unit and then available on both screens. If I set up 5 new WP's on a fishing afternoon trip, I can "cleanup" the names and icons after dinner on the PC.

In addition, I really like the update feature for software. As there are 6 separate pieces of software, updating is simple by using the same chip, it burns the release of each component to the chip. Take the chip inside and insert it in the USB reader – it goes to a website that compares your versions with the latest and then uploads to the chip what you need to stay current. And yes, that’s quite often, I would say Garmin releases new software updates about every 60 days or so.

So it really is what is important to you, for me the network and portability of my waypoints were the big sellers to me. And with the new Digital FF that will retrofit my system in the spring, that component to might be as good as the guys who buy a diff kind of FF…

[NauticalSmiles]

I'll admit that I like using the chart features on my PC as Glen mentioned. I use C-Map's PC-Planner, but it isn't as good as the Mapsource software. (I should also point out that with the keypad, it's simple to just punch in a good name for my waypoints on the unit at the time.)

[Elusive]

bear 13 - 1/2/2006 3:59 PM

Thanks for the info. I definately do not want an open array on the Reg!

If size is the reason, Furuno offers their open array in 2' & 3.5'. The 32 Reg next to me has the 2' unit. Not sure how well a 4KW array does seeing birds.

[HighVoltage]

How is the visability of each these displays in the sun light and with polarized glasses?

[Glen E]

garmin is near blinding in all environments - no problem with polarized glasses

[thataway]

I also would go with higher power and a larger scanner if looking for birds. I also agree that a 6 KW and 36" array would be a bit much on that size boat....It can be done if birds are that important to you.--and that is the way I would go--Furuno--the New chart plotters are better. My personal preference is C map over Garmin, but they are close.

[samblate]

If the 2' open array unit idea attracts you, better be sure it is still made, and, if so, that it will work with the radar display you want. None was available for the Navnet 1 and Navnet 2 series as of summer 2005.

[bear 13]

Will the Garmin Radar pick up little objects such as clamming steaks? A good plotter is very important as my current 2006 is kinda slow. I do not want an open array on that small of a boat anyways. I thought I'd 'see' birds with a radome. Thanks a ton for the information Capts.

[TunaBomber]

not sure what your budget is but you may have a look at Simrad. Having owned a Raymarine and garmin, i respectfully didn't like either product. I bought the new Simrad CX44 /4kW open and love it. the Radar is absolutely superior, especially on faster boats. It will spin faster and redraw quicker than others, Birds? maybe now and then but you really need a little more power and a longer open array with a narrower Horizontal Beamwidth than most 4 kW for any dependability in that area.. Furuno makes some great stuff as well as Northstar. For me it came down to needing great radar for navigation and FF ability with a decent (better than furuno navnet1 plotter).. all in one 10 inch.

[total mayhem]

as i scrolled down i was wondering why simrad wasnt being mentioned. I am going through the same thought process as I bought a boat and will doing the electronics in the spring before it hits the water. I went to the NYC yesterday and hit all the electronic vendors on what they recommended. I want a 10 inch screen so that left out raymarine even though that came out of most of the vendors 1st. I liked the simrad unit even though they said the plotting wasnt as easy as the northstar but it has 1 of the best finders and the radar was awesome. not 1 of the vendors mentioned the garmin Im not sure why but maybe there were different incentives by the manufactures behind the scenes. If anyone else has the simrad please chime in as I have a month or so before I have to decide

[bear 13]

I am currently leaning towards the Raymarine, E series from the opinions that I've heard. Someone please stop me if I am wrong!

[Codfisher]

I own the E-120 and you cant go wrong with that display. It has the best resolution and is the brightest on the market. I run a 4kw RM radar with the navionics platinum chip. That chip alone is a major reason to buy RM

[total mayhem]

codfisher that is an awesome looking boat

[chainsaw42]

bear 13 - 1/6/2006 6:57 AM

I am currently leaning towards the Raymarine, E series from the opinions that I've heard. Someone please stop me if I am wrong!

if the $$ isn't a problem, then, no, you're not wrong.