When I bought our boat last fall there were brand new speed/depth/wind
instruments installed (very poorly and they barely worked but there they
were)
So I struggled with what to do about a plotter. I considered Ipad,
SmartPhone, Windows Tablet, In the end I went with a raymarine
MFD/Radar Bundle that were on a really nice sale.
The hardest part of the install had nothing to do with the instruments.
It was routing cable and installing a new pedestal guard with a pod
(thanks to Fred's strong recommendation on the guard with pod upgrade).
After removing all the abandoned cabling and running and securing all
the new cables (and getting the previously installed instrument cables
OUT OF THE BILGE!), it was all plug and play! The whole system just
fired up (ok ok, Fred's consultation and diagram was a HUGE help!). I
even ended up getting an autopilot on sale but, I have yet to install
that. Again the hard part here is having to build an anchor point for
the linear drive. My guess it will plug in and play as easily as
everything else. I guess if you look at all the electronics as one
networked system it helps get past the proprietary pain. if all those
displays came in the same box you'd pick one and be done with it! Of
course, that makes it very expensive and labor intensive to upgrade if
you decide to go to another manufacturer. I guess my view is that, all
these systems have been around a long time and they work really well.
Being stuck with raymarine (or any other brand) is what it is.
Hopefully, having the cabling done, upgrading with new raymarine will be
easier and less costly and less labor intensive than this whole system
upgrade was. I have to say, all the matching instruments look pretty
impressive! and they work!!
Who knows, I may be on to a new boat by the time I need an instrument
upgrade! I seem to have a 4 year itch... I get a boat, fix it all up
over a few seasons, sell it at a loss and buy a bigger, more expensive
boat... it's really great business model, don't you think?
Danny
On 9/21/2016 7:44 AM, John McKay via CnC-List wrote:
As a follow up, I do like the EV100.
I installed, did the one or two circles and it works. The calibration
was a breeze!
J
On Tuesday, September 20, 2016 8:03 PM, G Collins via CnC-List
<cnc-list@cnc-list.com> wrote:
You Ray haters kill me... just kidding! But sometimes it pays to read
the manual before you buy, and they are all available online these days.
That Garmin thing is a cool solution, I like it. The Navico (B&G)
version doesn't seem to be available anywhere, so that may have been a
possible route to firmware updates but no longer...
I guess my conclusion early on was to get a MDF that goes with the big
electronics on the boat, so my a75 MDF can update my EV200 autopilot.
And IMHO it makes sense to have the same brand of anyway, so that you
are sure they will work together as best they can. My wind/speed/depth
system, since it is B&G, is essentially orphaned. I'm not so concerned
with that. And I am quite happy with my Raymarine gear, whereas I've
had two Triton displays malfunction on me in the same 3 seasons.
As to why you can't update one companies gear from another companies
MDF, I can't see any company signing up for that - say I update my B&G
firmware over my Ray MDF, and next thing my Triton displays are bricks -
who do I call to get it resolved? That would not be a fun day.
Graham Collins
Secret Plans
C&C 35-III #11
On 2016-09-20 9:58 AM, Pete Shelquist via CnC-List wrote:
> You raymarine guys kill me. Defend it to the end and drag others down
> when it's obvious that Ray falls short. I've been saying it for years:
> friends don't let friends buy raymarine.
>
> Dave/others; Per Garmin FAQ, Here's the solution if/when you decide to
> leave the raymarine dark side :
>
>
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This list is supported by the generous donations of our members. If you like
what we do, please help us pay for our costs by donating. All Contributions are
greatly appreciated!
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This list is supported by the generous donations of our members. If you like
what we do, please help us pay for our costs by donating. All Contributions are
greatly appreciated!
