Eletronics ?

[Paul Gwiz]

I need some advice here , I bought the garmin 720s w/18 4kw radar . this is a solo unit & wont talk to any other systems.

I want to add the garmin 5212 or the 7212 / I would like a system that will work at the helm & the bridge .

Is there a better system , this type of eletronics is all new to me, the last one I had was the loran c & it worked well, But with all this new tech stuff amazes me .

I have a budget of 10,000 to fit this project. I need a user friendly system with a good track record.

Any & all ideas will be greatly appreciated.

Thanks Gwiz

 

[thoward]

I have a Garmin 5212 and 4210 with a 6kw radar, autopilot, xm weather, and chirp 1kw sounder.

I am happy with the system. Furuno came a close second but the Garmin chartplotter and Chirp won out.

 

[Boatsb]

I need some advice here , I bought the garmin 720s w/18 4kw radar . this is a solo unit & wont talk to any other systems.

I want to add the garmin 5212 or the 7212 / I would like a system that will work at the helm & the bridge .

Is there a better system , this type of eletronics is all new to me, the last one I had was the loran c & it worked well, But with all this new tech stuff amazes me .

I have a budget of 10,000 to fit this project. I need a user friendly system with a good track record.

Any & all ideas will be greatly appreciated.

Thanks Gwiz

The 5212 is end of life. Its so much slower and an older processor. The 7212 will be repriced if not already to fill that spot.

Look at the system like a computer. As soon as you buy it a better system will be available. Buying the older lower technology is not a good idea. Many features will be added to the newer units over the next few users as new radar and sounder modules become available..

 

[Pascal]

Personally when it comes to electronics I like to keep it simple and redundant. Your decision also depends on how and where you will use the boat.

Sounder are cheap so I prefer having two separate sounders, at each helm, instead of a single black box module. No need for anything fancy unless you re fishing.... When offshore, I don't care to read down hundreds of feet...

If you find yourself using mostly the FB, having your main system up there is a good option with a single display at the lower helm, or a laptop with its own receiver, or even better a GPS equipped iPad. I racked up maybe 20k NM or more using primarily a basic laptop with $50 polar navy.. Sure the boat has a a pair of furuno Navnet but I found the laptop more practical and use it as my primarily nav device. Never failed in all these miles. I ve now replaced the laptop with an iPad running the garmin app and it s even better than the laptop.

Plus having its own GPS receiver and hours of battery life the iPad offers complete redundancy. It s also fully waterproof with a lifeproof case and very readable in sunlight

Personally I don't like the Raymarine system. On every boat I ve been, they were always throwing an error here and there, I also find the interface to be not as intuitive as garmins

I think the new garmin have built in wifi so you can use an iPad to view and to some extend control the system, never us it but if it works as advertised it,s a nice option.

You should be able to spend a lot less than $10k if you focus on the stuff you need and not just cool fully loaded gadgets with features you will never use...

 

[northshoreone]

I just added a 7212 to the pilot house on mine..used the 5212 as backup. I paid $3,300 for the 7212...way faster than the 5212!! I have a 5212 on the bridge along with a 740s and everything is tied to the NEMA2000. I just did all this to replace two Northstar units that the buttons didn't work anymore.I also added camera's on both sides of the aft flybridge for docking etc. The camera's show up on the garmins and provide a great view to each side and directly behind the boat. I also have a laptop with Coastal Explorer on it tied into the NEMA2000 in the pilot house on a large display.
If I didn't already have the two 5212's on the boat I would gone with all 7212's great units!!